talking about FOOD PREPARATION

A while ago I came across an interesting game to practice PRESENT CONTINUOUS in the context of food preparation. It works beautifully as a food vocabulary revision. It also proves to be a fun drill helping students to remember PRESENT CONTINUOUS sentence structure better. Have fun!

WARM-UP
You may want to start with a short revision of names of different food to make sure the students won't have any problems with the vocabulary. One easy and entertaining way is to make riddles, e.g. 
- It's a round vegetables. You cry when you cut it.
- It's a small round fruit. People make wine with it.
- It's sweet and good for your teeth, You may use it when you haven't got a toothbrush around.
- It's a warm meal made of water and vegetables. You eat it with a spoon.
etc.

VOCABULARY
Which of the words match best with the verb given? Circle one word in every line.

1.       PEEL	Ò	a banana * a strawberry * rice
2.       CUT	Ò	milk * chewing gum * an orange
3.       BREAK	Ò	a potato * an egg * apple juice
4.       OPEN	Ò	wine * a carrot * a salad
5.       DRINK	Ò	a watermelon * water * bread
6.       EAT	Ò	a sandwich *  tea * hot chocolate
7.       MAKE	Ò	grapes * a cake * an apricot
8.       COOK	Ò	macaroni * a lollipop * ice cream
9.       MIX	Ò	soup * a cherry * a tomato

SPEAKING

The rules of the game are simple. Prepare cards with PRESENT CONTINUOUS sentences on them (you may use the examples in the table below or make your own). Put them on a table face down. One of the students takes one card and using gestures and body language tries to convey the message to the rest of the class. A point is granted when the class guesses and says the whole grammatically correct sentence as on the card. You may play it in two team or just have fun with the whole class.

You are peeling a banana.

She is drinking apple juice.

You are cutting bread.

Baby is drinking milk.

Teachers are eating apples.

You are making a cake.

You are cooking macaroni.

I am eating a sandwich.

You are breaking an egg.

We are eating rice.

You are eating a lollipop.

I am eating chewing gum.

A man is opening wine.

You are eating grapes.

He is peeling an orange.

You are buying a watermelon.

Children are eating an ice cream

I am eating soup.

She is mixing a salad.

NOTE

It's a good idea to make a brief revision of PRESENT CONTINUOUS prior the game. You may for example ask the students what their classmates are doing at the moment or ask the following questions to some of the students:

• What is your father/father doing now?
• what is your brother/sister doing now?
• What is your best friend doing now?
• What is your teacher doing now?
• What is your boss doing now?
• What is your neighbour doing now?
• What is your boyfriend/girlfriend doing now? etc.