2011-2012 Lesson Plans for Henrico 21 Awards
Teacher Name: Cheryl Sumner
Collaborative teacher: Terran Evans
Lesson Title:
Iron Chef: ESL Style
Target Grade/Subject:
High School (can be adapted for all educational levels)/Vocational English (My students are Newcomers, who are beginning English language learners and whose education has been interrupted.)
Length: (total class minutes required to complete):
Three 50-minute classes (150 minutes)
Summary: (Summarize your lesson in 250 words or less):
The primary focus on this lesson is to introduce beginning ESL students to the English names of foods and to prepare foods by converting dry and liquid measurements into the American system. An ancillary, but important, outcome of this lesson is the study and understanding of different cultures and their foods.
This lesson was designed to immerse students in a learning experience that promotes collaboration, project-based learning and critical thinking. The students will develop the skills necessary to participate in small and large group learning activities. They will acquire the skills needed for reading recipes in English, to understand and to use the American system of measurements. The lesson will also provide enough English to give students the confidence to order foods in restaurants, to shop for groceries, and to read cookbooks written in English.
Essential questions: (What are the foundational questions that students should be able to answer after this lesson?
The primary essential questions for students to discover are the following:1. Are foods very different within the Asian and Latino communities even among neighboring countries? Students learned that, though the ingredients are often identical, the dishes are significantly different because of the varied use of spices and the different methods of food preparation.
2. Are liquid and dry measurements universal? Students learned that American measurements are different from most other countries and were required to translate and calculate their quantities into the American format.
Lesson Development:
Process/Tasks/Assessment: (Describe what the teacher and students are doing during this lesson. Include details about particular tasks and essential resources/tools. Include a description of the artifact that you will collect as evidence of content/skill mastery and state how you will communicate your assessment expectations to the students:
1. The teacher shows the class a video clip of Iron Chef, to highlight the segment of the TV show that has a panel of judges discussing the dishes, foods and ingredients.
2. The teacher divides the class into two groups-one group from Asia and the other group who are Spanish speakers. Almost half of this class is from South and East Asia. The other half is from Central and South America.
3. The student groups collaborate and discuss among themselves a typical meal from their respective countries and try to find a common dish from each group. The Asian group, which does not share a common language and is from a larger disparate geographical area, used their computers to communicate with each other and to illustrate the foods indigenous to their countries.
4. After each group identifies one dish, the group will find a recipe and will translate the recipe to English and will convert the measurements of the ingredients into American measurements. The Asian group’s food is markedly different in its preparation, but the students discovered that the ingredients are identical. They decided to demonstrate the different ways of cooking the same ingredients and how different they are.
5. The teacher provides scaffolding for group leaders to learn how to use Excel 2010. The students will do an internet search for self-paced tutorials on Excel. Once the group leaders learn to create spreadsheets using simple mathematical formulae, the students will peer teach the other members of their group.
6. Students will create a spreadsheet for each groups’ recipe. The students’ spreadsheet will calculate the amount of ingredients needed for their recipe based upon the number of servings needed, e.g. the amount of flour needed for 4 servings, 8 servings, 12 servings, etc.
7. The teacher teaches a lesson on adjectives to describe foods and spices, e.g. hot, spicy, mild, salty, etc.
8. The teacher instructs students on polite forms of discussing foods, and provides English words for commenting on foods. The goal is to provide appropriate language in social situations in which food is provided or served. Students will role-play using the new words.
9. The team leader for each group gives their recipe to the teacher of our Culinary Arts Program and helps direct him and/or assists in its preparation. Students are unable to cook the meal in the lab due to safety requirements/issues.
10. Students learn table manners and the appropriate table setting.
11. Once prepared, the Asian group samples the Latino food; the Latino group samples the Asian food and use their English to describe what they taste and ask questions about the ingredients.
*Artifacts will include a word document of the recipe that students developed, a spreadsheet with a mathematical formula to calculate the amount of ingredients based upon the number of servings; and a video of the final product: the food preparation and subsequent discussion.
TIP Chart Assessment:
(Using the TIP Chart, identify which level (e.g. entry, developing, approaching, ideal/target) your lesson falls in for each of the categories below and write a brief statement to describe what the students are doing as it relates to the indicators on the TIP chart.)
Categories:
*Research and Information Fluency: Level 2-3 Developing
Students researched and found information on the internet to teach themselves how to use an Excel Spreadsheet, including how to create a formula to automatically increase the amount of ingredients required for the number of people served.
*Communication and Collaboration: Level 2-3 Developing
Students worked in groups according to country of origin. Student leaders emerged naturally and these student leaders helped other students to complete and participate in the project. Student groups also discussed and agreed upon one recipe to submit.
Students also collaborated with the Culinary Arts teacher to review their recipes and to help cook the food.
*Critical Thinking and Problem Solving: Level 4-5 Approaching
Students tackled the problem of creating a spreadsheet using a formula to calculate the amount of ingredients for the number of people served. Students also translated a family recipe into English and converted the measurements to the American format. The students viewed tutorials to learn how to use Excel and formulas but were reliant upon guidance from the teacher in order to finish the task.
*Creativity and Innovation: Level 2-3 Developing
Students learned how to use Weebly, an easy way to create and publish a website. Students worked collaboratively by adding and organizing the website's pages altogether in one site. They illustrated the steps it took for them to complete their project and published the results on Weebly.com.
*N.B. The students who participated in this lesson are new to this country and are at the beginning stages for learning English. One third of the class has had little education before coming to the States and the remainder of the students has large gaps in their education. Reaching the upper levels of the TIP chart would be exceptional.