A2 Elementary · Food & drink · By Kyle Hope, ESL teacher

Talking About Food

Learners watch Beth and Neil talk about the foods they love and hate, then use always, usually, sometimes and never to ask about each other's eating habits.

Lesson

60 minutes · 1-to-1 or small group · teens and adults

Video: Real Easy English: Talking about food (BBC Learning English, about 6 minutes)

Learners will

Understand the main points of a natural conversation about favorite foods
Use frequency words and phrases like usually, hardly ever and twice a week
Ask and answer questions about your eating habits

Target language

favorite, least favorite, seafood, disgusting, can't stand · How often do you…? Do you ever…? · always, usually, normally, generally, often, sometimes, hardly ever, never · once a week, twice a week, a few times a week

Printable worksheet →BBC transcript

Student material

The lesson

Part 1

Warm-up

Circle the odd one out. Say why.

1salmonshrimpchickencrab
2pastaapplericenoodles
3breakfastlunchkitchendinner
4tastydeliciousyummydisgusting
5boilfrytastebake

Part 2

How often?

Put the words in order, from 100% to 0%.

asometimes
bnever
cusually
dhardly ever
ealways
foften

Which foods from Part 1 do you love? How often do you eat them?

Part 3

Watch

Scan to watch

Real Easy English: Talking about food

BBC Learning English · Beth and Neil · about 6 minutes

First watch: circle the best answer.

1What do Beth and Neil talk about?
ahow to cook fishbfoods they love and hatectheir favorite restaurants
2Which food do they both like?
apizzabbaked beanscfish
3Which food does Beth hate?
abaked beansbricecpasta
4What does Neil think of beans on toast?
aIt's too sweet.bIt's a classic.cIt's disgusting.

Second watch: complete the sentences. Use the words in the box.

a few timescurriesevery dayfiveneveronce or twicesicksometimes

Beth ______ cooks seafood at home.
She has seafood on vacation and ______ in restaurants.
Neil eats fish ______ a week.
Beth has fish at home ______ a week.
The smell of baked beans makes Beth feel ______.
Neil's family often eats Indian ______.
Beth cooks pasta or rice about ______ days a week.

Part 4

Habits and how often

Word	How often?	Example
always	every time	I always have coffee in the morning.
usually / normally / generally	most of the time	We usually cook rice on weekdays.
often	a lot	My dad often makes soup.
sometimes	now and then	I sometimes eat fish.
hardly ever	almost never	They hardly ever eat cake.
never	not at any time	She never drinks coffee.

Put the word before the main verb: I often eat fish. With be, put it after: I'm always hungry. Phrases like twice a week go at the end.

Circle the correct sentence.

1Fish
aI eat often fish.bI often eat fish.
2Pasta
aWe usually have pasta on Mondays.bWe have usually pasta on Mondays.
3Dinner
aShe never is late for dinner.bShe is never late for dinner.
4Breakfast
aDo you ever eat breakfast?bDo ever you eat breakfast?
5The market
aI go twice a week to the market.bI go to the market twice a week.

Match the questions to the answers.

1How often do you eat out?
2Do you ever cook fish?
3What do you usually have for breakfast?
4How often do you drink tea?
5Do you like spicy food?

aToast and coffee, most days.
bYes, I love it. I often make curry.
cAbout once a month. We like a pizza place near us.
dNo, never. I don't like the smell.
eThree or four cups a day!

Write four sentences about what you eat. Use a different frequency word in each one.

Part 5

Ask it naturally

Listen to your teacher. Say each line three times.

Highlighted = stressed words · ‿ = words that join together

How‿often do‿you eat‿out?
What do‿you usually have for breakfast?
Do‿you ever cook fish?
I hardly‿ever eat cake.
We often have pasta on Mondays.

In fast speech, do you sounds like "d'ya". Questions with how or what go down at the end. Yes/no questions with Do you ever go up.

Ask your teacher the first three questions. Then answer them yourself.

Part 6

Food habits survey

Ask the questions. Write short answers. Ask one more question each time.

Question	Me	Partner
How often do you cook at home?
What do you usually have for lunch?
How often do you eat fish or seafood?
Is there a food you never eat?
What food from another country do you often eat?
What do you eat when you're very busy?

You can eat only six foods for a month. Rank them from 1 (most important) to 6.

rice
bread
eggs
pasta
fruit
cheese

Compare with your partner. Which food could you eat every day?

Reacting

Really?
Me too!
Not for me.
I can't stand it!

Reporting

Ana usually…
She hardly ever…
We both…
Neither of us…

Report back: tell your teacher or the class three things about your partner's eating habits.

Teacher's notes

How to run it

Timings

0–6: Part 1. Odd one out, then ask which foods they love and hate.
6–12: Part 2. Build the scale on the board. Learners answer the two questions.
12–25: Part 3. Watch once for the big picture and check. Watch again for the gaps. Download the video in advance in case of Wi-Fi trouble.
25–38: Part 4. Table and word-order rule, then the sentence choice, matching and writing.
38–44: Part 5. Model each line. Exaggerate the falling and rising tunes at first.
44–56: Part 6. Survey, then the ranking task, then the report back.
56–60: Feedback: two positives, three corrections, one pronunciation point.

Notes

Food can touch on diets, religion, allergies or health. Learners can say "I don't eat…" without giving a reason, and don't ask why.
Baked beans on toast is a common British meal. Show a photo if learners haven't seen it. Beth also says "on holiday": in American English that's "on vacation".
Typical errors: "I eat often fish" and "Do you usually to eat…". Point back to the word-order rule.
The video treats usually, normally and generally as the same, and so does this lesson. Don't spend time on fine differences at A2.
BBC publishes a free transcript of the episode. Learners can read along after the second watch.

Answer key

Part 1

chicken (it doesn't come from the sea)
apple (it's a fruit)
kitchen (it's a room, not a meal)
disgusting (it means very bad)
taste (it isn't a way to cook)

Part 2

1 e · 2 c · 3 f · 4 a · 5 d · 6 b

Part 3: first watch

1 b · 2 c · 3 a · 4 b

Part 3: second watch

never
sometimes
a few times
once or twice
sick
curries
five

Part 4

Word order: 1 b · 2 a · 3 b · 4 a · 5 b

Questions: 1c · 2d · 3a · 4e · 5b

Adapting the lesson

Group class: Run the survey as a mingle. Each learner asks three people, then reports one surprising answer.
Lower level: Turn on English subtitles for the first watch. Pre-teach seafood and disgusting with pictures.
Higher level: Add rarely, once in a while and every other day. Learners compare their eating habits now and five years ago.

Next lesson idea: Real Easy English: Talking about restaurants

The video is by BBC Learning English and plays from YouTube. Ribbit Pond isn't connected to the BBC. The lesson tasks and worksheet are our own.