ESL Food Activities

Food is one of my favourite themes in the ESL classroom. Everyone can relate to food and has some opinion about the topic. 

Talking about food, nutrition, and cooking is a great way to get the students interested. These games tasks and activities work well in a class about food.

Iron Chef

Iron Chef was a famous cooking show that had two contestants in a cooking challenge. It can be adapted to the classroom for a fun activity.

Write the categories of food on the board. Decide with the students what foods from each category you would need for a good kitchen.

Place students in groups of 3 – 4. The teams take turns choosing the foods from the board until all the foods have been eliminated. With the foods they have chosen the teams plan together to make a full meal, with appetizer, salad, soup, main, desert, and drinks. They then present each course of their meal to the class and teacher can later decide on a winner in each category and overall.

Traditional Recipes

The students can either discuss or present traditional recipes from thier countries. They enjoy telling the class about the food and why it is famous. Also, explaining the recipe is a great way to review giving directions.

Food Labels

Food labels provide a great vocabulary activity. Explain to the students the meaning of calories, carbohydrates, protein, etc.
Using their own food products, students can analyze the labels and discuss the similarities and differences.

Canada Food Guide

The Canada Food Guide is a great tool to teach vocabulary. Read the guide wih your students and be sure to discuss the meanings of words like dairy, meat and alternatives, fruits and vegebtables, and grain. This guide also leads to a great discussion of eating healthy and how to make good food choices.

Listening

With the explosion of the Food Network and cooking on television, there is plenty of material to show the students for listening exercises. One option is to show a video of someone cooking something and have the students write down the steps. An Internet video on a specific food can give you a chance to ask them comprehension questions.

Artist Introductions - ESL Music Ideas

One exercise I like to do before a song is an artist introduction. In this activity the teacher reads a short bio of the artist and writes comprehension questions on the board. The questions can be on the board as the teacher reads or written after. This is a great way to test the students listening skills as well as give them information about the artist and song they are about to hear.

I especially like to showcase artists from my country. Students enjoy learning about music from around the world, especially from English speaking cultures.

Questions can include:

Where was the singer born?
How many albums has he sold?
How many awards has she won?

The extension of this activity is to have the students do the same thing. They can choose an English speaking artist and read a bio on that singer. Then they play their songs for the class. The bios can be written by the students or simply read from the Internet. Wikipedia is a great place to find short, simply written bios.

ESL Teaching Ideas - Music - "I'm Like a Bird" - Nelly Furtado

Nelly Furtado first became popular with her “I’m Like a Bird” single. The song is famous around the world. It is always a great activity in the ESL classroom due to this popularity. It is also a great song to teach the present simple. As well, you can teach metaphor and discuss the meaning of the chorus and why the singer wants to fly away.

Lyrics:

Nelly Furtado
“I’m Like a Bird”

You're beautiful, that's for sure
You'll never ever fade
You're lovely but it's not for sure
That I won't ever change
And though my love is rare
Though my love is true

I'm like a bird, I only fly away
I don't know where my soul is, I don't know where my home is
(and baby all I need for you to know is)
I'm like a bird, I only fly away
I don't know where my soul is , I don't know where my home is
All I need for you to know is

Your faith in me brings me to tears
Even after all these years
And it pains me so much to tell
That you don't know me that well
And though my love is rare
Though my love is true

I'm like a bird, I only fly away
I don't know where my soul is, I don't know where my home is
(and baby all I need for you to know is)
I'm like a bird, I only fly away
I don't know where my soul is , I don't know where my home is
All I need for you to know is

It's not that I wanna say goodbye
It's just that every time you try to tell me that you love me
Each and every single day I know
I'm going to have to eventually give you away
And though my love is rare
And though my love is true
Hey I'm just scared
That we may fall through



For lessons and tests on the simple present, check out these sites:

Simple Present Lesson

Simple Present Test

Simple Present Test

ESL Music Ideas - "Big Yellow Taxi" - Joni Mitchell

Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi” is an excellent song for the ESL classroom. It works well with an environmental theme. Allow the students to listen to the song, read the lyrics, and discuss the ideas that Mitchell is singing about. The chorus itself – “You don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone.” – is a common English phrase that can be explained to the class. How does it apply to this song? How does it apply to the environment?

From this song you can create discussion about the ideas in the song and the problems that Mitchell talks about. DDT, deforestation, and urbanization are some of those ideas.

