Teaching notes and ideas
Name of resource:
Which food gives the most energy?
Age group
Subject(s)
12 to 14
Science
Topic
Language Level
Practical to find which food gives
the most energy
Beginner
EAL Nexus
Description of resource
 Set of flashcards showing a science practical activity to find which food gives
the most energy (provided on PowerPoint)
Preparation needed
You will need:
 one set of the flashcards for each beginner EAL learner (or pair of learners).
You will need to:
 make the flashcards by printing out the PowerPoint as two-to-a-page handouts,
cutting them up and laminating them.
Curriculum objectives
 To discover which food gives the most energy
 For beginner EAL learners to be able to take part in the practical activity
alongside their peers and be supported to talk and write about it
Language/Literacy objectives
Functions
Structures
Describing a process
 Simple past tense (1st person plural)
e.g. We clamped the boiling tube into a stand.
 Use of past tense verb forms
e.g. We recorded our results in a table.
Sequencing
 Connectives: First of all we, then we, we then, next,
after that, finally
Comparing
 ... gives more energy than …; … gives less
energy than …
 … the most energy, … the least energy
This project and its actions were made possible due to co-financing by the European Fund for the Integration of Third-Country Nationals
© British Council 2015
EAL Nexus
Vocabulary
 Science equipment: variety of different types of food, pins, corks, boiling tube,
clamp, stand, wooden spill, thermometer
 Verbs: find out, pour, stir, measure temperature, clamp, record, give, produce
 Other: beginning, end, table
This resource could be used:
 as differentiation within class
 as independent learning to support a homework task
Ideas for using the resource
What to do
The types of food shown in the flashcards are examples – they can be replaced
with other substances.
 One way of using these flashcards is to lay them out in sequence before the
practical activity to show beginner EAL learners what to do. This could also be
done using the PowerPoint electronically. It is important that beginner EAL
learners take part in the practical session – these flashcards are intended to
make the practical activity accessible, not to replace it. Science practical work
is just the type of collaborative group work, with a lot of contextual support,
which is very beneficial for EAL learners.
 After the practical activity, EAL learners can be asked to arrange the cards in
sequence to show what they did.
 They can use the visuals as prompts to describe the activity they have just
taken part in (orally). The text on the cards can be covered at first and then
uncovered after the learner has first tried to describe the process using the
visuals alone without reading the cards.
 Alternatively the learner can be asked to read the text on the card aloud first,
and then cover it up and practise saying it without reading.
 Finally the cards can be used to scaffold a piece of writing where the learners
write up the practical. Slide number 13 provides some basic connectives to
help scaffold the written account. Consider letting beginner EAL learners
borrow the cards if writing up the practical is a homework task. Alternatively a
copy of the PowerPoint could be printed out as a six-to-a-page handout for
beginner learners to take home.
Other ideas for making the best use of this resource
 If possible, learners should be given an opportunity to speak about the activity in
their first language with another speaker of the same language. See Use of
learners’ first language ability.
This project and its actions were made possible due to co-financing by the European Fund for the Integration of Third-Country Nationals
© British Council 2015
EAL Nexus
 EAL learners could be grouped for the practical session with supportive peers
who can provide good models of English for them.
Possible extension activities
 More advanced EAL learners could be asked to rewrite the sentences on the
cards (slides 4 to 11) in the passive voice, and with more sophisticated
connectives. E.g. First, the substance was put on the end of a pin in a cork.
This project and its actions were made possible due to co-financing by the European Fund for the Integration of Third-Country Nationals
© British Council 2015