One row per week: theme, grammar focus, and the brief the storyboard is generated from. Weeks beyond the built range are the planned design.
| 1 A1 | Arrival & introducing yourself Equational ആണ് (X is Y) and existential ഉണ്ട് (there is); subject pronouns ഞാൻ/നിങ്ങൾ/അവൻ/അവൾ; എന്ത്/എവിടെ questions and the yes/no particle -ഓ (ആണോ?); എന്റെ പേര് … ആണ്. (Malayalam verbs do not change for person.) Maya's arrival day in Kochi, knowing no one — stepping out of the airport into warm, humid air, a January sea breeze. Across the day: she lands and meets a stranger, takes a taxi (giving her address), settles into her small flat under a ceiling fan, takes in the unfamiliar green city with a pang for Mexico, makes a quick audio call home, and meets her neighbour Anitha. |
| 2 A1 | First day & getting connected Present tense -ഉന്നു; numbers 0–100 as words; dative possession എനിക്ക് … ഉണ്ട് (I have) and its negation ഇല്ല; age with dative വയസ്സ് (എനിക്ക് മുപ്പത്തിയൊന്ന് വയസ്സാണ്) Her first days getting settled — her first day at the software company, where her colleague Prakash welcomes her and shows her to her desk. She gets an Indian SIM over a lunch break — the form wants her age, and she reads her new number aloud to make sure it is right; the next day she registers at a government office. She gives her new number. The number is spoken only in those two places. A celebratory chaya and pazhampori when the errands are done. |
| 3 A1 | Family back home Genitive possessives എന്റെ/നിങ്ങളുടെ/അവന്റെ/അവളുടെ (making wk1's എന്റെ പേര് pattern productive); the indefinite marker ഒരു; ആര് questions A slow Sunday shaped by the call home — her first proper video call, morning in Kochi, evening the day before back in Mexico. Before it, a small errand: she picks up sweets at the corner shop, something to show the family. The call itself: her mother and father, her little sister Sofia, her big brother Diego, and the family dog Lola — a little show-and-tell both ways, a glimpse of her room, a glimpse of home. After the goodbye she walks her street in the Sunday quiet, a touch homesick, the voices still with her. |
| 4 A1 | Moving into her own flat Locative -ഇൽ (മുറിയിൽ, അടുക്കളയിൽ); place words മുകളിൽ/അടിയിൽ/അടുത്ത്; placement verbs ഇരിക്കുന്നു/കിടക്കുന്നു (review ഉണ്ട്) Moving day — Maya leaves the temporary room for her own permanent flat in the same building; her real home at last. She lets herself in and carries in her bags and suitcases, settling into the small furnished flat room by room, deciding where everything goes — with a light touch from Anitha. |
| 5 A1 | Food shopping & the kitchen Dative experiencer എനിക്ക് വേണം (I want) and എനിക്ക് ഇഷ്ടമാണ് (I like); accusative -എ on animate objects (inanimates stay unmarked) Her cupboards are empty, so Maya stocks her new kitchen. She works the aisles of a supermarket and the corner shop: rice and spices, vegetables she knows and one she has never seen, what she likes and what she wants for the week — and carries it all home. |
| 6 A1 | Settling into a routine Present continuous -ുകയാണ് for actions underway, woven naturally through a simple-present -ഉന്നു routine One ordinary weekday for Maya. She gets up, washes and dresses, gets her bus, and settles at her desk; at midday she eats with her colleague Prakash; in the evening she cooks, relaxes and goes to bed. |
| 7 A1 | Time & appointments Clock time മണി (എത്ര മണിക്ക്?); weekdays & months; frequency adverbs എപ്പോഴും/ചിലപ്പോൾ/എല്ലാ ദിവസവും Maya fills her calendar for the week: the gym on her regular evening, a haircut she books over the phone, a bicycle repair. A coffee with Anitha, added midweek, lands at the same hour as another appointment, so she moves one. Not every time is on the hour. No prices — money belongs to week 9. |
| 8 A1 | Getting to know the city Polite imperatives പോകൂ/തിരിയൂ; directions നേരെ, ഇടത്തോട്ട്/വലത്തോട്ട്; directional -ലേക്ക് A Saturday out in the city. Anitha sends her off with a route; from there strangers direct her, and when she gets lost one of them shows her the way back. She reaches the waterfront walkway, watches the harbour a while, and rides the bus home able to picture her part of the city. No prices — money belongs to week 9. |
