Lesson 4: Hotdogs, French Fries & Summarizing

1. Lesson 4: Hotdogs, French Fries & Summarizing Practical English: American Culture & Cuisine

2. Goals • Learn about the origin of hotdogs and French fries. • Learn how to summarize.

3. Warm-Up Discussion • What are hot dogs made from? • Where did the hot dog come from? • Who likes hot dogs? • How are hot dogs prepared? • What can we eat with hotdogs?

4. Summarizing • Turn to the article on hot dogs in your textbook. • Please look at the first paragraph of the article. • Underline or highlight the most important words in this paragraph. • You may use a dictionary if needed. • Now take the words you highlighted and write two new sentences that include all the information you highlighted. • Do not copy sentences from your books.

5. Summarizing • You should not use direct quotes (even groups of words). • You should try to think of alternate words as well as changing the sentence structures. • Later I will ask for volunteers to write their two sentences on the board. • If you are having trouble writing two sentences without copying for your book, try this technique: • Read the full paragraph while paying attention to the important words you highlighted. • Close your book and try to write one to two sentences that contain all the information that you can remember.

6. Summarizing • Continue reading the article by reading each paragraph and highlighting or underlining the most important information. • Then for each paragraph construct one to two sentences that summarize the paragraph’s contents.

7. Summarizing • For homework summarizing the article on French fries that appears in your textbook by following the steps taught in today’s class.

8. Let’s Cook • Divide yourselves into two groups: Hot Dogs & French Fries. • Each group will elect a leader that will be in charge of distributing tasks to everyone. • As a group label the different parts of your recipe, gather the tools and ingredients needed, and finally cook your food. • Your evaluation will be determined on how well you work together as a group and how your final product matches the photo(s) in your textbook. • Remember, this is an English class first and a cooking course second. Therefore, you must use English to negotiate with your classmates during the activity.