My Habits and Preferences

1MS English • Sequence 1 • Learning guide and practice

This guide helps first-year middle school learners talk about daily habits, favourite activities, and things they like or dislike. It also reviews the present simple and the three sounds of the final -s. It is based on selected pages of the six-page copybook; check the original worksheet for its visual games.

1. Talking about everyday habits

Use the present simple for routines and activities you do regularly:

I go to school by bus.
We study English at school.
She plays football at the weekend.

To ask about free time, say: What do you do in your free time? You can answer: I read books or I play football.

2. Saying what you like and dislike

Use like / dislike + noun or like / dislike + verb-ing: I like music. She likes reading. He dislikes watching TV. To ask a friend: Do you like music? — Yes, I do. / No, I don't.

3. Present simple: affirmative and negative

Subject	Affirmative	Negative
I / you / we / they	I play football.	I don't play football.
he / she / it	She plays football.	She doesn't play football.

With he, she, it, add -s to many verbs: plays, likes, reads. Some verbs take -es (watches, goes), and consonant + y often changes to -ies (studies). After doesn't, use the base verb: She doesn't play, not She doesn't plays.

4. Pronunciation: the final -s

Listen to the sound before -s, not only to the last written letter:

/s/ after a voiceless non-sibilant sound: likes /laɪks/, books /bʊks/.
/z/ after a voiced non-sibilant sound or a vowel: plays /pleɪz/, reads /riːdz/.
/ɪz/ after a sibilant sound such as /s/, /z/, /ʃ/ or /tʃ/: watches /ˈwɒtʃɪz/, finishes /ˈfɪnɪʃɪz/.

Remember: plays is pronounced with /z/, while watches ends in /ɪz/. Some example columns in the supplied PDF place these words under the wrong sounds; the examples above are corrected.

5. Practice: complete the sentences

Choose from: listen, play, read, watch, go, like. Change the verb form when needed.

I ______ to music in the evening.
She ______ football at the weekend.
He ______ books in his free time.
We ______ TV after dinner.
I ______ to school by bus.
They ______ pizza.

Check your answers

1. listen 2. plays 3. reads 4. watch 5. go 6. like.

6. Useful words

habit (something you do regularly), routine (your usual activities), preference (something you like more than another), free time (time for activities you choose). Try making three sentences about your own daily life.

Full copybook (6 pages)
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