Activity 1: What is your favorite restaurant? Have you ever been to a French restaurant? If yes, share your experience !
Activity 2: You are lost in Paris, in Lyon or in Lille and you need to ask for directions. I gave them three different maps and I divided the class into groups of two. One student had to ask for directions and the other one had to explain where to go. Then, exchange roles !
Activity 3: Role play: I gave them copies of the menu of a restaurant in Valenciennes in the North of France and they had to order food and drinks.
Class theme/topics discussed: Chilean food and dishes.
Goal of the class: To check information about typical Chilean food and dishes.
How did you structure the class?
*Spanish music in the background*
– Greet the students and check how they are feeling. Ask the students to share ideas about some typical dishes from their countries/cities. Then, they are asked if they know any Chilean dishes. They must share their ideas as a group (20min).
– Watch a video about typical Chilean food and use PPT presentation to reinforce some ideas, ingredients, and details about the dishes (20min).
– After watching the video and PPT presentation, the students are asked to share their opinions and thoughts about the Chilean dishes to the group in general (15min).
– Space for general questions, share final thoughts and closing. Students are asked what they enjoyed about the class and something they learned from today’s session (5min).
What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.) –
– Computer and TV
– PPT with pictures and information about food from Chile
What worked well in this class? What did not work?
I had more activities planned for this class, but I did not have enough time to cover them all, which is OK. The students would take their time to ask a lot of questions which is good, but sometimes they would express their ideas in a slow way, or they would have a hard time to make their ideas being understandable. On one hand it is a positive thing because they get to answer their questions and being able to communicate. On the other hand, it makes the class feel kind of slow paced and quiet.
How could this class be improved/modified?
Maybe I should have switched the order of some of the ideas I had to the class to focus more on the straight communicative and collaborative activities most of the time.
If you have a more detailed lesson plan, please attach it below (OK to use target language for that). Please attach any handouts as well.
Students LOVED this Study Break because of two things: Cheese and Music. These are the two elements you need if you want your Study Break to be popular
What worked well in this Event? What did not work (and how could it be improved)?
Very many students and professors came to this event, which made me very happy. Since I held this event on a weekend, accordingly many people had time to come, which I can also recommend. The only problem was that the purchased food and snacks were eaten relatively quickly. Some students unfortunately could not try German food, which is a pity. For the next event, which is held on a weekend, I would definitely buy enough food. In general, the interest in a brunch event was very high and especially the white sausages were very popular and therefore eaten very quickly. What I should have next time also on the screen that you need a lot of chairs and seating. Which one should organize in advance. In general, however, it was a very sound event, which was received with a lot of joy. Especially the fact that professors came to this event made me very happy.
Goal of the Class: Students discuss on stereotypes they have on French people; they also learn about the various stereotypes existing in different regions of France and also different kind of expressions used in daily speech and referring to these stereotypes. Students practice their listening and speaking skills by watching videos in French on the topic, and then discuss about it both in groups and then with the whole class
Warm-up : 10/15 minutes
Intermediate and advanced : Par groupes trouvez 5 clichés que vous avez sur les Français (in groups find 5 clichés/stereotypes that you have about French people). I gave students 10 minutes to talk about it in groups and then I asked each group to share what discussed. Then I showed them a picture of different typical stereotypes existing about French people around the world with vocabulary included and further explanation of them if needed.
Input:
As a transition towards the first activity, I gave them three commonly used expressions in French that are related to stereotypical traits generally assigned to French people: Grande gueule (talk too much, is too direct), dragueur (flirty), nul en langues (bad at languages)
Advanced: for advanced I added more specific cultural input on various stereotypes depending on the regions in France:
En France, selon les régions il y a aussi des clichés différents: Par exemple, on dit qu’en Bretagne il pleut tout le temps, à Paris les gens sont hautains et arrogants (haughty and snobbish), en Alsace ils mangent que de la choucroute (plat traditionnel avec du chou), la Normandie est principalement peuplée de vaches.
Ce ne sont que des stéréotypes et donc pas totalement vrai! par exemple, en Bretagne il ne pleut pas tout le temps (mais souvent) et beaucoup de Parisiens sont très gentils (pas tous)
Activity 1: In groups still I then asked them to discuss the following questions revolving around stereotypes on Americans:
Quels sont d’après vous les stéréotypes que les personnes étrangères ont sur les Américains ? (What do you think are the stereotypes that foreign people have about Americans?)
