LESSON PLAN FOR ENGLISH TEACHERSCOMFORT FOODUpdated Lesson
Jul. 18, 2025
Level: Intermediate (B1-B2)
Type of language: General English
Tags: Food and Drink; Cooking and Eating; Vocabulary Lesson; Speaking; 13-15 Years Old; 16-18 Years Old; 18+ Years Old
Publication date: 07/18/2025
In this updated lesson plan, students identify some useful collocations with the word food and then listen to people from a variety of backgrounds talking about their favorite comfort foods. They formulate their own definition of this term after defining some useful phrases from the recording. Then they prepare some information about their own go-to comfort food and complete a pair work interview speaking task, which can be extended into a writing assignment. An optional extension activity examines some informal pronunciation features from one of the recordings. (by Stephanie Hirschman)
- CLICK HERE to download the student’s worksheet in American English.
- CLICK HERE to download the teacher’s lesson plan in American English.
- CLICK HERE to download the student’s worksheet in British English.
- CLICK HERE to download the teacher’s lesson plan in British English.
- CLICK HERE to download/listen to the audio in international English.
AUDIO TRANSCRIPT
Reporter: We’re on campus today, and we’ve been talking to international students about food. We asked everyone the same question, “What’s your favorite comfort food?” Here’s what some of them said.
Canadian: Lemme think a moment. Ok, I’m gonna say poutine. I know from experience that it’s kinda hard to explain, but in Canada, we take French fries and cheese curds and serve them with gravy. I always tell people that it looks horrible but tastes great.
Reporter: I think you’d better explain it a bit more.
Canadian: Ok, so French fries, like chips, you know, fried potatoes, mixed with curds, which are like the first type of solid that you get when you start to make milk into cheese, served with a hot, savory, brown sauce. It’s a total carb hit, and I always wanna get some after a big night out. Just gimme a serving of poutine, and all’s right with the world.
Reporter: Does everyone in Canada like it?
Canadian: I dunno, I guess it’s much more popular in the French-speaking part. But, c’mon, who doesn’t like fried food? You’ve gotta try it, believe me.
Filipina: Easy! It’s ube halaya. Boy, do I miss it. It’s definitely the first thing I look for when I’m back in the Philippines.
Reporter: Tell me more.
Filipina: Sure. It’s a dessert made from a root vegetable called ube. This is a purple yam, like a sweet potato – you can’t get it here. You cook it until it’s soft and then mix in sweetened condensed milk or coconut milk and a tiny bit of butter. It’s served very cold, from the refrigerator.
Reporter: So, when do you eat it?
Filipina: It’s street food. I usually have it as a snack in the evening, to cool down after a hot day. I might get a big dish to share with friends. We each get a spoon and then just dig in! I hope you can try it one day.
Reporter: Me too.
Pole: Speaking as someone from Poland, it’s got to be pierogi. Actually, it’s funny you should ask that - I just made some the other day because I was feeling homesick and missing my mom.
Reporter: What sort of thing is pierogi?
Pole: It’s like pasta stuffed with meat, mushrooms, and vegetables – there are lots of different fillings. Every family has their own preferences and their own way of preparing them. I had to have a long phone call with my mum at the weekend so she could talk me through making them the way she does. Hers are the best for me, always! Homemade food is so important.
Reporter: How were they?
Pole: Pretty good, although they never taste quite right outside of Poland. That’s partly because some of the products, like sour cream, don’t taste the same, even though there are lots of good Polish grocery stores here. It took ages to make the pierogi, but we wolfed them down in minutes. It felt like home!
Ghanaian: Are you serious? What a silly question – it’s jollof rice, of course. But, you have to make it the right way, the way we do in Ghana.
Reporter: How’s that?
Ghanaian: It’s all about the rice. We use jasmine rice or Thai rice, which is cooked in tomatoes and stock for a couple of hours. It’s often served with chicken and an egg. Reminds me of family celebrations at Christmas time when I was a kid. My mouth is watering right now, just talking about it!
Reporter: And, can I ask, what’s the wrong way to make it?
Ghanaian: Well, jollof rice is always a slow-cooked food, but my Nigerian friends use American long-grain rice, and I’m sorry - it’s just not as good. We’re forever arguing about it. The other thing people argue about is how spicy to make it. I like it medium, so I put in one Scotch bonnet chili pepper for six servings, I know people who put in two.
Vietnamese: Pho.
Reporter: Sorry? What did you say?
Vietnamese: Pho. It’s the national dish of Vietnam, where I come from. It’s a type of soup.
Reporter: Sounds interesting.
Vietnamese: Yes, it’s basically quite a simple dish – broth, rice noodles and meat like beef or chicken, but it takes a lot of skill to season it. It’s served with lots of fresh, tasty herbs, and that’s what makes it so delicious.
Reporter: When was the last time you ate pho?
Vietnamese: I had some last week. I was having a really bad day and feeling a bit down, so I went to my favorite Vietnamese restaurant for lunch. I had a bowl of pho and a chat with the guys who run the restaurant, and that cheered me up. Real comfort food!
Adapted from: https://www.linguahouse.com/esl-lesson-plans/general-english/comfort-food. Accessed on July 21, 2025. LinguaHouse.com © 2008–2025. All rights reserved.
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