Category Archives: "Food"

Getting teens interested in topics can be hard work. Videos can be a great way to get them and even adults more engaged in a topic. This week’s post looks at four different activities that can help practice key skills and develop interest and knowledge in the topic of food. Don’t forget to follow/add me on twitter and facebook for weekly ESL ideas.

Fast Food Facts

This activity can be a great way to get teens engaged by using a video to introduce a topic.
Activity Time:  5 – 10 minutes + Materials required: Students require pen/pencil and a piece of paper Skills practiced: Speaking, listening and reading. Level: Pre-intermediate +Method: 1. Put the class in pairs. Tell the students they are going to watch a video.
2. First, play the video and ask the students to answer the following question as a warm up. Stop the video at 0.59 seconds.
 How many customers can a single fast food company serve in one day?

 

Answer: 46 million
 
3. Tell the students they are going to hear twenty facts in one minute. Tell them that they must listen and write as many as they can. After they hear the list for the first time, they will get a few minutes to check their answers with their partner. Then, they will listen a final time. (Note: It is not essential that your students get all of the facts.) 4. Ask the students to look at the facts and pick one piece of information that they found interesting or surprising. Discuss the facts.
#1 40 percent of American meals are eaten outside of the home. #2 Each day, one in four Americans visit a fast food restaurant. #3 60% of adults and 16% of children are overweight. #4 A mustard stain will damage a good shirt. #5 French fries are the most eaten vegetable in America #6 You would have to walk for seven hours to burn off the calories from a Coke, fries and Big Mac. #7 Sometimes chicken isn’t chicken. #8 Burger King’s Light Italian still has 18 percent of your daily fat. #9 Cute cows die #10 McDonalds distrubutes more toys per year than ToysRUs #11 Children who eat fast food gain about 6 pounds (2.7Kg) more per year than normal. #12 100,000 deaths each year have been linked to obesity. #13 Love handles aren’t lovely. #14 Daily consumption can lead to a psychological addiction. #15 Fast food compromises diet quality by displacing healthy food. #16 Obesity has been linked to 20 physical problems and diseases. #17 Only seven items on McDonalds menu don’t contain sugar. #18 Taco Bell equals frequent bathroom visits. #19 Obesity will pass smoking as the leading cause of death in America #20 A diet hight in sodium, fat and cholesterol can lead to heart disease.

ESL Food Conversation Questions

Activity Time:  5 – 10 minutes + Materials required: A print out of the questions below. Download  Skills practiced: Speaking, listening and reading. Level: Pre-intermediate +
Method
 
Print out the following questions and cut them out. Each student takes a question and answers it.
If you could only eat one thing every day for your entire life, what would it be? Why?
What was the first thing you ate today?
What do you hate to eat? Why?
What is your favourite national dish? Why?
What is your favourite thing to cook?
Why?
What is the nicest thing you have ever eaten?  Describe it.
Which country makes the best food? Which makes the worst?
Why?
Would you like to be a vegetarian? Why/why not?
Do you think the food in your country is healthy? Why/Why not?
Which country in your opinion has the healthiest diet in the world? Why?
Which country has the worst diet in the world? Why?
How healthy is your diet? Why do you think that?
What’s your favourite junk food to eat? Why?
Do you believe “we are what we eat”?
Why/why not?

Food Memory Challenge

Activity Time:  5 + Materials required: It’s optional to project the image below to use as a guide and visual. Skills practiced: Speaking, vocabulary. Level: Any levelMethod 1. Explain to the class that they are going to play a game. The first student starts with A and they must say a fruit or food that begins with A. e.g Apple 2. The second student must say a food item that begins with B e.g Banana. 3. Keep going student after student. If a student is unable to answer, they are eliminated. The game ends when there is only one student left.

Celebrity Chef

Activity Time:  10 Minutes + Materials required: Video shown below Skills practiced: Speaking, Listening and Writing. Level: Lower intermediate +
Method
1. Show your students the following two pictures.
Ask them the following questions:
Who is he? 
What do you think his job is?
Why do you think this? etc
2. Tell them that they are going to watch a video and you would like them to answer the following questions;
1. How many people is Jamie Oliver cooking for?
2. What is one of the most important things about cooking paella?
3. What are the first 4 ingredients Jamie Oliver mentions?
4. What seafood is used?
5. What do you think the Flamenco singer is singing about?
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ESL Food Activities

Getting teens interested in topics can be hard work. Videos can be a great way to get them and even adults more engaged in a topic. This week’s post looks at four different activities that can help practice key skills and develop interest and knowledge in the topic of food. Don’t forget to follow/add me on twitter and […]