Thematic unit: Food (lesson plans will focus on fruits drinks and Chinese breakfast)
by Joanne Wu Havemeyer
Fruit:
Objectives:
Students will be able to tell 8 kinds of fruits: banana, apple, strawberry, pitch,
watermelon, cantaloupe, grape and pear,
Students will be able to recognize the unique fruit: litchi
Students will be able to recite fruit rhyme and find out which fruit is the most popular one.
一，二，三，四，五，六，七
哪种 水果 最好吃 ?
香蕉，苹果，草莓，桃
西瓜，甜瓜，葡萄，梨
哪种 水果 最好吃 ?
草莓，草莓，最好吃 .
Students will be able to ask and answer their favorite fruits
Students will be able to read and answer questions about the fruits
Students will be able to write 我最喜欢吃_______和________(My favorite fruits are…
and ….)
Students will be able to tell the unique fruit Chinese eat during festivals
Materials:
Plastic fruits, flash cards with characters, self adhesive poster,
Rhyme for fruits, festival pictures with fruits
Short paragraph about fruit
Activities:
1. Self adhesive poster for students to find out the pinyin of the fruit for all
2. Students can describe the shape and color of the fruits to guess the Chinese
characters either from the dictionary or the team (ya3mi2).
3. Match the pinyin with the fruits items
4. Guess the fruit name (对/不对)
 Teachers show a small corner of the fruit picture in front of the class
 Students raise the hands and speak up the name
 The most names win
5. Bingo game
 Pictures of the fruit and characters of the fruit
6. Battleship game (attached)
7. Puzzle – fruits (attached)
8. Recite the fruit rhyme and find out which fruits is the favorite
一，二，三，四，五，六，七
哪种 水果 最好吃 ?
香蕉，苹果，草莓，桃
西瓜，甜瓜，葡萄，梨
哪种 水果 最好吃 ?
草莓，草莓，最好吃 . （student select their favorite）
9. Teacher model and students follow for few times
10. The class sings or hit bamboo pieces (Chinese-快板) recite
11. Write down characters on one side of the index card, and pinyin/English on the
other.
12. Ask students to highlight the radicals
Wrap up:
 Three things you learned
 Two vocabularies you can write
 One puzzle you have
Homework:
Memorize the rhyme and see who will be the most fluent
Teacher generate characters writing sheet from Archchinese.com
我最喜欢吃_______和________
Drinks:
Objectives:
Students will be able to tell 6 kinds of drinks: cola, juice, water, milk, coffee and tea
Students will be able to use right verb 吃/喝
Students will be able to tell the tea history and its process
Students will be able to recite drinks rhyme and find out which drinks is the favorite.
可乐，果汁，水，
牛奶，咖啡，茶
一 二 三 四 五
喜欢喝什么？
可乐，果汁，水，
牛奶，咖啡，茶
一 二 三 四 五
喜欢喝_______
Students will be able to ask and answer their favorite drink
Students will be able to write 我喜欢喝_______和________ (I like to drink … and ….)
Students will be able to compare and contract the drinking habit between Chinese and US
Materials:
Flash cards: cola, juice, water, milk, coffee, and tea. Fruit poster and fruit
characters. Self adhesive poster for students to write pinyin and characters as a team.
Activities:
1. Write down pinyin and tone marks for each fruit on the poster
2. Fruit sticks on the back holder (use pictures first, then move to pinyin and
characters). Student sit and not only see own fruit but others. 1st, say your own
fruit and another one. The student has the fruit name called, repeat the name and
call another fruit. If you can’t follow quickly and get the name right, take point
off. After one cycle, change the chair.
3. Interpersonal mood: Ask and Q face to face, move only one side of students, not
the other
Q 1: 你喜欢喝什么？
A 1: 我喜欢喝。。
Q 2: 今天早上你喝了什么？
A 2: 今天早上我喝了。。。
Q 3：昨天晚上，你喝了什么？A 3：昨天晚上，我喝了。。。。
4． Interpretive task: Read a short paragraph and answer questions (attached)
5. Recite the fruit rhyme （each student will answer the fruit on his/her hand）
可乐，果汁，水，
牛奶，咖啡，茶
一 二 三 四 五
喜 欢 喝 什 么？
可乐，果汁，水，
牛奶，咖啡，茶
一 二 三 四 五
喜 欢 喝_______（students will answer the fruit on his/her hand）
6. Teacher model and students follow for few times
7. The class hit bamboo pieces (Chinese-快板) recite
8. Teacher type fruit characters, students highlight the radical
Wrap up:
a. Three drinks you learned
b. Two kinds of drink you can write
c. One puzzle you have
Homework:
Memorize the rhyme and see who will be the most fluent
Teacher generate characters writing sheet from Archchinese.com
我最喜欢喝_______和________
Chinese breakfast:
Objectives:
Students will be able to use “ba3” sentence
Students will be able to use “le” with past time phrase or experienced
Students will be able to tell the Eastern and Western style of breakfast and make
comparison and compare
Students will be able to use 吃。。对身体好(good to your body)
Students will be able to use。。 过。。（experience）
Materials:
Food Posters, flash cards: soy milk, milk, sesame seed cake, fried dough sticks,
steamed bum, egg, ham, oatmeal, bread. Self adhesive poster for students to write pinyin
and characters
Activities:
1. Tell your classmate on your right about 3 things you ate this morning.
2. Find out from your classmate 3 things about her habits or taste in food. Tell
the same about yourself
3. pantomiming game to practice the food vocabularies
4. put food flash cards on the table, and use ba3 sentence
5. make food pyramid and say 吃。。对身体好(good to your body)
6. battleship game and say, 你吃过。。。吗？
7. making a shopping list for birthday party.
Wrap up:
d. Three things you learned
e. Two kinds of Chinese food you can write
f. One question you may have
Homework:
Finish your shopping list. Prepare birthday party
Ask your friends over to help and give her directions using 把