Do you also like to turn interesting AUTHENTIC materials into IELTS teaching opportunities?
As we discussed it with Jane Ritter yesterday on Teachers Talk Radio, there’re many good reasons to do so.
Here’re a few ideas for you, based on the topic of food fraud as discussed in this video.
Listening/Recording 1
Write and record an imaginary short conversation between two people who are doing their grocery shopping and checking and discussing the labels of the products in the supermarket.
Write 10 factual questions based on the dialogue (of the following formats: multiple choice, matching, plan/map/diagram labeling; form, note, table, flow-chart, or summary completion; sentence completion)
Listening/Recording 2
Write and record an imaginary talk given by a food expert to the local community at a library/fitness club, etc.
Write 10 questions (multiple choice, matching, plan/map/diagram labeling; form, note, table, flow-chart, or summary completion; sentence completion).
Listening/Recording 3
Write and record an imaginary short conversation between food engineering students and their teacher at university talking about one aspect of food fraud based on the recording (e.g. its most common types such as olive oil, spices, fish, etc.).
Write 10 questions (multiple choice, matching, plan/map/diagram labeling; form, note, table, flow-chart, or summary completion; sentence completion).
Listening/Recording 4
Write a monologue about one aspect of food fraud based on the recording (e.g. the history of food fraud prevention and what more could be done today, e.g. criminal penalties).
Write 10 questions (multiple choice, matching, plan/map/diagram labeling; form, note, table, flow-chart, or summary completion; sentence completion).
Reading/Passages 1, 2, 3
Look for, adapt and tweak an authentic text about an aspect of food fraud mentioned in the video such as
• Larry Olmstead’s book review ‘Real Food, Fake Food’
• the horsemeat scandal of 20213 or the parmesan scandal of 2016
• the future of food and growing trends to eliminate food fraud (e.g. buying local, producing our own food, etc.)
Write 10-13 questions about each, of the following types: multiple choice, identifying information, identifying the writer’s views/claims, matching information, matching headings, matching features, matching sentence endings, sentence completion, summary completion, note completion, table completion, flow-chart completion, diagram label completion and short-answer questions.
Writing/Task 1
Choose one or two of the pie charts in the video (e.g. of the food fraud records between 2012 and 2021 based on commodity groups and fraud types), take a screenshot(s) of it/them, and get your Ss to describe them.
Writing/Task 2
A) opinion:
Should more resources be spent on preventing food fraud?
B) for and against:
Should food fraud be punished more severely? Discuss both the advantages and disadvantages of the idea.
C) solution:
The longer the supply chain (e.g. small growers, big trucks, tankers, boats, processing plants), the more likely that adulteration will happen somewhere along the way. What could be done to shorten it?
D) discursive:
Write an essay describing what food fraud is, and the types of food fraud mentioned in the video.
E) hybrid (for and against + opinion):
Should food fraud be punished more severely? Discuss both the advantages and disadvantages of the idea and give your opinion.
Speaking/Part 1
Food
• What are some things you always buy when grocery shopping? [Why?]
• Is there anything you avoid? [Why?]
• Are there any food products most people buy in your country?
• Has anything changed about what people eat in your country over the last decade?
Speaking/Part 2
Describe an expensive food ingredient you like to eat or cook with.
You should say
-what the product is
-where you get it
-how you use or eat it
-and explain why you buy it.
Speaking/Part 3
Food Fraud
What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of the food industry?
What could governments do to prevent food fraud?
What should customers do to make sure they are not deceived?
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How would YOU use this video/topic in your IELTS classroom?
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Hi. I’m Fatime. I’m an IELTS Teacher Trainer, helping CELTA-qualified English language teachers become better at teaching SKILLS, as opposed to just testing them.
Check out my courses here:
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