Wondering about Spaghetti

Introduction

This lesson plan is developed as a tool for ESL teachers. It

contains a forty-five minute lesson created around the poem ‘Wondering about spaghetti’ by Arden Davidson.

This teachers guide contains:

1. Learning goals ........................................................................................ 3

2. Poem .................................................................................................... 4

3. Pre-reading activities .............................................................................. 5

4. While reading activities ........................................................................... 6

5. Post-reading activities ............................................................................. 7

6. Student hand-out ................................................................................... 8

1. Learning goals

The theme of the lesson is food and word sounds.

This lesson plan aims to get students familiar with several food items and practice searching on the internet.

At the end of this lesson students will: - know how to make sketti ;)

- have talked about food they like and dislike - have worked with words based on the way they sound

- have worked on their pronunciation of food items - have used the internet to find a recipe

- have (hopefully) enjoyed this lesson.

2. Poem The poem used is this lesson is written by Arden Davidson and has been published in ‘Playing Hopscotch on a Rubber Roof’ by Arden Davidson.

Wondering About Spaghetti

I've always wondered why spaghetti

comes in such long strands. It's hard to keep it on your fork,

or even in your hands.

I've always wondered

why spaghetti is served on a dinner plate.

Why not eat it in a sandwich or a thick spaghetti shake?

I've always wondered

why spaghetti is spelled such a funny way.

Why don't they take the 'h' out, or maybe move the 'a'?

I've always wondered

why spaghetti has tomato sauce plopped on top.

Why not grape jelly or chocolate cream, or for that matter, red soda pop.

I've always wondered why spaghetti

is my number one entree. Must be because spaghetti

is just so much fun to say.

(C) 1998, Arden Davidson

3. Pre-reading activities

The pre-reading exercises are designed to introduce the theme of the poem and create motivation to be actively involved during the lesson. Note that these exercises are done BEFORE reading the poem.

Favourite foods

Talk with the students about your own and their favourite foods. Ask questions like:

• What’s your favourite food? • What’s your favourite thing on a sandwich?

Spaghetti Maybe the topic of spaghetti came up in the previous questions. If not

now is the time to steer the classroom conversation towards spaghetti.

Distribute the hand out for this lesson and ask the students to write down the answers to questions 1 and 2.

• What’s your favourite thing on spaghetti? • What ingredients do you like?

What is ‘normal’ on spaghetti?

Discuss the answers given in class to establish what is ‘normal’ on spaghetti. After that introduce Sketti. The ‘famous’ spaghetti from the

Honey Boo Boo show.

Show clip of Mama June on The Wendy Williams Show where she shows how to make her famous sketti sauce.

Then ask the students to fill in the answer to question 3. If necessary show the clip twice.

Mama June making Sketti

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_

detailpage&v=L9tpbbZGQsY#t=372

4. While reading activities

Read the poem out loud to your students and then talk about the poem. After this the students start working on the exercises in the student hand-out.

Do you wonder?

Does any of you ever wonder about spaghetti? • If yes, what do you wonder about?

• If no, why not?

Does any of you ever wonder about the way words are spelt? • If you would write down spaghetti just the way you say it, how

would you spell it?

These questions help the students to create the mindset needed for the

exercises.

What’s in the poem?

Students answer the questions 4, 5 and 6 in the booklet. • Which of these food items were mentioned in the poem?

• Which of these food items would you try? • Look at other funny food words you can wonder about.

Funny food words:

Squash - pompoen Marmalade - marmelade

Kipper - gerookte vis (meestal haring)

Sultanas - rozijnen Beetroot - bieten

Goosberries - kruisbessen

5. Post-reading activities

The post-reading exercises are designed to get away from the poem and, in this case, real life spaghetti recipes. For these exercises students will need access to the internet.

Funny food

Students check the answers of exercise 6 and find the translations in exercise 7 by using the internet (or a dictionary).

After that the students are going to search for food items they think sound

funny, exercise 8.

After choosing their favourite funny food item, exercise 9, they will re-write part of the poem. Staring of with ‘I’ve always wondered why’

What’s in the recipe?

A link back to the poem is question 9: ‘Which of the food items from exercise 7 and 8 would you like to combine with spaghetti?’

The answer to that question leads them to the final post-reading activity: Find a recipe with SPAGHETTI and the chosen ingredient. Again the

students will use the internet to find these.

