As I entered into the food unit, I started brainstorming fun and creative ways to engage students and hook them. So, I went straight to my favorite idea finder, Pinterest. I searched for something simple like “Spanish food unit” and eventually came across an idea that I loved, a blind taste test. The pin didn’t have much detail, so I began planning out the activity. I ended up doing two different types of taste testing, one with jelly beans and another with different types of food.
Blind Taste Test: Jelly Beans
I went to the local grocery store and bought a bag of jelly beans. Then, I created a chart in PowerPoint so I could provide the flavors in Spanish for the students in the target language. I provided images instead of English translation as I prefer to use as little English as possible. In class, this is how we did the activity. I had students sit in groups of 4-5 in a circle. I randomly picked a student to begin and gave them the chart. They had to close their eyes as the student to their left picked out a jelly bean with the spoon and placed it in their hand. The first participant then put the jelly bean in their mouth without looking at the color and had 20 seconds to guess the flavor. If they were right, they won a point and the game continued on. It was best to group them into sizes of no more than five because the game becomes too slow and students will become disengaged. I let them play in small groups for about 10-15 minutes, depending on engagement and if I heard English starting to increase. Hearing English is an easy indicator that they are ready for another activity. After the activity, we were able to talk about what was our favorite flavor, what type of candy we liked and so on. The food unit happened right before Easter, so it opened up opportunities to talk about candies, Easter and traditions.
PowerPoint Slide of the Jelly Beans in Spanish
Blind Taste Test: Food
For the following day, I decided to really up the level of engagement and try something out of my comfort zone, a blind taste test with actual food. First, I made a list of different flavors and textures so I could try and find a variety of food. Then, I went to the Dollar Tree to see how many items I could find that matched the categories and was presently surprised. I then raided my kitchen cabinets for the rest of the items including left overs. Here is the final list of food items:
While in class, I prepared the food by either opening up the items, cutting up some food and so on. I also hid the food behind a large cardboard tri-fold and underneath a towel. Kids are nosey and they wanted to know what was behind it, so I had to keep guard. I started the lesson with practicing the different terms for flavors and textures with actions which were in my PowerPoint. Each term had an image with it to help with comprehension. I also associated the term with other food items in Spanish and asked them to help me name food items with the same flavor and/or texture. Then, I sat the class into two rows to create two different groups. Before we started the taste testing I had to make sure I knew if anyone had allergies. Although I introduced the topic in Spanish and most understood, I did clarify in English to be safe. Then, we started the blind taste test!
I started with the first student in each row. They had to close their eyes, I grabbed a food item, placed it on a fork or spoon (depending on the item), placed it in their hand and they had to put the food in their mouth. My goal was to not have them feel the food as that would give a lot away but I also didn’t want to place the food in their mouth. Once the food was in their mouths, they were able to open their eyes and the first student to guess the food item won! They also had to tell me the flavor and texture of the food. If neither of them knew the word, then I had them circumlocute the food item. The fastest or best description won a point for their team. We then continued down the line. After just a few turns the students wanted to pick out the food to be fed and I was ok with that as long as they had a turn already. This way there was still the surprise factor of the food items I had hidden. Also, most classes went two rounds, so I waited until the second round before allowing them to pick the food to be fed.
Once the game ended, the students came up with ideas on food items to add for the next time and they had some great suggestions such as ketchup and mayonnaise. I also realized that it would have been helpful to have had food categories list available for them as we circumlocuted the foods they were eating such as: fruit, vegetables, desserts, meats and grains including meal time categories such as breakfast, lunch, dinner or snack. They didn’t know how to say many of the food items in Spanish so it was a great way to elicit circumlocution! Overall, it was one of their favorite lessons as it included engaging factors for students, free food, competition and an element of suspense. I highly recommend you try this activity in your class!