Food Talk - Conversation Class for Advanced Learners

A Food Photography Experience!, a group on Flickr.

• Advanced
• Teens; Adults
• Speaking class
• Food
• 
  

1. You will tell your partner about the last time you had or cooked a fantastic meal. Use the questions below to help you remember and organize your thoughts.

Where were you?
Why was the meal special?
What did you have to drink?
Who was with you?
How complex was the recipe?
Who prepared the food?
What were the ingredients?

 2. What do these sayings mean? Do they say anything about the people's culture?
 Worries go down better with soup. ~Jewish Proverb
Rice is born in water and must die in wine. ~Italian Proverb
 Eat little, sleep sound. ~Iranian Proverb 3. T

3. Talk to a partner and find the odd one out in each set of words.
  Beef / steak /pork/ lamb / garlic Garlic is the odd one out because the others are all type of meat.
 a) Mango / rice /pear/raspberry
 b) Butter / cottage cheese/ yogurt / broccoli
 c) Turkey/cauliflower/pepper / spinach
 d) Lamb / chicken / turkey / Duck
 e) Pasta / sauce / pie / grapes
 f) Chocolate/chickpeas/syrup /jam
 g) Whole grain bread/ brown rice/chocolate/sugar
 h) Beef / steak /pork/ lamb / rocket

What other cooking verbs do you know? Make a list. If you had to remember all of them for a test, what strategy would you use? Why? 
Sites that might help you remember vocabulary:

Wordle 

Thinglink

4. Write a dictionary entry for the word ethnic. Check a dictionary to see how similar your definition is.

Discuss in pairs.

What ethnic food have you tried?

What is your favorite cuisine? Can you prepare a special ethnic meal or dish?

Is there any ethnic food that you would never consider eating? Why? Why not?

How does typical or ethnic food reflect the culture of a country?

Can you write down the ingredients for a local food from a country you have been to?

Do foreigners usually like or reject the typical food from your country? Why?

5. Watch a movie scene and discuss the following questions.

What happens in the scene? 
Correct sentences to make them true.

She liked the idea of cooking ratatouilli to the food critic because it's a peasant dish.
They used only yellow zucchines.
They started by grating carrots.
The rat stirred the souce with a metal spoon.
The lady chep spreaded the tomato souce on a frying pan.
All the vegetables do not have to be thinly sliced. 

Where is the food from? What does it say about the people who created it?

Have you ever seen/eaten that dish before?

Would you like to have it one day? Why (not)

What are the ingredients?

What is your comfort food? Is there any food that brings you memories?

Is there a special recipe in your family? What is it like?

Do you remember any other movie that shows ethnic food or food?

6. Watch the movie scene below and write the questions the actors answer. Use the same questions to interview a partner.

Group work 
Ethnic Food
Part 1: Expert Group (15 min)

Goals of this part of the activity:
• Learn about a dish in one country.
• Become an expert on your country’s dish.
• Prepare to teach your classmates about your country’s dish.

Learn about a dish in one country. One person in your group should read the information out loud. Then take notes here with your group:

I am going to teach others about a dish in _________________________.
There are many interesting aspects to be shared.

What are the ingredients? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

How to prepare this dish?
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Difficult vocabulary I’ll teach my classmates: 
*Check meaning and pronunciation 
of difficult words.
1. ____________________
2. ____________________
3. ____________________


Now that you are an expert, teach your classmates about your country’s dish. You can only use your notes.

_________________________________________________________________________________


Part 2: Home group (5 minutes per country)


Goals of this part of the activity:
• Teach your classmates about you’re your dish.
• Learn about dishes in other 3 countries.
• Become an expert!

You will learn about 3 different dishes around the world. Listen to your group members and take notes in the chart below.

Classmate’s name and country name Pieces of information about the dish.

_____________________          _____________________________________________________

____________________           ______________________________________________________

If you finish before other groups, discuss the following questions in your group:

1. Which dish is more interesting to you? Why?
2. Which country is more similar to yours in terms of eating habits? Why?
3. Which country might be the most difficult one to adapt as a foreigner? Why?