If your students don’t have the opportunity to use the internet you could

bring along cookbooks or let them use their imagination. When using their imagination I would recommend you to to go crazy and challenge the

student to come up with something along the line of Sketti sauce, preferably even worse.

What’s in the letters? Quick students, or if there is time left all students, can complete the word

search puzzle. All words in the puzzle are from this lesson or from the word list in the All Right VMBO-GT book.

6. Student hand-out

On the next pages you will find the hand-out that goes along with this lessonplan. Make sure every student receives a copy.

Answers to the puzzle:

Wondering about Spaghetti

Who likes spaghetti? Answer the questions below. 1. How do like to eat your spaghetti? __________________________________________ __________________________________________ __________________________________________ 2. Which ingredients do you like? __________________________________________ __________________________________________ __________________________________________ 3. Watch the clip from Mama June (from the Honey Boo Boo show) on The Wendy Williams Show.

What are the ingredients of Sketti? __________________________________________ __________________________________________ __________________________________________ Would you dare to try a bite of Sketti? __________________________________________ Do you think Sketti is a healthy meal? And why? __________________________________________ __________________________________________

Wondering About Spaghetti A poem by Arden David. I've always wondered why spaghetti comes in such long strands. It's hard to keep it on your fork, or even in your hands. I've always wondered why spaghetti is served on a dinner plate. Why not eat it in a sandwich or a thick spaghetti shake? I've always wondered why spaghetti is spelled such a funny way. Why don't they take the 'h' out, or maybe move the 'a'? I've always wondered why spaghetti has tomato sauce plopped on top. Why not grape jelly or chocolate cream, or for that matter, red soda pop. I've always wondered why spaghetti is my number one entree. Must be because spaghetti is just so much fun to say. (C) 1998, Arden Davidson

What’s in the poem? Answer the questions below.

4. Which of these food items were mentioned in the poem?

O O O O Which food items are missing? ______________ ______________ ______________ 5. Which of these food items would you try?

O O O O

Which food item WOULDN’T you ever want to try? _________________________________________

6. Look at other funny food words you can wonder about. Match the name with the correct picture. Just guess if you don’t know the answers for sure.

______________ ______________

______________ ______________

______________ ______________

Squash Marmalade Kipper

Sultanas Beetroot Gooseberries

What’s in the sound? To answer these questions you will have to use the internet AND/OR a dictionary. 7. Translate the funny food words:

Squash - ______________ Marmalade - ______________ Kipper - ______________ Sultanas - ______________ Beetroot - ______________ Gooseberries - ______________

8. More funny foods Look online for more food words. Choose items that you think

SOUND funny when spoken out loud.

___________ ___________ ___________ ___________ ___________ ___________ ___________ ___________ ___________ ___________ ___________ ___________ 9. Which of the food items above would you like to combine with spaghetti?

Choose one of the items from exercise 7 or 8. ____________________________

Tip: search for ‘food vocabulary’ and look on English class webpages.

For example: http://www.speakenglish.co.uk/vocab/foods

10.Re-write the poem Using the food item you choose in exercise 9 write you own

short poem. Look at the original poem for inspiration. I've always wondered why _______________________ (your food item) ____________________________ ____________________________ ____________________________

I've always wondered why _______________________ (your food item) ____________________________ ____________________________ ____________________________

I've always wondered why _______________________ (your food item) ____________________________ ____________________________ ____________________________

What’s the recipe? To answer this question you will have to use the internet AND colouring pencils. 11. Find a recipe Look for a recipe online that contains SPAGHETTI and the

food item from exercise 9. Write down the name of the recipe and the ingredients needed. Draw a picture of the way it is supposed to look. You can also write your own recipe.

Name: ____________________________ Ingredients: ____________________________

____________________________ ____________________________ ____________________________

____________________________

____________________________ ____________________________ ____________________________ ____________________________

It looks like:

What’s in the letters? Find the food words given. The words are from today’s lesson and All Right! Unit 1 -6.

________________________________________

Squash

Marmalade Kipper

Sultanas Beetroot

Herbs

Gooseberries

Sketti

Sandwich Shake

Jelly Grapes

Chocolate

Butter

Ketchup

Spaghetti Chili

Cabbage Lettuce

Nuts

Potato