Lesson goal: Students can talk about food traditions, tastes and eating habits, and describe how their habits have changed using would, used to and be/get used to.
Add the lesson to get your own copies of the word set and exercises; the lesson opens in the builder, where you can adjust the steps and teach it.
Lesson plan
- 1
Warm-up
Questions to get the student talking and lead into the topic.
- What did your family eat on special occasions when you were a child?
- Is there a dish from your country that foreigners find strange?
- Do you usually cook from scratch, or do you rely on ready meals?
- What do you like to eat after a really bad day?
- 2
New words
Meet the words and practise them in games.
MemoryFill the gapstaple · delicacy · cuisine · an acquired taste · locally sourced · comfort food · indulge in · savour · bland · mouth-watering · culinary · palate · a fussy eater · a sweet tooth · processed food
All words in the set - 3
Exercises
The lesson's words in context. Only you see the answers.
- Fill the gap
Rice is the ___ food for more than half of the world's population.
Answer: staple - Fill the gap
Hardly anyone likes olives the first time — they're an acquired ___.
Answer: taste - Fill the gap
When I was little, my grandmother ___ bake bread every Sunday morning.
Answer: would / used to - Fill the gap
After a year in Japan, I finally got used to ___ fish for breakfast.
Answer: eating - Multiple choice
A child who refuses to eat most vegetables is ...
a fussy eatera sweet toothan acquired tastea delicacy - Multiple choice
Which sentence is correct?
I'm used to cooking for a big family.I'm used to cook for a big family.I use to cook for a big family.I used to cooking for a big family. - Multiple choice
Soup with too little salt or spice tastes ...
blandmouth-wateringculinarylocally sourced - True / false
Read: "Fifty years ago, most families in the region would eat whatever grew nearby: cabbage, potatoes and mushrooms from the forest. Today supermarkets sell avocados all year round, yet a growing number of young chefs are returning to locally sourced ingredients and treating their grandmothers' recipes as a source of pride rather than a sign of poverty." According to the text, young chefs are embarrassed by traditional recipes.
Answer: False - True / false
Read the text again. In the past, families mostly ate food produced close to home.
Answer: True - Discussion question
Describe a food you disliked as a child but enjoy now (or the other way round). Use would, used to and be/get used to.
Sample answer: As a child I used to hide mushrooms under my potatoes, and my mother would always find them, of course. When I moved to Poland, though, I had to get used to eating them almost every day, and now I genuinely love them. These days I'm so used to cooking with wild mushrooms that autumn wouldn't feel the same without them.
- Fill the gap
- 4
Speaking
The student answers using the new words.
- Is a country's cuisine an important part of its national identity? Why?
- Should schools teach children to cook? What would you include in the course?
- Is it worth paying more for locally sourced food?
- What's the most unusual delicacy you've ever tried — or refused to try?
- Is it rude to refuse food when you're a guest? What would you do?
- 5
Review
A quiz on the lesson's words. With a student, it's homework on their link.
Quiz