The level 1 class is learning about restaurants and food right now. I love this unit because I get to eat in class, I mean, share the culture with them!

One goal is to talk about a restaurant, which means they need input before output. I found some restaurant reviews on Yelp by changing the city to a big city that speaks the target language. I chose Madrid because I’ve been there and my host brother is the Yelp manager of Madrid. It is really exciting to show the students his comments because they have Skyped with him before.

First they scanned for words they understood. Then we looked at cognates. They did not get most of them at first because they had never heard of the English word (like “ration”). Then I pointed out
new important words (cheap, expensive, plates, specials, service). They made notes of the new words.

Next they went on the Yelp app (there’s a website too) and found a review that they could understand most of the ideas. Some changed the city and others explored specific restaurants by typing phrases like “breakfast, Italian, etc.” in the search in Spanish. Then they printed their review. I gave them a reading sheet (below) to complete about theirs.

For the next class, I will cover up the answer key and copy the questions they made on the second sheet. I will give them to different students. Writing the questions really helped them to think about the review on a deeper level. Surprisingly they like getting each others’ questions so I didn’t feel guilty about them doing all the work. Eventually they will write their own review and speak Bout them. Actually I want to talk to our English teacher about the critiques that are required for their portfolios. I think I can reinforce that standard in my class. Collaboration!