I also like to do a listening activity in addition to the song. This Wikipedia link has a great explanation about how and why this song was written. I like to read this to the class and then ask them a number of comprehension questions.


Here is a listening activity with the lyrics:



Joni Mitchell
“Big Yellow Taxi”

They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
With a pink ________________, a boutique
And a swinging hot spot
Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you’ve got
Till it’s _______________
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

They took all the trees
Put em in a tree __________________
And they charged the people
A dollar and a half just to see em
Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you’ve got
Till it’s gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

Hey farmer farmer
Put away that d.d.t. now
Give me spots on my ___________________
But leave me the ________________ and the bees
Please!
Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you’ve got
Till its gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

Late last ____________________
I heard the screen door slam
And a big yellow taxi
Took away my old __________________
Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you’ve got
Till it’s gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

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ESL Music Ideas - The Little Mermaid

The Little Mermaid was a popular Disney movie with a very famous soundtrack. 

One of the songs in the movie is great for teaching subject verb agreement.

The reason the song is good for subject verb agreement is because it has many of these types of mistakes.

Kiss The Girl is sung by Sebastian, and he makes several verb agreement mistakes. It is also a great song to teach ain’t. Ain’t is a slang way to say every verb to be in the negative.

Here are the lyrics:

Little Mermaid
"Kiss The Girl"

There you see her
Sitting there across the way
She don't got a lot to say
But there's something about her
And you don't know why
But you're dying to try
You wanna kiss the girl

Yes, you want her
Look at her, you know you do
Possible she wants you too
There is one way to ask her
It don't take a word
Not a single word
Go on and kiss the girl

Sha la la la la la
My oh my
Look like the boy too shy
Ain't gonna kiss the girl
Sha la la la la la
Ain't that sad?
Ain't it a shame?
Too bad, he gonna miss the girl

Now's your moment
Floating in a blue lagoon
Boy you better do it soon
No time will be better
She don't say a word
And she won't say a word
Until you kiss the girl

Sha la la la la la
Don't be scared
You got the mood prepared
Go on and kiss the girl
Sha la la la la la
Don't stop now
Don't try to hide it how
You want to kiss the girl
Sha la la la la la
Float along
And listen to the song
The song say kiss the girl
Sha la la la la
The music play
Do what the music say
You got to kiss the girl
You've got to kiss the girl
You wanna kiss the girl
You've gotta kiss the girl
Go on and kiss the girl

Country Role-Play Activity

In this activity students work in groups to form imaginary countries. There are a variety of activities that can be implemented depending on the students’ levels.

In groups, students invent a country. In the first activity, they create a name, slogan, and flag. In a small presentation, students tell the class a little about their country and their flag. Encourage students to discuss what their country is famous for, including food, sports, entertainment, or other things.

List a number of natural resources on the board that the groups must discuss and rank by importance to their country.

Examples: Oceans, Lakes/Rivers, Fertile Land, Mountains, Mines, Deserts, Volcanoes, Jungle, Snow, Forests.

The groups then have a mock draft to pick an equal number of resources for each country. With those resources, the students must plan their countries. 

They can then give presentations that talk about how they will incorporate their resources into the economy, energy, and tourism. The groups can be divided to focus on each topic. For example, a group with jungles might talk about jungle tourism, or research and present food products found in a jungle. 

Be sure that each group does not use the other countries’ resources. A good example of this is oceans. Students who present on tourism always want to talk about beach resorts, but don’t let them if their country does not have oceans as a resource. This forces them to be creative with what they have.

Other games I like to play with this theme include inventing a national anthem, traditional dance, or national sport. With the use of classroom material, the countries can also have an architectural contest. World trivia can become a contest for which country has the best international relations. If your students are children and you have the space, an Olympics is always popular.

ESL Music Ideas - Are You Gonna Go My Way?

Are You Gonna Go My Way was Lenny Kravitz's first big hit. 

It is a great song to teach English slang. The main line of the song uses "gonna", an informal way to say going to. 

This song can help you in a class about slang or informal speaking. In general, it's a great song, and a fun one for an ESL class.

Here is a cloze exercise for the song.

Lenny Kravitz
Are You Gonna Go My Way?

