English Together · A2 Key · Chapter 1
Tom meets a tourist called Paulo at King's Cross, and one word — Greenwich — turns out to be the trickiest thing either of them says all day. Read first at this level: the story's own words sit right beside you, and the real recording joins in once you know it well.
0 of 18 modules complete
At A1 you understood first and heard last. From B1 it is the other way round: the story reaches your ears before your eyes. The text stays closed until your listening has earned it.
Ears first. The ear is slower than the eye — that is normal, and it is exactly why it goes first now. Two listens before any text is not a punishment; it is how the language gets in.
You will meet the same story four times — and the text only appears on the third pass. Then come the modules: nineteen tasks across the six skills, on this story and on the unit's Culture File, and the game closes the chapter.
Each check needs 70–80% to open the next step. And a difference from A1: there is no help on a first miss. Get it wrong, you simply try again. Only a second miss opens support — and only on the hardest questions. At this level, the struggle is part of the method.
You have finished the book. From here the chapter works in modules: each one a double page with the full text on one side and ten exercises on the other. Modules 5–11 work on Paulo's story; modules 12–18 work on the unit's Culture File — The Oldest Underground in the World. The game closes the chapter.
Two things stay true at this level. The text does not underline where answers live. And there is no help on a first miss — you look again yourself. Miss the same check twice and support opens, on the hardest questions only.
Paulo's day runs on the present simple — the tense for facts, routines and the things that are simply true. Two small words aim it: do and does. Not to memorise — to consult until you stop needing it.
| form | pattern | from the story | more examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| statement he / she / it | verb + -s | Tom stands next to the big map. · He speaks slowly. | Paulo touches his card. · The gate opens. |
| negative he / she / it | doesn't + base verb | He doesn't need a paper ticket. · He doesn't drive the buses any more. | She doesn't mind the noise. |
| question he / she / it | Does + subject + base verb? | Does he speak much English? · Does he understand the direction now? | Does the train go to the sea? |
| statement I / you / we / they | base verb | I stand next to the map. · They walk quickly. | You touch a bank card on the reader. |
| negative I / you / we / they | don't + base verb | You don't need a paper ticket. · I don't mind them. | We don't queue for a ticket. |
| question I / you / we / they | Do + subject + base verb? | Do they always ask you the same things? · Do you like crowded stations? | Do you understand the map? |
“He don't have a ticket” is wrong — he / she / it always takes does or doesn't, never do or don't. The right sentence is “He doesn't have a ticket.”
The -s only ever goes on the verb, and only for he/she/it — never on does and the verb together: not “He does needs”, just “He does need” or, far more often, “He needs.”
Nila's five facts about the Tube: how old it is, how big it is, the big misconception, the words everyone knows, and how to ride it yourself. The full text sits beside every module.
🎧 Listen to the Culture File
Three stars closes the chapter properly. The game opens in a new page and keeps its own best score.