Est-ce qu’il y a des stéréotypes spécifiques pour chaque états des Etats Unis? Donnez des exemples (Are there specific stereotypes for each state in the United States? Give examples)
Est-ce que vous connaissez des clichés sur d’autres pays Européens comme l’Italie, l’Angleterre, l’Espagne, etc.? (Do you know any clichés about other European countries like Italy, England, Spain, etc.?)
After they discussed for about 10-13 minutes, we exchange as a class and then I gave them some stereotypes we have in France about Americans:
Les Américains mangent mal et il y a des fast foods partout
Les Américains sont très patriotes
Il y a plus d’armes (guns) que d’Américains
Les Américains n’ont pas d’assurance santé
Les gobelets rouges (red cups) dans les fêtes étudiantes
Les ‘Hugs’ pour dire Bonjour
Activity 2: this second activity is centered on a video I showed them. One is on how Europeans living in France and speaking French fluently view French people, and the other one is similar but is an interview of non-European people living in France.
Intermediate:
En regardant la vidéo, notez les mots que vous ne connaissez pas sur une feuille de papier ou votre téléphone portable (While watching the video, write down the words you don’t know on a piece of paper or your cell phone)
Les Français vus par des Européens (how Europeans see French people) :
Quels sont les clichés/stéréotypes mentionnés dans la vidéo? (What clichés/stereotypes are mentioned in the video?)
Then I showed them some slides I created with photos on new vocabulary mentioned in the video, here is an example:
Advanced:
Quels sont les clichés que certaines personnes hors d’Europes ont sur les français?
Quelles sont les habitudes / les comportements typiquement français ?
Last activity : Les gestes et expressions typiquement francais – French also speak using gestures. This video is very funny and explains some of these common gestures used in the common speech in France:
1- j’ai les chocotes/ça fait peur/c’est flippant/j’ai peur
2- I’m drunk
3- j’en ai par-dessus la tête/j’en ai marre
4- ça m’énerve!
5- et toc! / dans ta face
6- les doigts dans le nez (it was easy)
laquelle intégreriez-vous dans votre vie de tous les jours ? (Which one-s would you incorporate in your everyday life?)
Est-ce que vous utilisez des gestes quand vous parlez? (do you use gestures when you speak?
Feedback/end of the class: give one or two words that you learnt today, how many times do you think people do ‘la bise’ in France to introduce themselves?
Reflection: This class went so well both in the advanced and intermediate classes. The students were participating a lot and we ended up having very interesting points and elements of discussions raised all throughout the class. These classes definitely showed that conversation classes are much more than just practicing the target language, they can also be an opportunity to learn and enlarge point of views, knowledge on various topics/issues, etc. This class led to deep and meaningful exchanges as a whole class.
Food and Grocery + Vocabulary for Cooking and Baking
Goals of the Class
Identify food in a recipe and know how to cook/bake it
Warm Up
Who enjoys cooking? Who does it regularly? Has it changed with the pandemic? What’s your favorite food?
Activity 1
Quick food quiz about fruit & vegetables I showed them typical German fruits and vegetables (pictures) and they had to guess the name and translation. I showed just pictures and they had to guess the name of the fruit or the vegetable. What ingredients are used for this dish?
Activity 2
Everyone was given 3 vocabulary words (verbs for cooking) and had to explain them without using the word. Think of a dish that consists of the ingredients mentioned and then present it to the others. Not all ingredients have to be included and other ingredients can be used.
Activity 3
How to use the ingredients to cook? potatoes, beans, mushrooms, tomatoes, peppers, cucumber, carrots Apple, peach, strawberry, kiwi, banana What are the ingredients of your favorite foodShow us a picture
What worked well in this class? What did not work (and how could it be improved)?
Especially the explanation of the cooking vocabulary worked very well, and the students were able to memorize the vocabulary and use it later. Also, the presentation of the favorite dish with ingredients and cooking instructions was well received. The fruit and vegetable quiz were a bit too easy, here one could choose more difficult products.
Warm-up (15 minutes): Questions to discuss in group around Morning Routines and habits
The students have to discuss the following questions in groups of 3 to 4 students: Avez-vous une routine le matin? Que faites-vous habituellement après le réveil? (petit-déjeuner? Douche? Sport? Yoga? Lecture? Méditation?) – Do you have a morning routine? What do you usually do after waking up?
