A1 · Narrative
Following a short story about a first day at work
Read for meaning first. Then return to the text for vocabulary, language choices, and evidence.
Before you read
Build the context out loud.
- How do people feel on the first day at a new job?
- Who helped you when you were new at work or school?
- What was your first job, and where was it?
First pass: keep moving when one word is unfamiliar. Dotted words open optional help; every word also appears in the vocabulary bank below.
It is 6:45 on Monday morning. Karim is standing outside the Linden Hotel. He is wearing a new white jacket. Today is his first day as a cook here.
Karim is from Morocco. In Casablanca, he was a cook in his uncle’s restaurant for ten years. That kitchen was small and hot, but it was his kitchen. Here, everything is new.
The head chefThe most important cook in a kitchen, who leads the other cooks.Useful chunks: the head chef · work for the head chef, Grace, opens the door. “Welcome, Karim! Breakfast starts at seven.” The kitchen is big and busy. Two cooks are cutting fruit. A young man is washing pansMetal containers that people use to cook food on a stove.Useful chunks: wash the pans · a frying pan.
Karim doesn’t know where things are. He opens three cupboardsSmall spaces with doors where people keep food, plates, or other things.Useful chunks: kitchen cupboard · open the cupboard, but he can’t find the eggs. He is nervousWorried and a little afraid about something that is happening.Useful chunks: feel nervous · nervous about work.
Then the young man stops washing. “The eggs are in the big fridge, on the left,” he says. “I’m Leo. I was new last month.”
Karim smiles. At seven, the first ordersRequests for food from customers in a restaurant or hotel.Useful chunks: take an order · the first orders come in. Now he is cooking eggs, and his hands are calm. Maybe this kitchen can be his kitchen too.
Original text written for Thomas’s Classroom Reading Lab.
Words in context
Useful vocabulary and chunks
Learn the word with the partners it naturally keeps.
head chef
The most important cook in a kitchen, who leads the other cooks.
the head chef · work for the head chefpans
Metal containers that people use to cook food on a stove.
wash the pans · a frying pancupboards
Small spaces with doors where people keep food, plates, or other things.
kitchen cupboard · open the cupboardnervous
Worried and a little afraid about something that is happening.
feel nervous · nervous about workorders
Requests for food from customers in a restaurant or hotel.
take an order · the first ordersCheck your reading
Comprehension check
Choose the answer best supported by the text. Check your choices when you finish the whole set.
01Why is Karim at the Linden Hotel on Monday morning?
02What was Karim’s job in Casablanca?
03Why is Karim nervous in the new kitchen?
04How does Leo help Karim?
05Why does Leo say, “I was new last month”?
Language in the text
Now and before with be
The story uses is and are for Karim’s new life now and was and were for his life before. Use was with I, he, she, and it, and were with you, we, and they.
Today points to now, so the story uses is.
This is Karim’s past job, so the story uses was.
That kitchen is in the past and in another place, so was fits.
This is the hotel kitchen now, so the story uses is.
Last month is a past time, so Leo uses was.
Check your reading
Language focus check
Use the surrounding meaning, not only the shape of one sentence.
01Choose the correct sentence about the hotel kitchen.
02Choose the correct sentence about Karim and his uncle in the past.
03Karim wants to ask Leo about last month. Choose the correct question.
Read like a writer
How a short story puts you in the kitchen
The writer starts with an exact time, shows the busy kitchen with actions happening now, and builds the story around one small problem and one kind person.
Exact opening
The time puts the reader outside the hotel with Karim before breakfast starts.
It is 6:45 on Monday morning.
Actions in progress
Present continuous shows many things happening at once, so the kitchen feels busy and real.
Two cooks are cutting fruit. A young man is washing pans.
Small problem, kind help
One short sentence changes Karim’s feeling and gives the story a warm ending.
I’m Leo. I was new last month.
From reading to speaking
Build your response
Work through the stages in order. Answer before opening the model.
01GistWhat is the story about?
Useful ways to begin
Compare with a model response
The story is about Karim’s first morning as a cook in a new hotel kitchen.
02Main pointsDescribe Karim’s life before and his life now.
Useful ways to begin
Compare with a model response
Before, Karim was a cook in his uncle’s restaurant in Casablanca. That kitchen was small and hot. Now he is a cook at the Linden Hotel, and the kitchen is big and busy.
03AnalyzeHow does Karim feel at the start and at the end? What changes his feeling?
Useful ways to begin
Compare with a model response
At the start, Karim is nervous because he can’t find the eggs. At the end, he is calm because Leo helps him and was new last month too.
04ReactTell about a first day in a new place. Who helped you?
Useful ways to begin
Compare with a model response
My first day at my new office was difficult. I was nervous, and everything was new. My coworker Ana was very kind. She was a big help that day.
Speak
Take a position
Talk for one minute about a job or place in your past and your job or place now. Use was or were three times and is or are three times.
Write
Make the reading useful
Write 60 words about your first day at a job, school, or class. Say where you were, if you were nervous or calm, and who was kind to you.