TED TALK – Listen to two chefs talking about theirs experiences. Use the questions below to help you focus on what they have to say.

What did people think Moto was? Why?

What kind of requests did customers have?
What is flavor transformation?
What did they do to the carrot cake?
What do they charge customers 20 bucks for?
What did they decide to do after the experiment with the edible cigar?
What’s special about their nachos?
What’s their kitchen like?
What’s special about their hamburger?
What’s a miracle berry? What’s special about them?
What do they do to the watermelon? Why do they do that?
What are the chefs plans for the future?

Discuss

What do you think about their work?
Would you be willing to experiment the food at Moto? Why? Why not?

 Dilemma

You are about to have 4 guests over. They are from a different country and you want them to have an idea of what the food in Brazil is like. What would you serve for appetizers, main dish and dessert? You want to impress and be original, but you only have 200 to spend.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I think we should…                                            That’s a good idea, but don’t you think…

I believe we could.. …                                        Why don’t we…      

I tend to agree with you, but maybe we…

Read the ingredients and equipment list of a Jamie Oliver’s recipe. What kind of dish will he make? How would you put the ingredients together?

ingredients • 3 cloves of garlic • a small bunch of fresh basil • olive oil 1 fresh red chilli • 2 x 400g tins plum tomatoes • sea salt and freshly ground black pepper • red wine vinegar • 4 x 150g white fish fillets such as coley, whiting or pollock, skin off and bones removed • a handful of black olives, stone in 1 tablespoon capers, drained

Equipment list Chopping board Knife Large pan Wooden spoon Tin opener Roasting tray (approximately 20cm x 30cm)

Close test - You can also do it interactively online. http://l.georges.online.fr/tools/cloze.php

To  -  around  -  but – by – for –from – in – into – of – off – on – over- through – to – until – up - with

Baked white fish  olives and a simple tomato sauce

The most important thing  remember  this recipe is  buy good-quality fish  your local fishmonger or supermarket. The recipe Ive given you here can be used  all sorts  dishes  � Ive shown you how  tweak it  go  fish,  you can try using it  anything  pasta  grilled chicken. If you want  save some time, double the quantities and freeze half  the sauce (it will keep  a couple  months), or pop it  the fridge    a week.

 make your sauce

1. Peel and finely slice the garlic cloves. Pick the basil leaves and put aside, finely slice the stalks.

2. Add a good couple  lugs  olive oil  a large pan  medium heat. Add the garlic and basil stalks. Pierce the chilli once  a knife so it doesn't explode when frying, and add  the pan. Fry gently  the garlic is soft  not coloured, stirring occasionally.

3. Add the tins  tomato and season lightly  salt and pepper. Gently simmer  low heat  30 minutes. Remove the chilli. Break and mush the tomatoes  a wooden spoon. Season the sauce really carefully  more salt and pepper if needed, and add a tiny swig  red wine vinegar  give it a little twang.

 prepare and cook your fish

4. Preheat the oven  220°C/425°F/gas 7.

5. Pour your tomato sauce  a roasting tray (approximately 20cm x 30cm). Season the fish fillets  both sides  a little salt and pepper, then place  top  the sauce. Squash the olives, using the base  a jar or something heavy, and remove the stones. Sprinkle the olives and capers  the fish. Scatter the reserved basil leaves  the fish.

6. Cook  the oven   15 minutes or  the fish is cooked  (check  cutting  the thickest part  one or two  the fillets). Lovely served  new potatoes and a green salad.

Pronunciation practice

Take a look at the words below:

save and time

What do they have in common? Have you ever heard of the silent final “e”? Watch a pronunciation tip and decide what’s the right pronunciation for the words on the table.

Watch a movie scene and answer the following questions. Describe the scene. How does the food make her feel? What’s your comfort food? When do you feel you need it?

 How well you cook?

 Do you think food help people bond?

