You might end up in a situation where you need to cover for a colleague but have no clue what the class is supposed to be doing in the coming lesson. Very often, you only know their level and which course book they use (if any). So, it's essential to have some treasures at hand before you enter the classroom. In this post, let me show you some materials for an emergency vocabulary revision activity.
New English File Mind-Maps
Today, I'd like to take you to the English File website — more precisely, to their Teaching Resources. You might not use this series (I used it for many years and really enjoyed working with it, mostly the second edition), but it gives you access to some genuinely valuable materials. Take your time to browse through everything on offer. This time, I'd like to draw your attention to the Vocabulary mind-maps (scroll down to the bottom). These sheets might just save a lesson for you.
Imagine you need to take over an Advanced-level class, knowing only that they started their course about three months ago. Having glanced at their course book, you decide to cover Food & Cooking with them. Once you've downloaded the Advanced files, you'll find this topic in File 9. Here are the two mind-maps:
COOKING UTENSILS PRACTICE (HERE IS THE COMPLETE VERSION)
WAYS OF PREPARING FOOD PRACTICE (HERE IS THE COMPLETE VERSION)
As you can see, you have two versions (practice vs complete) at your disposal. This means you can prepare for two scenarios: your students might already know the topic, or they might need to be taught the target language at C1 level. With this in mind, you could plan a lesson along these lines:
Warm-up (5 min)
Welcome the students and tell them about the substitution. Play Hangman with the class to guess today's topic (FOOD AND COOKING). Ask students whether they like cooking (or eating).
Lead-in (15 min)
Ask them to explain the following four statements (write these on the whiteboard):
- You are what you eat.
- The way to a man's heart is through his stomach.
- It's no use crying over spilt milk.
- Too many cooks spoil the broth.
Then ask them to choose a partner (better if they choose first, since you don't know the class) and, in pairs, tell each other about situations in real life when they have used (or could have used) these proverbs. Monitor and give feedback.
Main part (30+ min)
Give students the handout on Utensils and, after swapping pairs, ask them to discuss what these objects might be used for and what dishes might be prepared with them. Monitor. Ask for and give feedback in open class.
Then give them the second worksheet (Ways of Preparing Food). You can either start with the blank version and ask students to list as many ways of preparing food as they know, or give them the complete version and ask them to work in pairs (with a new partner, if possible) to sort the dishes on the worksheet. They can choose their own categories, such as: courses (starter, main course, side dish, dessert, etc.), type of restaurant (fast food, gourmet restaurant, ethnic restaurant, vegetarian restaurant, etc.), or occasions (breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack, party food, etc.). Let your students use their imagination. Monitor. Ask for and give feedback in open class.
Follow-up
Anything you consider useful, such as:
- Set up a group activity to design a menu for a new Italian, Indian, etc. restaurant in London.
- If possible, ask them to get out their smartphones and send them on an online tour of restaurant reviews (you might want to find some comments in English about their favourite local restaurant).
- Turn the lesson into a writing task and ask them to write a complaint letter to a restaurant manager about the declining quality of a restaurant following a recent change of chef.
- Ask them to discuss competition cooking shows (like MasterChef), which remain very popular, and talk about their downsides (high pressure, public humiliation, plenty of hostility in the US version, etc.).
- Ask them to discuss, in pairs, which national dish they would present at an international fair to make their cuisine more popular, and what they think people generally think of their national cuisine, etc.
Whatever topic you choose, the English File mind-maps will guide you and help you improvise a lesson at the right level and to a high standard.