I. Oral Practice Section

Look through the statements/ proverbs and try to outline the problems to be discussed.

1. Eating is one of the greatest pleasures available. In the modern world we tend to eat too quickly and not well enough.

2. Tastes differ.

3. Dry bread at home is better than roast meat abroad.

4. A very popular pastime today is eating out.

You’ve got some information about eating habits of young people. Say why some people eat so much junk food nowadays and what junk food is. Replace the words in bold type by the synonyms given in the box.

In today’s fast-moving world, people have less and less time to spend eating, let alone cooking. It is probably for this reason that junk food has become so popular, and there’s no doubt that it’s here to stay.

So what exactly is junkfood? Basically, it is anything that is high in calories but lacking in nutrition. Hamburgers, crisps, chocolate bars and hot dogs fall into this category. Pizzas, although they can have vegetables and cheese toppings, are also included as they contain a lot of fat.

Why have our eating habits changed? “It’s lackof time and loss of tradition”, says one expert. He explains that people are too busy too cook and eat proper meals, so they grab whatever is available – and that is usually junkfood. Also, the style of life represented on TV, especially in music videos, is fast. Young people pick up the idea that speed means excitement, whereas anything traditional is slow and boring. As a result, they turn down traditional food and go for junkfood instead.

have a bite; make food; have meals; absence; appropriate; have a snack; fast; usual; prepare meals; making food

Tell your friend about English eating traditions choosing the right preposition from the brackets.

There are four meals a day (in, on, with) an English home: breakfast, lunch, tea and dinner. English breakfast is generally a bigger meal than (at, on, in) the Continent, though some English people like a “continental” breakfast (with, for, of) rolls and butter and coffee. But the usual English breakfast is porridge or “Corn Flakes” (at, with, by) milk or cream and sugar, bacon and eggs, marmalade (with, on, upon) buttered toast and tea or coffee. (To, for, on) a change they can have a boiled egg, cold ham, or perhaps fish.

The usual time (on, to, for) lunch is (about, on, with) one o’clock. The mid-day meal usually consists (with, at, of) two courses – a meat course or poultry (with, upon, at)vegetables and then sweet dish, perhaps fruit pudding (to, with, for) tea or coffee (on, for, to) finish.

(From, at, to) four (at, on, to) five they have a very light meal called afternoon tea or 5 o’clock tea. You can hardly call it a meal. It’s rather occasion (at, in, by) the late afternoon (about, at, upon) which they have a cup (with, of, into) tea and a cake or a biscuit.

Some people have the so-called “high-tea”. It’s a meal taken between five and six if dinner is not taken (in, at, on) the evening. Usually it’s a more substantial meal than afternoon tea.

Dinner is the fourth meal (at, of, in) the day. The usual time is (about, on, in) 7 o’clock. Dinner usually consists (into, of, by) soup, fish or meat (with, on, for) vegetables – potatoes, green beans, carrot and cabbage, sweet pudding, fruit salad, ice-cream or cheese and biscuits. Then (upon, after, at) a talk they have black or white coffee.

This is the order (about, with, of) meals among English families. But the greater part (of, to, about) the people has dinner (at, on, in) the middle (on, of, at) the day instead (of, in, at) lunch. They have tea a little later – between 5 and 6 o’clock, and then (after, in, on) the evening, before going (in, to, on) bed, they have supper.

So the four meals (in, at, of) the day are either breakfast, dinner, tea, supper; or breakfast, lunch, tea, dinner.

4. Work in pairs. Using the table below, say which of these cooking methods you would use for the ingredients below.

Cooking methods:

steam bake stuff

boil grill pickle

fry barbecue

roast stew

Ingredients:

chicken meat liver tomatoes

potatoes carrots cabbage cucumbers

rice bread mushrooms sausages

fish eggs macaroni beef

I think I’d … it/them. You could either … or … that/those. It is possible to … them but I’d prefer to … them.

e.g. I think I’d boil or fry eggs.

Are you a good cook? Can you make an Apple Charlotte? Look at the ingredients and instructions below. The instructions are in the wrong order. Can you decide what the correct order should be? There is one extra instruction which you do not need to use

Apple Charlotte

For 4 people

Ingredients

500g apples

150g sugar

the juice and grated peel of a lemon

120g butter

8 large slices of bread

__

a. Put the cooked apple into the ovenproof dish. Put a slice of bread on the top of the apple.

b. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes.

c. Set the oven to 200°C.

d. Hit the rest of the milk in a saucepan.

e. Put one slice of bread at the bottom of an ovenproof dish and the other slices round the sides.

f. Let it cook for 3 minutes.

g. Cut the crusts off the bread. Put each slice of bread into the melted butter.

h. Peel, core and slice the apples.

i. Put 2 table spoons of sugar over the top of the pudding. Serve hot with custard sauce or cream.

j. Stir the mixture often. At the same time, in a small saucepan, melt the rest of the butter.

k. Cook them in a large saucepan with 150g sugar, the grated lemon peel and a teaspoon of butter.

l. When the apples are soft, add the juice of the lemon and beat the mixture well.