Qu’est-ce que tu fais en premier le matin?–What is the first thing you do after you wake up? Quelles sont les bonnes habitudes que vous aimeriez prendre le matin?–What are some good/healthy morning habits you would like to develop?
Qu’est-ce que tu manges au petit-déjeuner?–What do you usually eat for breakfast?
Est-ce que tu es un/une «lève tôt» ou un/une «couche tard» – are you an early bird or a night owl?
Provision of a vocabulary sheet with a lot of words, expressions and idioms pertaining to the morning routine in French (I included more difficult expressions/turn of phrases and idioms for the advanced level class). This sheet is designed to be a support for the following activities as well.
Activity 1: (20/25 minutes)
The first activity is based on creativity (writing) in groups of 2/3 students. First, I ask them to individually write on a small sheet of paper one word in relation to the word ‘Morning’. Then they all give them to me, I shuffle them, I create groups of 2/3 students, and each group randomly picks two papers. Based on the words they picked, they have to come up with a short story of about 100 words. This activity not only calls on to students’ imagination and creativity, but the way it is designed (team work) also makes it a good way for them to practice speaking in French by working on writing their story. They really liked this activity and it took them approximatively 20/25 minutes to write their story, after which each group chose to either tell the story or act it out. The whole class had a lot of fun!
Activity 2:
Another activity that could be done in this class is the following:
Les Français nous racontent leur routine matinale dans les rues de Paris –French people tell us about their morning routine in the streets of Paris : Video screening of Parisians interviewed in the street on their morning routine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lMIShoMuIk.
This video is very good not only for the vocabulary and expressions used by the persons interviewed but also because it teaches the most accurate ways of expressing one’s habits in a colloquial manner.
Instructions: Jot down what you understand about the interviewees’ daily routine; what did they understood about the interviewees’ morning routines: Quelles sont les routines matinales des personnes interviewées dans la video?
The last part of the activity can be a little quiz on words and expressions mentioned in the interviews that are either colloquial or idiomatic.
Warm up (5 mins) I ask my students to discuss the following questions in pairs: 1) Which traditional Russian meals do you know? 2) Have you ever tried Russian cuisine? What was your experience like? 3) Have you ever been to a Russian restaurant?
2. Activity 1. Do you know this meal? (10 minutes) I show my students pictures of the most famous meals and ask them to guess names or ingredients.
3. Activity 2. Cooking Vocabulary (10 mins) I show my students a PowerPoint slide with cooking vocabulary and ask if they know those words. I prepared a handout for them with those words.
4. Activity 3. Game: Describe an action (10 mins). After that, I ask my students to come in front of the class and show a cooking action without using words. Other students should guess what they are showing. Then they change.
5. Activity 4 (20 mins) I divide my students into two groups and ask them to choose one meal that is easy to cook. They should write a recipe on a board using the vocabulary they learnt. Then they present their recipe and we vote for the meal that the majority would like to try. Next class we will cook the meal using their recipe.
What worked well in this class? What did not work?
The class went well. Food is one of the most favorite topics of my students since they had been asking me to talk about Russian cuisine or cook something from the very beginning of the semester. This class is good for practicing the vocabulary dedicated to food and cooking. It also includes the cultural element.
How could this class be improved/ modified?
I would leave it as it is. This class was created with the help of the Spanish language resident Natalia Cano. You can include an activity, where students should describe a picture to practice food and cooking vocabulary.
Class theme/topic discussed: Food and beverages II
Goal of the class:
Students will be able to:
Describe food and use expressions to order food in a restaurant (for example: “me gustaría ordenar”, “quisiera pedir”, “¿Qué lleva el ___?”, “¿me podría traer la cuenta?”, etc)
Class structure:
Warm up:
Students remember vocabulary of ingredients of food by seeing last class’ images of Chilean food and saying the ingredients that they can see.
Activities
-Students watch a video on “how NOT to order food in Spanish” and are asked to identify the expressions that are used to order food, as well as answering: how should the customer have said those expressions in a better way?. After that, the facilitator writes on the board relevant expressions for ordering food.
-Students see an open-ended dialogue at a regular restaurant setting and practice the expressions filling in the blanks the information that they want to add to the situation. They practice asking about ingredients and describing plates in the process.
Roleplay: One of the students is the waiter and the others are customers. They simulate a restaurant setting in which some difficulties happen (they take turns so that someone is not always the waiter):
Their favorite plate is not available that day and they have to find something that could be enjoyable for them.