I was born long _____________________
I am the chosen, I'm the one
I have come to save the day
And I won't leave until I'm ___________________
So that's why we've got to try
We've got to breathe and have some fun
Though I'm not paid I play this game
And I won't stop until I'm done
(But what I really want to know is)
Are you gonna go my way
(Please baby) and I got to (please) got to know (I got to know) yeah

I don't know why we always ____________________
This we must leave and get undone
We must ____________________ and rearrange
And turn this planet back to one
So tell me why we got to die
And kill each other one by one
We've got to hug and rub-a-dub
We've got to ______________________- and be in love
(But what I really wanna know is)
Are you gonna go my way
(Please baby) and I got to, got to know (I got to know)

Are you gonna go my way
'Cause baby I got to know, yeah

ESL Logic Problems - Movies

This ESL listening activity is a logic problem about movies. Read the instructions and the clues and students must discover the answer. These logic problems are easiest to solve if the students use a grid with Movies and People on the axis.



There are six people who are discussing their favourite movies. They are John, Jane, Rob, Rebecca, Brad, and Brenda. These are their favourite movies:

Spiderman
Pretty Woman
Star Wars
Pirates of the Caribbean
Titanic
Jaws

Use the clues to discover which person likes which movie.

1. One of the girls likes Pirates of the Caribbean the best.

2. No one whose name begins with R likes science fiction movies about space.

3. No one likes a movie that starts with the same letter as his/her name.

4. Brad and Brenda both think that Titanic is a bad movie.

5. None of the men like Pretty Woman.

6. One of the girls likes Titanic the best.

7. None of the women likes Jaws.

8. Rebeca doesn’t like Pirates of the Caribbean.

9. A man likes Spiderman the best.

10. Brad doesn’t like Spiderman.

11. Rob’s favourite movie is Jaws.

12. Rebeca hates Titanic.


ANSWERS:


John - Spiderman
Jane - Titanic
Rob - Jaws
Rebecca - Pretty Woman
Brad - Star Wars
Brenda - Pirates of the Caribbean 

Here are more ESL Logic Problems.

ESL Vocabulary Ideas - Movies

Here is a cool printout I made to teach movie vocabulary.

Present Perfect Songs - U2

One of the best present perfect songs is U2's "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For."

This song has about 10 examples of the present perfect in the lyrics.  

Aside from the normal listening activities, I usually get the students to underline the examples of present perfect. I also like to have them find the grammar mistake(I have spoke). For discussion the students can talk about all the things the singer "has done" to try and find love.

Here is the video with a cloze activity below. For an online cloze activity, try this page: Present Perfect Songs







U2
“I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”

I have climbed highest _______________
I have run through the fields
Only to be with you
Only to be with you
I have run
I have crawled
I have scaled these city walls
These city ____________
Only to be with you

But I still haven't found what I'm looking for
But I still haven't found what I'm looking for

I have kissed honey ________________
Felt the healing fingertips
It burned like a fire
This burning ___________________

I have spoke with a ton of angels
I have held the hand of a ________________
It was warm in the night
I was cold as a stone

But I still haven't found what I'm looking for
But I still haven't found what I'm looking for

I believe in the Kingdom Come
When all the ______________________ will bleed into one
Bleed into one
Well, yes I'm still running

You broke the bonds
And you loosened the _________________
Carried the cross
Of all my shame
all my shame
You know I _____________________ it

But I still haven't found what I'm looking for
But I still haven't found what I'm looking for
But I still haven't found what I'm looking for

ESL Vocabulary Ideas - JUST

Just is a commonly used word in conversational English. As a formal adjective, it means fair. As an adverb, it has many uses. Here are some of the uses of just.


Recently In the Past
I just arrived.
The game has just started.


Only
I just need $5.
I’m just a kid. I can’t lift something so big.


Exactly
You look just like your sister.
This is just what I needed.


A Small Amount, A Little, Barely
We have just enough glasses for the guests.
We just missed that other car.


Almost (with about)
It is just about time to start the music.
We were just about to begin class.


Imperatives
Just Do It.
Just wait here please.

SongsThere are many songs that have the word just in the title or chorus. They are effective to use in class as listening exercises. The use of the word just can be investigated and classified like the previous categories. The lyrics provide an opportunity for review of the usage as well as discussion. For example, No Doubt's "I'm Just a Girl" talks about the perception of the lead singer because she is "only" a girl.
Here is a list of songs that use the word "just" in the lyrics:

I’m Just a Girl
No Doubt

Just Dance
Lady GagaI 

Just Called
Stevie Wonder

Just the Two of Us 
Bill Withers

Just
Radiohead


The Party’s Just Begun
Cheetah Girls

Just the Way You Are
Billy Joel

ESL Number Games

ESL students need to learn numbers. And that can be a real challenge for the teacher. 