 Are you environmental aware when comes to your eating habits?

 How many different color foods did you eat for dinner last night?

 How much have your eating habits changed over the years?

 Was there any dish or ingredient that you talked about today that you’d be excited to try out?

Going beyond

Take a look at a pinterest about food. Do you have a good suggestion to add to it? Is there any family recipe that you’d like to share with the group?

Making Online Teaching Come Alive

Language teaching is about interaction, right? I used glogster to make my weekly announcement more appealing to students and to make sure they know what's expected from them in terms of production. This week they will share what's on the local news. I'm looking forward to lots of engagement.

Reported Speech

• photo credit: Tayrawr Fortune via photo pin cc
• 
  
• Intermediate
• Teens; Adults
• Practice
• Movies 
• Reported speech

1. In this movie the main actress plays the role of a movie stars who falls for an ordinary guy. There is a scene in which he tells her that he couldn't marry her because she lived in Beverly hills, and  he lived in Notting Hill. What movie is it?

2. Watch the scene and answer the questions below.

What happens in the scene?

What does he say to her?

How does he react?

What would you do if you were in his shoes?

3. Complete the sentence below with the right form of the verbs in parenthesis.

a. I know she can deliver a line, but she said that she ______ (BE) just a girl standing in front of a boy asking him to love her.

4. Watch another short scene and correct your sentence.

5. Try to remember a movie scene and tell your partner what was said, why it was said and how. Can your partner guess what  movie it is?

Notting Hill - Participial Adjectives

• 
  
• Advanced
• Teens; Adults
• Warmer
• Love 
• Participial adjectives

• Can you guess what movie it is?
• The plot; the life of a simple bookshop owner changes when he meets the most famous film star in the world. Great movie to all audiences!
• 
  
• Watch the segment and complete the sentences below with one of the words in the cloud:
• 
  

1. Mr. Thacker was really _________________________ about meeting Anna Scott.

2. Ana Scott was very _________________ by Mr. Thacker's being at the press conference.

3. Ana Scot t was a bit _______________ because she had to answer many questions. 

4. Ana Scott was a bit _______________ by Mr. Thacker's asking her to reconsider her decision of leaving Britain.

5.Mr. Thacker said that the readers of House and Hound would be absolutely ________________.

6. All the reporters were absolutely ____________ by the revelation of Theckr's and Ana's love situation.

7. Everybody was extremely ______________________ by Ana's __________________ smile.

Notting hill is a _________________ movie, and it tells the story of a very unusual romance. 

Mr. Thacker is so _______________ by Anna'e reaction that he believes that his dreams came true. 

Complete the table with four sentences from the quiz.

Sentences with adjectives ending in – ed

Sentences with adjectives ending in - ing

What’s the difference?

The present and past participle forms of many verbs function as adjectives.

The past participle (tired, excited, annoyed) has a passive meaning. Most sentences using past participles can be restated with a by phrase.

The artist is excited = He is excited by the news

Follow up

Think of a soothing, interesting or stimulating movie that you like. You are going to tell your partner about it. Choose from the list the things you want to talk about. Think about what you’ll say and what language you’ll need.

€ Does the movie bring you memories? What kind?

€ Have you watched this movie  recently?

€ What is the movie about?

€ What do you think about the director?

€ How could you describe the scenes?

€ Who is in it?

€ What's the sountrack like?

€ What are the most exciting/ inspiting/thrilling part?

Invictus - A Poem to Inspire - Punctuation Practice

Intermediate +
Punctuation; using commas
APP; Explaineverything - IOS
Ipad - Optional
Camera
Internet Status; offline
Worksheet

Student A - Watch and/or read about movie scene 1 and prepare to tell your parner about it.
Student B - Watch and/or read about movie scene 2 and prepare to tell your parner about it.

Scene 1.

Mandela remembered a game in Barcelona. At the time, the future seemed very bleak, but he was inspired by a song.

According to Mandela, people need inspiration.

