Food and French dishes with an emphasis on regional dishes.

How did you pick this theme or topic?

I thought that after having talked about French regions, it would be good to do a follow-up lesson and also introduce the materials of the project since both groups want to do something related to food. And learning more about the typical French dishes is good for their general knowledge about French culture since gastronomy is very important in France.

How did you present the material? (Handouts, group work, general discussion, student presentations, etc.)

Group work
Work in pairs
General discussion

How did students react?

They reacted very well, they were very interested and they liked talking about food and French dishes. Some of them knew some typical dishes but only a few, most of them only knew the basic French food like cheese or bread, so I think that’s why they were eager to know more about French food.

Did they engage with each other and you?

Yes they all participated, talked to each other since they had to work in pairs, and asked questions to me to know more about some dishes. One student was also very interested in the cooking vocabulary so we spent some time on that topic.

What materials or media did you use? (articles, satellite tv, digital projector, etc.)
Handouts
Powerpoint presentation on the tv screen

Please attach a copy.
Below is the plan I had with me in class.

Would you recommend this activity for a future class?
Yes, totally. I think it was a real success. And they left the class hungry after that!

9/24

1. Warm-up

2. introduction to basic vocabulary to describe dishes

– in pairs, they need to fill out a sheet with food pictures
– and then to sort out the words in the chart

3. Interview questions – in pairs

– What is their favorite dish ?
– Have they ever tried French dishes ?
– What French dish would they like to try ?

4. PowerPoint presentation

– need to guess the dish, the region and what seems to be in (ingredients)