| 9 A1 | At the market & prices Prices — വില എത്ര? / എത്ര രൂപ ആയി?; amounts as words; തരൂ/വേണം at the stall A morning at a busy outdoor market — Maya goes stall to stall for everyday food and a few non-food things. Vary the transactions so no two stalls are the same — a taste offered, an item too dear that she skips, a weighed per-kilo price, change from a note — not the same ask-price-pay each time — and vary how the price arrives too: sometimes she asks, sometimes a board shows it, sometimes the vendor names it unprompted. |
| 10 A1 | Clothes & dressing for the heat Adjectives as a system — attributive നല്ല/വലിയ/ചെറിയ and predicative with ആണ് (Malayalam adjectives never change form); ധരിക്കുക/ഇടുക (wear) The March heat is arriving, and Maya shops for light cotton clothes. In one clothing shop she tries on and buys a few things — each garment its own complete scene (she picks it up, tries it, decides) — with sizes, colours and prices. One doesn't fit, so she leaves it. |
| 11 A1 | Kochi weather Weather expressions ചൂടാണ് / വെയിലാണ് / മഴ പെയ്യുന്നു; simple future -ും for the forecast (മഴ പെയ്യും) Hot season days. One ordinary day told through its weather: Maya wakes to a bright hot morning, checks the forecast, and dresses for the heat. Out in it, the day turns — hard sun on the street, then a sudden evening thundershower, the first rain she has seen here. She closes the day cool at the window. |
| 12 A1 | Free time & meeting people Infinitive -ാൻ (കളിക്കാൻ, പഠിക്കാൻ) with ഇഷ്ടമാണ്/പോകുന്നു; ability കഴിയും — landing inside varied actions and exchanges, not as declarations To get active and meet people, Maya joins a local badminton club on her own — she has played for years back home. Club evenings are Thursdays; from this week her Thursday gym slot becomes badminton (gym continues Tuesdays). She finds the club, signs up and rents a racket, then joins a doubles game with three friendly players, Kiran, Sara and Vishnu (new faces), and arranges to come back. |
| 13 A1 | At the café Polite requests — തരുമോ? / കിട്ടുമോ? / വേണം ladder; thanking A café stop out of the heat, with polite ordering as the focus — Maya finds a seat, orders a drink and a bite at the counter, later asks for one more thing and then the bill, and thanks the staff. Each exchange its own complete scene, with small moments between. |
| 14 A1 | Public transport കയറുക/ഇറങ്ങുക (board/alight); -ഇൽ/-ലേക്ക് with vehicles; പോകണം (need to get to) Maya crosses the city by public transport — she buys a metro card, works out the route, and rides a bus, the metro, and the water metro across the harbour, stepping off by the old fishing nets for an errand. Solo, plus a ticket-counter worker, a fellow passenger and a shop worker at the errand's end. The water metro is the last leg. |
| 15 A1 | A1 review — a day in the new city Mixed present-tense narration; consolidation. BOUNDARY: no past tense anywhere — the simple past opens week 16 A full ordinary weekday, start to finish: morning routine at home, the commute, a stretch at work, an errand or two that echo earlier weeks without repeating them (a shop, a bit of transport, a tourist asking the way), with Prakash at work, and home in the evening for a neighbourly catch-up with Anitha next door. |
| 16 A2 | Talking about the past Simple past -ി/-ു (വന്നു, പോയി, കണ്ടു); time phrases ഇന്നലെ / കഴിഞ്ഞ ആഴ്ച / ജനുവരിയിൽ (the perfect -ിട്ടുണ്ട് is out of scope — week 19 owns it) After badminton, Kiran and Sara ask how she ended up in Kochi, and Maya tells them: the January arrival, the taxi with her new address, meeting Anitha the first day, her first day at the office. On a call home later, Maya mentions the storytelling, and her mother — who lived that goodbye herself — asks to hear Maya's telling of it anyway; the story comes out again, warmer, with her mother adding her own side of the airport morning. |
| 17 A2 | A trip out of the city Past-tense narration; സ്വന്തം vs അവന്റെ/അവളുടെ (own vs another's); time expressions The heat is high, and Maya takes a weekend train trip down the coast to the backwaters, told in the past as a travel diary: the train along the water, people-watching on board, a slow boat between the palms, and the ride home tired and happy. |
| 18 A2 | Health & the doctor വേദനിക്കുന്നു / വേദന ഉണ്ട്; body parts; സുഖമാണ് / സുഖമില്ല; advice with -ണം The change of season brings Maya's first ailment here — a heavy cold as the first rains break the heat. She calls the clinic and books a time, tells the doctor where it hurts and how she has been feeling, and picks up something from the pharmacy on the way home. |
