Fast Food Grammar Lesson
Agnieszka Rakowicz- English and Language Acquisition
The following lesson focuses on helping intermediate ESL students advance their
knowledge of countable and uncountable nouns and their quantifiers. The thematic
context is ethnic food, its sources and preparation.
Goal: Review and of countable and uncountable noun and noun quantifiers
Level: Intermediate to high-intermediate
Outline:
1. The instructor begins by asking students to name their favorite food (rice, chicken,
milk, bread, chocolate, eggs, pizza, fruit, fish, and beans). The words are recorded on the
board, and after a brief discussion, they are categorized as countable or uncountable.
2. Students are asked which quantifiers can be used to modify countable and
uncountable nouns. To elicit the forms various questions can be used, for example
How much water do you drink?
How many glasses of water do you drink?
How many slices of pizza did you eat last night?
*These examples are also helpful in discussing the difference between amount and
number.
3. Students are invited to discuss some of the more problematic quantifiers, such as the
difference between "a few" and "few", "a little" and "little," and quantifiers that can
be used to indicate positive and negative meaning, for instance
I have a little food in the refrigerator.
I have little food in the refrigerator.
*The instructor discusses often confused, comparative and superlative forms of these
quantifiers.
Less is used with uncountable nouns, such as ice cream and fewer is used with
countable plural nouns, such as cookies.
Less is the comparative form of little, and fewer is the comparative form of few.
Least is the superlative form of little/not much and fewest is the superlative forms
of few/not many.
It is useful to mention here frequently confused the least (=the minimum) and at
least (=as a minimum requirement / not less than).
Note: The quantifiers appear to be quite simple grammatical structures, but they are confusing for many
non-native speakers of English. This confusion may be caused by hearing native speakers’ “irregular”
usage of the quantifiers.
4. Students are asked to comment on the following cartoon:
While discussing the cartoon and, inevitably, supermarkets, the following questions can
be asked:
Where do people in your country do their food shopping?
What is a typical food that people eat in your country?
What is a typical menu from your country? Include food for breakfast lunch and dinner.
Who is responsible for cooking food?
5. Each student is asked to choose his/her favorite family recipe and to generate a list of
ingredients the recipe calls for.
6. In groups students discuss and explain what their ingredients are and how they are
obtained (from the supermarket, farmer’s market, from one’s garden).
*The ingredients are recorded on the board in either countable or uncountable column.
7. Finally, students are invited to write their favorite family recipe. They are asked to
include:
Name of recipe:
From the kitchen of (first name, geographic area):
We make this for:
My family likes it because:
Ingredients:
Directions:
*The instructor can create a class recipe booklet, include information on when the recipe
is made (ex: anytime, for birthdays, a certain holiday) and why the family likes it.
Printed copies can be distributed to the class.
Follow-up: For the next several days, students are asked to pay attention to what they
eat, perhaps keep a food journal. They can also be encouraged to notice to what people
they encounter in their neighborhood, school or work, eat. The noted food items can be
categorized: countable or uncountable nouns. The gathered information can also be
used during the following session, which may be spent on essay writing. Students can
compare and contrast diets of the United States and their native country in terms of
taste and preparations, or in terms of the amount of consumed food, or availability of
fast food and/or snacks.
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