PROJECT

PROGECT "COOKERY BOOK"

Level: low-intermediate
Grade: 9
Age: 14
Number of students: 15
Time taken to do the project: 3 weeks

OBJECTIVES:

– to increase the motivation of learning English through connecting the study process (writing and translating into English, speaking English, etc.) with a life situation (preparing and tasting a dish according to the recipe)
– to stimulate the students’ designing abilities while illustrating the pages
– to practice recipe-writing

SKILLS:

Speaking/listening: discussion of recipe contents, giving short presentation talks
Reading: recipe books; dictionaries
Writing: recipes
Translating: from Russian into English
Communication: interviewing parents for family recipes

END PRODUCT:

– “Cookery Book”, a collection of simple to cook recipes
– home-made dishes to illustrate the recipes
– “laying the table” ceremony

Stage I: Introduction. Setting the Task

Within the framework of the topic “Food” a teacher may introduce a project idea of making a cookery book that should contain family recipes of simple-to-cook dishes. It involves discussion with parents. The recipe should be typed and properly illustrated.

Stage 2: Collecting materials. Discussing

The students interview their parents and find proper illustrations. They discuss the acquired information with the teacher and the class and make a draft page in Russian.

Stage 3: Translating

The students translate their recipes into English and discuss the text with the teacher. After necessary corrections they are to type the page on a computer and provide a proper design.

Stage 4: Presentation

The presentation of the “Cookery Book” Project logically involves a meal and laying the table with the dishes prepared at home according to the recipes. It makes the project highly motivated. The students should prepare the dishes beforehand and bring the objects for laying the table and decorating it (a tablecloth, napkins, candles, plates, spoons, cups, etc.).
Possible activities at the presentation:

– individual presentation of pages by the students (reading out or reciting the recipes)
– compiling them into a book right on the spot
– a “guessing game” in two variants:

a) a student reads out the recipe (the way of preparation) without naming the dish and the classmates should guess what dish it is
b) – (a more difficult one) – a student reads out the ingredients and the classmates should guess what dish can be made of them

– “laying the table” procedure which involves teaching table manners and speech etiquette
– practising good table manners at the table including polite expressions, mini-dialogues, etc. (To induce speaking, cards with tasks either in Russian or in English can be distributed.)

MOTIVATING AND EDUCATIONAL ASPECTS:

Thus, the end product involves not only showing each other the pages of a Cookery Book, but connecting the result (a written and typed recipe) with the life situation through practising it in class. The unusual and interactive atmosphere at the lesson is likely to increase the students’ interest in studying the English language and to ameliorate the relationship both among the students and between the teacher and the class. Moreover, it is an appropriate way of improving the moral look of the students through practising good table manners.

LESSON - PRESENTATION

Theme: Food
Presentation of the project “Cookery Book”

Objectives:

– developing comprehensive and speaking skills, and dialogical speech
– teaching good manners at table
– developing the communicative abilities of the students

Time: 40 minutes
Location: classroom

1. Introduction talk. Warmer (A song “I like food”)...........5 min
2. Presentation of the project:
(Final stage of the project work “Making a Cookery
Book”, which took up about four weeks)
– A “guessing” game “What dish is it?”..................................15 min
(A student reads out the ingredients from
his recipe and the classmates should guess
the name of the dish)
– Compiling the Cookery Book ............................................3 min
3. Laying the table and tasting the home-made dishes..........20 min

– laying the tablecloth
– placing the plates, cups and cutlery
– decorating the table
– talking about good table manners
– tasting dishes
– practising polite expressions at the table

4. Finishing the party. Clearing the table.....................2 min
Skills and abilities taught at different stages:

1. Choral singing
2. Speaking, comprehension, logical association
3. Speaking, listening, dialogical speech,teaching polite behaviour and good table manners
4. Speaking; teaching good manners.

By Marina Tropinskaya,
Moscow, School No.1732