While eating, they realized that there was meat on what they ordered. They are vegetarians.
While eating, the restaurant is about to close, but they only started eating about 5 minutes ago.
Wrap up:
Adivina el plato de comida: Each students describes a plate, and the rest of the participants guess what the plate is.
Resources used: Projector, Power point presentation, youtube video
Reflection: What worked/did not work? How can it be improved?
Students participated well during the class. They had practiced describing food on the previous class, so it was easier for them to do it that class. It was surprising for me that they remembered so many things about Chilean food ( I thought that they would forget it right after the class). In general, they seemed to have fun, but I realized that, even though I still tried to model before each activity, I could have done it more; because there were a couple of situations in which students were not so sure about how to proceed, so then I would try to show them again.
Food ordering dialog (for controlled practice stage)
Mesero: Buenas tardes, bienvenido/a al restaurante ____________. Mi nombre es ____ y voy a ser su mesero. ¿Qué desea tomar/beber?
Use food vocabulary and expressions to indicate place (encima, al lado de, sobre, debajo de, etc.)
Class structure:
Warm up:
Students see an image of different kinds of foods and answer the question: “¿what’s your favorite food/restaurant?”
Activities:
-Students see images of Chilean traditional food and beverages (cazuela, humitas, empanadas, mote con huesillo, leche asada, terremoto) and mention the ingredients that they think they might have, how they think it could be prepared and whether it looks similar to a plate from another country or culture.
-“¿Qué comida es?”: Each student gets small pieces of paper that can have either an image, name of a meal or a description on it. They go around the room and try to exchange information with their classmates in order to match each image with the name of the plate and its description. Some of them are the ones that were shown before and some others were new.
-“Encuentra las diferencias”: Students get a sheet of paper with the image of a man in a kitchen. Some of them got the A form and others the B form. Both have a similar image on it, but many of the elements in the image are different. Without seeing their classmate’s sheet, they ask questions to them in order to find out what the differences are. (for example: “hay un trozo de queso al lado del vaso de leche?”)
Wrap up:
Students remember the Chilean food that they learned about and talk about which one they would eventually like to try and why.
Resources used: Projector, laptop, pieces of paper.
Reflection: What worked/did not work? How can it be improved?
Students seemed to like the topic about food and asked questions about Chilean food. One of my students has Mexican relatives and we realized that there were some plates that were similar, although they differ in aspects of how they are made or the ingredients. We also spent some time talking about the vocabulary difference of some ingredients (for example “porotos” vs “frijoles” or “choclo” vs “maiz”). The activity in which they had to ask questions about the other person’s image also worked well and it gave them the chance to ask questions about prepositions and more vocabulary.
What was a little bit more challenging were the descriptions of food on the sheet of paper. They ended up doing it well, but it took them a while to understand everything, so they asked questions on vocabulary and expressions. Maybe a simpler version of those descriptions could have worked better, but at the same time, I think that the little challenge that they had could also have been helpful, since it wasn’t extremely hard for them.
Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class):
Chinese Advanced level
Class theme/topics discussed:
Delicious Chinese food
Goal of the class:
By the end of this class, students will be able to understand the concept “八大菜系” in Chinese.
By the end of this class, students will be able to compare the similarities and differences among Lu, Chuang, and Yue.
By the end of this class, students will be able to understand talk about their likes and dislikes about Lu, Chuang, and Yue.
By the end of this class, students will be able to build conversations on food-related topics such as personal preferences (express likes and dislikes).
By the end of this class, students will be able to identify facts and hoaxes.
How did you structure the class?
Take attendance and greet the students 4:18
Presentation: main cuisines and regions 4:25
Discussion: have you had any? 4: 35
Presentation: features and cooking techniques of Lu, Chuan, and Yue. 4:38
What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.)
I used PowerPoint to create the slides (13 in total)
I used 笔记本 to create notes
I used google drive to share handouts.
I used Bilibili to play video clips.
What worked well in this class? What did not work? What worked well:
They were very interested in food-related topics and activities.
They had sufficient prior knowledge about Chinese food.
More supporting details for the facts than yesterday.
What did not work:
No one had any experiences with 麻辣。
They did not had much to share about East Asian food.
素食主义者，过敏，pronunciation with 鱼* you, 昆虫 and 乌龟。
Had trouble explaining #6.
