I've said it before and I'll say it again, reading skills practice is so important for language learning! Like I've said before, my students should read books. Period. But I also want them to read other types of texts to practice their reading skills. Reading menus makes for a super fun lesson and there are 3 reasons why.
1. Going to dinner is lovely, and getting to choose your meal is half the fun of it! Bring menus to class, or get students to find one they like online and bring that. Get them to read menus and possibly answer some general questions about the texts. Then you can have them practice ordering meals to each other. Student A is the waiter and student B the guest!
2. Learning the words for ingredients and even meals is valuable knowledge! You could teach them a list of vocabulary words beforehand - there are many lists with pictures available online - or you could have them look up any words they don't know from menus you bring to class, or that students have brought.
3. Get students to come up with their own menus! What have they learned from example menus they have seen so far? First they must decide what kind of restaurant they are: Italian, Chinese, Japanese, American, Dutch, etc. Then they should decide on starters, main courses, and desserts. Pricing is also important. Add to the fun by getting students to design the layout of their menu as well. And finally, get them to play restaurant with each other, of course!
So that's it! Give menus a try for your reading skills lessons and see if you like it as much as I do!
Something to combine with lessons about menus are lessons about recipes and cooking verbs. I've created a bunch of resources that you may like:
Would you like some ideas on using other text types, like Brochures, Recipes, Newspapers, or Magazines in your lessons? Check the links to find my blog posts on them as well!
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