Nelson Mandela told the captain of the team that when things got really bad, he found inspiration in a poem.

Because Mandela had the poem, he had the strength to deal with the situation.

On the day of a big match, the captain played a familiar song, so the players would get inspired.

Nelson Mandela wanted the captain to inspire the players, for he wanted to use rugby as a way to unite the country.

The captain understood Mandela because he also knows how important it is to feel inspired in order to accomplish a goal.

Scene 2

The captain of the team decided to visit the prison Mandela went to, for he wanted to understand him better and get inspired.
The whole team visited the prison, but only the captain knew about the poem.
The captain was really touched by the poor conditions, and started remembering the poem.
The captain could hear the poem in his head, and he was really emotional.
At the end, the visit was a great success, and everybody got the inspiration needed

2. Watch a presentation and take notes.

3. Add commas to the sentences if it is necessary.
The players are practicing a lot but nobody knows whether they will be able to win the game.
The president asks the captain to inspire the team for it’s essential that people start trusting each other.
The players the manager and the captain visited the prison.
I don’t know if the players will sing the song or if they’ll keep pretending.
4. Watch this inspiring trailer and write sentences of your own using the guidelines you've studied.

5. Discuss in groups:
Have you ever felt down or really sad and came across someone or something inspiring?
What inspires you?
What are you passionate about?
Name one inspiring movie and say why.
Name an inspiring song or book and say why you find it special.

6. Make a presentation on explainanything about learning punctuation.

Answerkey:
The players are practicing a lot, but nobody knows whether they will be able to win the game.
The president asks the captain to inspire the team, for it’s essential that people start trusting each other.
The players, the manager, and the captain visited the prison.
I don’t know if the players will sing the song, or if they’ll keep pretending.

Uses of Thinglink in a Language Class - Phrasal Verbs

Illustrating Phrasal Verbs

Low intermediate +

Vocabulary Learning Strategies
Contextualizing or personalizing phrasal verbs

Thinglink

Ipad  - Optional

Camera

App - Educreations (free) - Optional

Internet Status; online

Instructions:

This is a good activity to make phrasal verbs more meaningful to students. After they deal with phrasal verbs, ask them to illustrate some that are trickier to remember. If students have Ipads, have them draw on educreations. If not, ask them to draw on a piece of paper. Take pictures and compile all the photos on thinglink. Have students find cool links to illustate the phrasal verbs even more. 

TIP 

When you upload the image to thinglink, have it open so that your students can tag the images from home.

In the following class, have a debriefing moment by exploring their work. 

Extra practice

Play STOP!

Students see the image. Music is on and they have to write as many sentences as they can using the modal verbs depicted in the image. Music stops. Students with more/funniest/most creative sentences win.

Using Educreations to Suggest Movies

Suggesting Movies

Advanced

Speaking
Contextualizing or personalizing language

Ipad  

App - Educreations (free)

Instructions:

Do you sometimes talk about movies in class?
I asked my students to find posters of movies they like on google image. I used educreations to record their talking about the movies. Then I asked them to share their suggestions and agree on the best one to watch right after class. 

Flickr and the Learning Process

Show Me

 Here is an activity to have students reflect upon their learning process
Intermediate +

Speaking/Listening

Cameras

Flickr

A.    Many people believe that an image is worth a thousand words.  Go to flickr.com and choose 5 pictures that talk to you. Prepare a short presentation about them so that your classmates can get a picture of who you are.

     

B. Are you familiar with the rule of thirds? Read the definition below and decide which picture below applies the concept well.

Rule of Thirds

a composition rule that divides the screen into thirds horizontally and vertically, like a tic-tac toe grid placed over the picture on a television set. Almost all of the important information included in every shot is located at one of the four intersections of the horizontal and vertical lines

c. Now it’s time to take some photos. Grab your cell phone and go on a photo taking tour. Write a short text about your photo relating it to your own learning process, and make it available for the other students in class.

See an example here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/danilyra/sets/72157629747572598/