Apart from drilling, what can you do? Why not try some of these games. They can help students practice numbers while having fun.
 
Ping Pong
Students sit in a circle and count in turn one number at a time.

Rules:
Multiples of 5 are replaced by the word PING
Multiples of 11 are replaced by the word PONG

The idea is to try and go quickly. Each student must avoid making a mistake and being eliminated. It looks like this:


1, 2, 3, 4, PING, 6, 7, 8, 9, PING, PONG, 12, 13, etc…

The goal is to get to 55: Ping Pong.

Counting Cooperation
Students lower their heads and must collectively count from 1 up to a specific number. The number is the amount of students in the class. Anyone can say the next number, but if two students say the same number at the same time, the class must start again at number 1. After failing for a few times, allow the students to develop strategies. For example, count by rows, alphabetically, etc.


21
This game works well in partners. Students count up by 1 or 2 numbers at a time from 1 to 21. They alternate turns and the winner is the person who says 21. The students will begin to see the strategy of when to count up 1 or 2.


Quick Draw
Students form pairs and play this game like paper, rock, scissors. Students hold 0-10 fingers up behind their back. On the count of three they show the fingers to their partner. The first person to correctly say the sum of both people’s fingers is the winner.



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Role Play Games

Role-play games are one of the most popular activities in an ESL classroom. They give students the opportunity to use English in near-authentic situations.

The following list of games ask students to take on a role to complete some sort of task:

Welcome to the Party

One person is the host of a party. Every guest that arrives must act out a certain characteristic or be a famous person. The host only has a short time to guess the character or characteristic before the next person arrives.

Who Am I???

Type up a list of between 15-20 names of current famous people, e.g.: "Madonna", "Tom Cruise", etc. and cut into slips of paper approx. 1 1/2 " by 3". Pin a slip of paper onto each student's back. Students circulate and ask each other Yes or No questions about the person's name pinned to their backs until they guess who they "are". Elizabeth, Vancouver, BC, Canada
write the name of famous people on post it notes and each student puts one on their forehead or back. As the students go around asking questions

Mock Restaurant

Students take pretend to be waiters/waitresses, customers, managers, host/hostesses, etc. They role play through a full restaurant experience which may include reservations, discussing a menu and ordering, complaints, paying a bill, tipping, etc. Student can rotate so that they all practice each role.

ESL Word Games

ESL students need to develop their vocabulary as they progress. But drills and worksheets can get boring. Why not add some word games to your classes? These ESL word games will add some fun while students improve their vocabulary skills.

Word Creation
Print a big word on the board. It could be almost anything, but the more letters the better. Students must form as many words as they can using only the letters in the word. The students who come up with the most correct words are the winners.

Example: basketball

Possible words: tall, ask, bat, ball, etc.

This is a good one for a 5-minute break, or at the end of class.


Word Board
Make a letter matrix and have students find words that must connect in any way. Bigger matrices provide more word combinations.

A - C - L
J - I - K
M - S - N
R - A - B

Example: milk, link


Do you have any other word games? 

Multiple Verb Tense Game

I played an interesting game today to practice multiple verb tenses.






Make a table with 3 categories of all the different verb tenses to practice. Each category has a different point value based on difficulty. Make a second table of verbs, both regular and irregular.

Example:

1 point............... 2 points................. 3 points
Simple Present....... Present Continuous.....Future Perfect
Simple Past............ Past Continuous.......... Past Perfect
Simple Future ....... Present Perfect........... Modals

Verbs
Take - Forget - Invent
Have - Eat - Begin
Drive - Learn - Play


Students choose a tense and a verb and make a sentence.

Examples:

• I eat dinner at 7pm. (1 point)
• I have taken the dog for a walk already. (2 points)
• They had invented the radio before the television was invented. (3 points)

As each verb and tense are chosen, they are removed from the game. The teams attempt to collect the most points. The various point structure adds an element of strategy. You can also use negative and question rounds.

Students can write the answers on the board or say them out loud. This is a good exercise to review all the tenses. Try to use irregular verbs that students need to practice.