Decision Making

What else do I need?

Teacher gives each student a list of products he/she has and reads the recipe of some dish. Students decide what they need to prepare this dish.

e.g.

List of products 1 2 onions some garlic 1kg of cucumbers 150g beef olive oil some black pepper some salt some flower some potato

List of products 2 some garlic 300g pork olive oil a bottle of wine some flower 1kg apples 500g spaghetti 1 loaf of bread 1 can of beans

Spaghetti with meatballs

For the meatballs: 1 clove garlic, 15g fresh parsley leaves, 1 small onion, 230g lean minced beef, , 230g lean minced pork, 3 tsp red wine, 2 tsp tomato paste, 1/2 tsp salt, plain flour for dusting, 2tsp olive oil.

For the sauce: 1 onion, 1 clove garlic, 2x400g cans whole plum tomatoes in rich tomato juice, 1 tsp dried oregano or basil, salt and black pepper to taste.

To serve: freshly cooked spaghetti.

To make the meatballs, put the garlic, parsley and onion into a food processor and whizz until you have a coarse paste. Put the mixture into a bowl then mix in the remaining meatball ingredients with your hands until well combined. Shape the mixture into 20 meatballs, then dust lightly with flour. Heat the olive oil in a large pan then fry the meatballs for 3-4 minutes until they are a light golden colour all over. Remove them from a pan and set aside.

To make the sauce, add the onion and garlic to the pan and fry for 2-3 minutes until softened. Return the meatballs to the pan with the tomatoes, oregano or basil and plenty of seasoning. Bring to a simmer, then cover and leave to cook for 15-20 minutes. Serve immediately with the cooked spaghetti.

Discussion

Questions.

Students discuss the ideas of the listening passage (e.g. about the profession of a teacher) using the questions given by teacher as prompts.

e.g.

1. Which of the mentioned qualities are especially important for a teacher?

2. What qualities should an ideal teacher possess?

3. Etc.

Planning

Planning a menu.

After having listened about eating habits in different countries students are to plan a menu for the family coming to stay with them. Students can be divided into groups to plan a menu for guests from India (group A), China (group B), France (group C), etc.

Problem Solving

Survival games.

Variation 1. Desert Island.

Students imagine that they are going to spend next three months on an island (on the moon, etc.) alone. Fresh water and vegetation are provided and there is no real danger from wild animals. Students are given a list of objects and are asked to choose 5 of them, which they would like to take and to put them in order of importance. They should also be prepared to say why they want to take these things.

e.g. List of objects:

axe gun knife trumpet

blanket guitar medicine box

clock hammer rope saucepan

Variation 2. Who is the next?

Students work in groups. Each of them selects any profession from the list.

e.g. doctor engineer

policeman builder

teacher politician

banker scientist

Each from the group has a unique skill, the one that nobody else possesses (e.g. building skyscrapers, counting, persuading people, etc.). After having defined their roles and skills students are introduced to a situation:

There are four of you in a boat. The rest of the world has destroyed itself. You are making for an uninhabited land to start a new civilization. The boat is slowly leaking and the only way you might survive is if two of you agree to go overboat to lighten the load.

In turn, each from the group, gives arguments why she / he should be allowed to stay so that new civilization could get started. Students try to come to some agreement and make decision as to who should go overboat.