E did not talk much in the breakout room.
How could this class be improved/ modified?
1. Some brief introduction of Korean and Japanese food. 2. Discourage over self-corrections.
Myth or fact?
1. 美國人最喜歡很甜的中國菜，比如說宮 gōng 保 bǎo 雞 jī 丁 dīng Kung Pao chicken/美国人最喜欢很甜的中国菜，比如说宫保鸡丁。 2. 大多數 shù the majority of 外國人不喜歡吃辣/大多数外国人不喜欢吃辣。 3. 外國人不喜歡嘴巴麻 má numbness 的感覺/很多外国人不喜欢嘴巴麻的感觉。 4. 外國人不喜歡帶骨 gǔ 頭 tou bone 的菜/外国人不喜欢带骨头的菜。
Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class):
Chinese advanced level
Class theme/topics discussed:
Create your own menu
Goal of the class:
By the end of this class, students will be able to pronounce the nouns of fruits, vegetables, meat, and other ingredients (see Appendix A).
By the end of this class, students will be able to adapt their knowledge of Asian and American culinary cuisines to productive activities.
By the end of this class, students will be able to using the cultural knowledge they have acquired to support their ideas.
By the end of this class, students will be able to exchange information and negotiate meanings.
How did you structure the class? (please see more details below on Page 3 and 4)
Take attendance and greet the students
Warm-up: ask students to share their thoughts on what was covered Tuesday.
Presentation: Read and explain the hypothetical scenarios (see Appendix B).
Communicative activity: customize a menu for your guests
Communicative activity: have a meeting with your colleagues
Wrap-up: Comment on their performance and talk about what is going to be covered in Week 4.
What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.)
I used PowerPoint to create the slides (4 in total)
I used Google Doc to create handouts (see Appendix A)
What worked well in this class? What did not work?
What worked well:
Having information laid out on a slide definitely worked better than providing oral instructions on rules or procedures of a game.
When I first tried to plan the week out Sunday, I thought about making the scenarios more complicated. Or having the stories set on days that are more special than the Spring Festival and birthday. But after the class Tuesday, I had decided to keep things direct and simple to avoid having them spend too more time on analyzing the situations than on the language itself.
Students were aware of my purpose for having both Chinese and American features included in this game. They had integrated the language practice with cultural perspectives amazingly.
What did not work:
One group had made a faster progression than the other one, it did affect the activity. But I could see that the slower students were a little disappointed on themselves.
I intentionally and purposefully apply flexible grouping to this class. But due to the small size of this class, students who are relatively introverted tend to reply on their extroverted team members, especially after the class comes back to the main session from the breakout rooms.
How could this class be improved/ modified?
I have always teamed up the extroverted and talkative students with the introverted ones. In the future I may try to break the rule and have the ones who are normally quieter work together.
If you have a more detailed lesson plan, please attach it below (OK to use target language for that). Please attach any handouts as well.
Time/step
Teacher focus
Student focus
Presentation Warm-up (5 mins)
-Take attendance -Greet the students and ask them if there are wildfires near their homes; ask them to look out of their windows now and describe the sky and the weather
– Connect their devices – Greet the instructor – Answer questions
Presentation (10 mins)
-Demonstrate the slide of Scenario One -Read the descriptions slowly -Demonstrate the Slide of Scenario Two -Read the descriptions slowly -Demonstrate the slide of the game rules and explain it step by step -Demonstrate the slides of the ingredients -Ask students take turns to read their names -Drop the handout in the Chat -Make student everyone is clear about the rules and gets the handout opened before getting into their breakout rooms
-Watch the clip -Share opinions -Comment
-Answer questions
-Share opinions
Communicative practice Customize a menu (20 mins)
– Observe their discussions
-Work with their partners on brainstorming what dishes they can make out of the ingredients provided on the handout -Come up with a menu that they are going to show to their customers
Communicative activities A meeting with your colleagues (20 mins)
-Bring the class back together -Switch participants between two breakout rooms -Observe their discussions and negotiations
-Bring the class together -Ask everyone to introduce part of their own menus
-Some of them change rooms -With the new partners, they each introduce and explain what they have come up with their initial partners -As “master chefs” who work at the same restaurants, they give suggestions to each other -They could also borrow ideas from their colleagues and ask to exchange some items on their menus -Take turns to speak
Wrap-up (5 mins)
-Comment on their performances -Talk about what is going to be covered next week
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