Good Foods for Good Health Webquest

Good Foods for Good Health
Dean Brooks
Intermediate ESL

Introduction

Which foods are good? What is the best way to buy food? Can you plan healthy meals?

Task

Find good food ideas in class or on line. Look at the resources below.

Use these ideas to plan meals.

Plan to shop after you plan the meals.

Write what you have learned about food.

Write your menus and write your plan to shop.

Process

Guess how much your food will cost. Later you can see if you are right. And you can see if a plan will save money.

Learn about food online. http://www.mypyramid.gov/pyramid/index.html or http://www.mypyramid.gov/sp-index.html (Spanish). Talk about what you learned in class.

Write:

What is a good grain?
What is a good vegetable?
What is a fruit?
What is in the oil group?
What is in the milk group?
What is in the meat and bean group?

Find out how much you should eat. How much in one day? How much in one meal? How much from each of three food groups. http://www.nutritionexplorations.org/kids/nutrition-howmuch.asp

Plan some meals http://www.mypyramidtracker.gov/planner/launchPage.aspx http://www.mypyramid.gov/downloads/sample_menu.pdf

List the food and how much you need to buy. You may use the handout "Menu Plan" as a guide.

Check ads in the newspaper, or check on line or visit a store and take notes.

Do the ads or coupons save money, or help you plan? How?

Writing: (the "Menu Plan" will help you organize and write your ideas):

Write a report on what you learn about nutrition (see Process #2 and #3 above).
Write a short menu for each meal. Use the daily nutrition ideas you learned. List what food you will need and how much. What it will cost? Does it cost what you guessed it would? (See Process #1 and #7 above.)

Resources

Handout "Menu Plan" -- to help organize ideas and write menus.

Find grocery ads and coupons in the news or at a store. Bring them to class.

Sample USDA suggested menu can be used for class discussion: http://www.mypyramid.gov/downloads/sample_menu.pdf

USDA suggested food pyramid can be used for class discussion: http://www.mypyramid.gov/pyramid/index.html

Suggested format for a day's menu

Meals Day1	Course 1	Course 2	Course 3	Course 4	Course 5	Course 6	Total cost
1 Breakfast	Eggs	Bread, jam, butter	Fruit juice	Milk	Tea
Quantity	6	¼ loaf	16 ounces	30 ounces	16 ounces
Cost	$1	$1	$.80	$.50	$.20		$3.50
2 Lunch
Quantity
Cost
3 Supper/Dinner
Quantity
Cost

Sample Menus

Food Pyramid

Evaluation Rubric

Points -->> In your report you should:	1 beginning	2 good	3 very good	4 advanced
Name the Food Groups.	Name the 3 food groups.	Name all food groups.	Name all food groups. Tell how much of each group you need to eat each day.	Name all food groups. Tell how much of each group you need to eat each day. All words are spelled right and sentences are complete.
Write menus for your family.	Write 1 menu (one meal) for your family. Use the good food ideas from the web source.	Write 3 menus (1 day) for your family. Use the good food ideas from the web source.	Write 6 menus (2 days) for your family. The meals have the right amounts of the food groups for each day.	Write 6 menus (2 days) for your family. The meals have the right amounts of the food groups for each day. All words are spelled correctly and sentences are complete.
Find the cost and write about it.	Visit a store, or reading a news ad, or looking on line. Find and write the cost for 1 family meal.	Visit a store, or reading a news ad, or looking on line. Find and write the cost for 3 family meal.	Compare the costs of 6 menus by doing two of the following things: visiting a store, reading a newspaper ad, or by looking on line.	Compare the costs of 6 menus by doing two of the following things: visiting a store, reading a newspaper ad, or by looking on line. All words are spelled correctly and sentences are complete. And tell how well you guessed the cost.
See "Conclusion" below for extra credit Back to Top

Conclusion

Here are some things to think about. For an extra 1 point each, answers these questions in your report:

What new words did you learn?
What did you learn about nutrition?
What did you learn about shopping for food?
Does good food cost more, less, or the same?

Teacher Notes

This is a writing lesson for intermediate language students, that also introduces them to nutrition and to US shopping techniques. Each student may complete his / her own writing exercise, yet still work in pairs or in small groups to brainstorm, read ads, collect data, or to peer-review and correct assignments. Visits to the store and collection of store ads or newspaper ads may be assigned as homework or can be done as a group. Classroom work may take 3 sessions.

The following words may be difficult for students. In introducing the project, teachers might review the vocabulary, practicing the terms in context.

ad

breakfast

budget

cost

coupon

course

diet

food group

fruit

grain

grocery

group

healthy

juice

lunch

meal

menu

newspaper

nutrition

oil

online

organize

ounce

plan

pyramid

quantity

serving

supper

total

USDA

vegetable

Additional Comments

The reading level of this Webquest is mostly at 9 or below on the SMOG scale. Multi-syllable words such as "nutrition" make for the high score. Supplemental class work and discussions could include collaboration on a vocabulary list for these harder words. See attached suggested vocabulary list. The handouts and on-line materials are at a high school difficulty; some students will require classroom assistance understanding them.