| 19 A2 | Work & colleagues Perfect -ിട്ടുണ്ട് (ചെയ്തിട്ടുണ്ട് — what she has done); professions A real project lands at the office, and Maya works closely with the whole team for the first time: Prakash, and the colleagues she knew only by face — the designer Deepa, the tester Arun, the boss Suresh — Deepa and Arun explaining what they do and how long they have done it, Suresh welcoming her aboard. She presents her part at the team's short morning meeting. |
| 20 A2 | Volunteering at the café Past + perfect mixed; പഠിക്കുക + -ാൻ (learning to); ordinals ഒന്നാമത്തെ/രണ്ടാമത്തെ Maya starts volunteering Saturday mornings at the little café she knows from week 13 — to meet people, she takes the counter side of that world. Her first shifts, told as they happened: the experienced hand shows her the machine, her first coffee comes out wrong, her second better. |
| 21 A2 | Buying clothes Comparative -നെക്കാൾ (than); വലുത്/ചെറുത്; trying on and exchanging A humid Saturday: Maya shops in town and buys a raincoat and a shirt before the monsoon. At home the shirt is too small. She goes back with the receipt for an exchange: asks for a bigger size, tries the bigger one in the mirror, and it fits better. |
| 22 A2 | Cooking & local food Imperative sequences; quantities (അര കിലോ, രണ്ട് സ്പൂൺ); ആദ്യം/പിന്നെ/അതിനുശേഷം Maya cooks a simple Kerala meal for Kiran and Sara. She finds a recipe, shops for the amounts it calls for, and cooks it step by step. Her friends arrive and they eat together at her small table. Solo cooking, then the shared meal. |
| 23 A2 | Making plans & friends Future -ും and intentional -ാം; thinking/feeling with the quotative എന്ന് (ഞാൻ കരുതുന്നു … എന്ന്) Deepa, from the project in week 19, invites Maya to her home for dinner. Maya plans the visit — what to bring, when to leave, how to get there, talked through with Prakash at work — and brings something along. Over the meal they talk as friends for the first time. |
| 24 A2 | Looking after Anitha's dog Imperatives + accusative pronouns അതിനെ/അവനെ; rules with വേണം/പാടില്ല (must / must not) Anitha goes away for a weekend and leaves her dog Tommy with Maya, with a few rules for his care — when he's fed, what he may and may not have, where he must stay on the lead. Maya looks after him across the weekend: she feeds him, walks him, and calls him back when he wanders off. |
| 25 A2 | A Sunday in the city Demonstratives ഈ/ആ + ഇത്/അത് as a system; മുമ്പ് (ago — രണ്ട് മാസം മുമ്പ്); time adverbs A slow Sunday with nowhere to be, the June monsoon coming and going in bursts. Maya wanders a Sunday market, stopping over this and that, then spends an hour out of the rain in a museum. Threaded through it is how long ago things now feel — she thinks back over her arrival and her first months here. |
| 26 A2 | The monsoon & her birthday Perfect -ിട്ടുണ്ട് vs past -ി contrast Peak monsoon — rain on the roof for days, and Maya loves it. Two things fall in the same week: the fiercest downpour of the season yet, watched from the veranda with Prakash and Deepa, and her own birthday — her first away from home; she turns thirty-two. Friends mark the day with her, and she looks back over her first months against the day in front of her. |
| 27 A2 | Phones, internet & admin online Habitual -ാറുണ്ട് (ചെയ്യാറുണ്ട് — usually do); instructions; the formal passive -പ്പെടുന്നു of official language Maya updates an account detail on a public self-service website — the small admin everyone puts off. She usually does this on her phone in the evening: she logs in, works through the form, and waits for a one-time code. When the first code never arrives, she works around it and finishes. |
| 28 A2 | A2 review — a week in the new life Consolidation across all A2 grammar A full ordinary week in the life Maya has built, start to finish — a morning at the office with Deepa, where the big project is now just work, a badminton evening against Sara, a quiet errand, a Saturday café shift, a meal cooked, and dinner with Anitha. Threaded through, the odd backward glance at how far off January feels. |
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