Tag Archives: vocabulary

Ready-Made Lesson: Food and eating

Lesson on Food and Eating at Intermediate Level.

  • Vocabulary
  • Listening Comprehension
  • Picture description
  • Questions for discussion
  • Writing

STEP 1. VOCABULARY. You can download the pdf here.

To talk, you need words. These are  the words I think my intermediate students will probably need.

Adjectives

  • fresh fish
  • frozen lasagne
  • low-fat /high fat cheese
  • raw fish
  • spicy chicken
  • takeaway pizza
  • tinned meatballs
  • ready-made dish
  • delicious /nice taste
  • it’s nice/ it’s disgusting
  • fizzy drinks
  • healthy/unhealthy food
  • fatty food

 

Verbs

  • to eat out
  • to eat sensibly
  • to cut down on sugar
  • to cut out sugar
  • to be on a diet
  • to lose weight
  • to put on weight
  • to order food
  • to take vitamins
  • to take food supplements
  • to try new food
  • to contain vitamins and minerals
  • to have a balanced diet

Nouns

  • (food that is high/low in) carbohydrates “carbs”
  • (rich/high – low/poor in) proteins
  • (high in ) sugar
  • eating habits
  • a nutritionist
  • fats

STEP 2. LISTENING COMPREHENSION 

  • At this level, students know what a “vegetarian” is. So write the word VEGETARIAN on the whiteboard and ask students if they know any vegetarians and if they do,   what it is like for them when they eat out. Write the word “veggie” and explain that it is another term for vegetarian.  Play the listening below, just for fun! It only lasts 36 seconds and it is worth every second of it!

The word “vegetarian” is a blanket term used to describe somebody who does not eat meat, poultry, fish or seafood. But then, within this term there exist different sub-groups. Ask students if they know any of these sub-groups and if they think a diet without meat is better than a diet with it.

  • Tell students they are going to do a listening comprehension about the different types of vegetarians.

 

STEP 3. SPEAKING. You can download the pdf here

  • Picture description: Students describe the pictures talking about the topic  suggested .

EATING OUT IS NEVER A HEALTHY OPTION. Do you agree?

 

  • Interaction. Students in pairs or in threes talk about the questions elaborating on the answers.
  1. Is there any food or drink that you couldn’t live without? How often do you drink/eat it?
  2. Is there any food that you dislike? Which is it?
  3. What was your favourite food when you were a child?
  4. Do you eat healthily? Explain
  5. Do you ever have…
  •  ready-made food?
  •   takeaway food?
  1. Do you prefer to eat at restaurants or at home?
  2. What’s the best restaurant you have been to?
  3. Is a vegetarian diet better than a diet that includes meat? Why?
  4. What kind of diet would you recommend to a friend?
  5. Eating habits have changed a lot in Spain . Do you agree?
  6. “An apple a day keeps the doctor away” Do you agree with this proverb?

STEP 4. WRITING

Write an opinion essay on  :

Eating meat can cause serious health problems so the best option is to become a vegetarian. To what extent do you agree or disagree?

Check out how to write a for and against essay in my Writing Section  here

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Word of the Day: Expressions with MIND

How many expressions do you know containing the word MIND? Have a look at these ones:

Can you guess their meaning? Click to display

What gift do you have in mind for Harry?

 Intend ( to get)

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Emily has set her mind on a degree on medicine

decided to try and achieve// it can also be followed by “to”

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You should bear in mind that the text is only one hour

remember

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I must be out of my mind lending Gavin money!

crazy

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I tried to remember her name, but my mind went completely blank

cannot remember anything

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He turned to go and then seemed to change his mind

Adopt a different opinion or plan

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He made up his mind to attend the meeting although it was a difficult decision

Make a decision

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I do not have any particular person in mind for this job

Be thinking of someone or something

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We should take Alice to the cinema tonight.It will take her mind off her exams

make her stop thinking about

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Now , try to answer these questions containing expressions with the word “mind”

  1. What do you need to bear in mind when …?
  • buying a second-hand car?
  • setting up your own business?
  • writing a composition?
  1. Are you an indecisive person ? Do you often change your mind? Do you change your mind about trivial things or about more serious ones? When was the last time you changed your mind about something?
  2. Are you planning your next holidays? What sort of holidays do you have in mind?
  3. Do you find it easy to make up your mind ..
  • when you are buying clothes?
  • when the option is telling a lie or telling the truth?
  1. Talk about the last time your mind went blank. Where were you? What were you doing? What happened?
  2. Talk about a time
  • you went out of your mind with grief
  • you wanted something so much , you just went out of your mind and paid a fortune for it
  • you were bored out of your mind
  1. Finish the sentence: It seemed impossible at first but I set my mind on …. and
  2. Where do you go and what do you do to take your mind off your problems?

Test your knowledge below (only for Spanish students)

 

Word of the day : Win and Beat

Do you know the difference between the verbs “win” and “beat”?

Which is correct ..?

  • Real Madrid beat FC Barcelona(by) 3-1
  • Real Madrid won FC Barcelona (by) 3-1

Study the difference .

  • Win/wɪn/, won/wʌn/, won/wʌn/ means to achieve first position and/or  get a prize in a competition or competitive situation. You win a game or a competition
  • Beat/biːt/, beat/biːt/, beaten /ˈbiːtn/ means to defeat or to do better. You beat a person or a team you are playing against

So now, which of the two sentences above is correct? Well done , the first sentence “Real Madrid beat FC Barcelona (by)  3-1 “ is correct

Test yourself with these exercises:

He ___ first prize in the raffle

won

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Everybody likes ___ an argument

winning

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She has ____ her own record of three minutes ten seconds.

beaten

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Spain ___ Belgium by 5-4

beat

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He ___ her at tennis

beat

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He ___ first place in the competition

won

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Thanks for reading! 🙂

Source: Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary

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Did you Know….Aged?

Did you know that the word “aged” has two different pronunciations?

 

1.It’s pronounced /eidʒd/ when it means “years old” or when it is the verb in its past or past participle form

♥a woman aged 40

♥she has a son aged eleven

2. It’s pronounced /ˈeɪdʒɪd/ when it is the adjective (formal)

♥an aged professor

♥ my aged computer is very slow

Also : The aged in this country need more services. /ˈeɪdʒɪd/ = very old people

Hope it helps! Keep posted!

Knoword: A Fun Highly Addictive Game to Help you Expand your Vocabulary

Wanna have some fun with words?

Knoword is a fast-paced word game that helps boost vocabulary and spelling . It is  highly addictive , a lot of fun  and  a game of quick thinking.

How does it work?

Once you hit the LET’S GO button , it gives you a dictionary definition randomly generated  and the first letter of the word you need to guess. You are given a minute to guess the word . If you don’t know , click on the X and you’ll briefly see the word before a new definition is presented to you. Every single time you guess a word , you get an added time bonus (5 seconds) + 20 points  and every time you skip a word -10 points

From the Menu on the right you can choose from three levels of difficulty: Novice, Hotshot and Wizard.

You don’t need to register to play the game although if you do , you can keep track of your statistics.

Seen on Free Technology for Teachers, a blog written by Richard Byrne, which I highly recommend.

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