SPICE IT UP!

 

Shared by Sofía Suárez:

SCHOOL YEAR:   2nd ESO/A2    SUBJECT: English TOPIC: Food and restaurants Estimated SESSIONS: 4-5 sessions

LESSON OBJECTIVE:       - To revise food vocabulary       - To learn vocabulary related to herbs and spices.       - To design a restaurant menu  CONTENTS/SKILLS: Reading, writing, listening and speaking.

DESCRIPTION: The lesson will be started by showing the students different pictures from a CNN Travel article with the best 50 international dishes. The teacher will ask questions about the different pictures, eliciting vocabulary related to the ingredients and appearance of the food. The teacher will ask questions about the different pictures, eliciting vocabulary related to the ingredients and appearance of the food, and writing it on the blackboard if necessary. Some of the questions could be: - What do you think of this dish? Does it look appetising? - What are its ingredients?  - Do you think it is a sweet or a savoury dish?  - Have you ever tried it? Or would you like to try it?  Then, the teacher will continue by remarking the importance of the smaller ingredients, such as herbs and spices, and how they can completely change the flavour of a dish.  To prove her point, the teacher will let the students try 3 different types of popcorn (regular, salty and sweet) and then proceed to show different types of herbs and spices in small jars, labelled with their English name.  The students, in groups of 5, will take rounds to try to identify the different herbs and spices, and make a glossary with them. In the second session, the teacher will start with a short warm up: in turns, some students will smell samples of the herbs and spices and try to remember their names.  Then, it will be time for them to get “dirty”. They will have to create a simple but nice canape, by using crackers, cream cheese and herbs/spices. Students can make any combination of herbs or spices (the teacher will have removed the most dangerous ones to avoid any mishaps), and they have to make enough samples for everyone to try.   At the end, the best will be chosen anonymously with a tasting round. In the third session, again in groups, the students will read a restaurant menu.  The teacher will ask questions about it (there is also a printable worksheet if you want your students to have it in paper). Then, still in their groups, students will design their own restaurant menu, with the condition of including a little description with the ingredients of each dish, and of course, they have to include the herbs and spices they have been learning.  They will need another session to complete this task, and they will be reminded that the appearance of the menu is also important when it comes to “luring” the customers.  Finally, they will present their menus to the rest of the class.

RECIPE/s: Simple (but nice) canapes Ingredients: crackers, cream cheese, herbs and spices. Steps: spread some cheese on a cracker and top it up with your favourite combination of herbs and spices. You can (and should) mix them up in order to find out a unique combination that everyone in the class will enjoy!

 

VOCABULARY:  Herbs and spices

 

MATERIALS: Popcorn Different samples of herbs and spices Crackers Cream cheese Plastic knives Paper, pens, markers

 

NOTES/ PIECES OF ADVICE: Choose the spices and herbs carefully. It’s good for the students to know them, but when it comes to actually creating the canape, some should be definitely banned! If coming up with a whole menu seems too complex, they could go for something simpler, like a pizza or toast menu. A good follow-up for this activity would be to create a restaurant dialogue using the students’ menus, and having them acting them out in front of the class, or recording a short video. CREDITS - Links and resources: World food: 50 best dishes | CNN Travel A restaurant menu | LearnEnglish Teens - British Council