Cooking is a universal activity - we all do it, whether for fun, for sustenance, or for the joy of watching others enjoy our creations. But have you ever cooked with your English language students? If not, you’re missing out on an engaging and creative learning experience that even the most novice English speaker can participate in. As an ESL teacher, you already know the importance of incorporating cultural activities into your teaching. But did you know that by including cooking lessons in your curriculum, you can help your students unlock the joy of language learning? In this article, we’ll discuss why it’s important to cook with your English language students, the educational benefits of cooking for ESL students, and simple but effective recipes for the classroom. With a few easy ingredients and a little know-how, you and your students can have a delicious, culturally enriching learning experience in no time. So, what are you waiting for? Let’s get cooking!
I have done kitchen class quite a few times in my years of teaching, both for summer camp and normal school classes. I have to admit that it can be a little stressful from a safety and timing point of view but I would still urge you to try it out with your students as there are so many language benefits for cooking and of course it always results in something yummy to eat. Normally baked goods in my case! So let’s have a look at why we should cook with out ESL students.
Share your culture.
Of course if you are planning and teaching the class you can keep it simple by making what you know, which will be something from your home country that you are used to making. This makes teaching it easy but also if you’re making something from your country then students are learning your culture and something different to their own foods. This gives them a deeper understanding of you and where you come from and ultimately gives you a better teacher student connection. Of course it’s the same backwards. I like to have one week or class where students pick the recipe and it’s a traditional dish from their country. Then I get to learn something new and students really enjoy explaining and telling me information about their cultures. All in all a great benefit as everyone learns and has fun.
Learn new vocabulary.
In cooking students pick up new phrases and vocabulary specific to this topic and that’s something they wouldn't normally gain from their textbooks. Plus by being immersed in the language due to the activity they are more likely to use and remember it in a quicker way.
Use all 4 language skills.
As we know from being ESL teachers we need to provide our students with all four skills of language, reading, writing, speaking and listening. Most activities that we do in the classroom concentrate only on one or two of these skills at a time. Whereas in the classroom kitchen English language learners get to practise all four of these language skills at once. By reading the recipe and instructions. Writing the recipe to take home and make again to share with their family. Listening to the teacher explain the actions they need to do in order to complete the recipe and speaking to ask questions about cooking. It’s an excellent way to create a well rounded student.
It’s fun!
Probably the most important point from the students point of view is that it's an active and fun lesson. Children (and adults) don’t want to sit there and be talked at anymore. They want to move, be active and learn in a more dynamic way. This has been proven to help memorise and improve the speed of learning too. Bottom line here, if the student has fun they are more likely to remember and use the skills that have been taught.
Teacher advice.
The best advice I can give you here is OR-GAN-ISA-TION. This will make things so much easier and will make the class run smoothly. Make sure you pick a recipe you know well or that you have tried out at home before the class. Trust me here, I've had recipes that looked so easy that I didn’t try them out beforehand and boy did I regret it! Also make sure the students don’t have any allergies. Then keep the room and tables organised. Set out the ingredients on a table along with all the items you need to cook with. When you finish with something, put it away as soon as possible. Less clutter and mess means the students are more focused on what you are doing and won’t be distracted. Be organised with your time. Remember that things need to cool and account for that time too. Otherwise the students can’t eat it or take it home. Oh and have take away containers too!.
Trust me, all of these things will lead to a great cooking experience with your ESL students.
Here are some recommended items for your school kitchen -
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Here are two recipes that are tried and tested with my classes and we love them.
Rainbow Spiral Cookies
This one is awesome because it’s creative, kids use their hands and it doesn’t have eggs. So no risk if they come out under cooked!
Ingredients - Makes about 3 dozen cookies
385 grams all-purpose flour,
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
95 grams confectioners’ sugar
60 grams granulated sugar
290 grams butter, cut into pieces and kept very cold
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon each colour gel food colouring: red, orange, yellow, green, violet
Method
1. Add 2 cups of the flour with the baking powder, salt and sugars and briefly mix.
2. Add the cold butter in pieces.
3. Add the vanilla extract and mix until a dough ball forms.
4. Divide the dough into 6 equal portions.
5. For one portion of dough add the red food colour. Add 2 tablespoons of flour and mix to combine. (The dough should not be sticky and resemble the consistency of soft play-doh. add more flour if needed.)
6. Repeat the process with remaining dough pieces, food colour and flour.
7.Then it's time to create different patterns with the dough and make your biscuits.
8. Bake in the oven at 165c for 12 mins.
Funfetti Fairy Cakes Easy, fast and very very pretty.
Ingredients - Makes 12 cakes
100 grams caster sugar
100 grams very soft butter
100 grams self-raising flour
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
100 grams Sprinkles
Icing
200 grams very soft butter
200 grams icing sugar
Method
1.Turn the oven on to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Spray your silicone muffin pan with cooking oil, or lay out the muffin papers.
2. Put the sugar and room temperature butter in a bowl and mix it together. Sift in the flour.
3.Break the eggs into a separate bowl (spoon out any bits of shell that fall in) and add them to the bowl with the vanilla. Add sprinkles and mix everything together.
4. Divide between the cases using two spoons.
5. Put the tray in the oven for 20 minutes.
6. ICING- Mix icing sugar and butter together.
7. When cakes are cool, put icing on top and dip in sprinkles.
Cooking with kids in ESL class can be a fun and effective way to nurture and practice language skills. It helps create an engaging atmosphere for learning and allows for new vocabulary to be acquired in a safe environment. With a little preparation and the right ingredients, teachers can bring an experience that will stick with their students long after the school day ends. Cooking with kids in ESL class is an exciting opportunity to foster language learning while building relationships with students.
Till the next cooking adventure, let’s all “break bread” together and create memories to last a lifetime!
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