Content and Language objectives of a possible teaching unit

1. Listing and identifying the ingredients in a baking recipe

2. Understanding and executing baking instructions: stirring, mixing and decorating

3. Choosing your favorite muffin and being able to express preference

Activity description

Students are taught how to bake muffins. In a complete unit, students would have been told about the ingredients and would have been asked to bring them to class. Then we would have gone through the ingredients before starting. What we actually did is to have them come to class with everything ready to start stirring the batter, filling the paper cups and decorating the muffins. Afterwards they would select their favorite and eat one.

Identify ingredients

• Ask them to say ingredient names and use them

• Having them repeat ingredient names

• Use the names of the ingredients while talking

Identify mixing and stirring process steps

• Tell them about the actions we are doing

• Tell them about what is happening next

• Do with them and use hands to indicate what will happen (stir, stop, etc)

Strategy or strategies to help students understand

• Using gestures (pointing, indicating)

• Using L1 if need be

• Showing them the action while describing it

Strategy or strategies to help students produce

• Explaining them in advance and ask them later

• Repeating the same move with all of them

• Asking them explicitly to repeat (if they don’t do it)

• Wait (a bit longer for the shy ones)

Language needs of the activity

• Understanding instructions/orders

• Understanding descriptions of actions (stir, poor, decorate)

• Understanding ingredient names

• Understanding and replying to simple questions related to preference (which one do you like, which is your favorite…)

 

Reflection after implementation

Our impression was that the actual implementation was easier than what it seemed in terms of infrastructure, but harder that what we expected in terms of having students produce language. However, in the video you do observe some situations in which students are actually producing language responding to questions where they are not explicitly asked to say it in English. We think that particularly the younger ones were a bit shy because they did not know Joan and Martí, but in the end even the shiest of them said “this one” when choosing the muffin, which felt like a three-point shot in the last second.

If we did it again we would certainly require an extra activity to have them identify the mixing process steps (maybe writing them on a board and going through them with them) and a longer activity to work out preferences. One thing that we would definitely change if we did it again, would be to write on the board (we had one) the ingredients and the expressions we want them to use. Of course, that would give the whole activity a more “academic” flavor, but in the end that would probably only improve it.