A Taste for Words: Restaurant Reviews, Gastronomy & Present Tenses

Bring restaurant reviews to life while helping proficient learners use the present tenses with precision. A Taste for Words: Restaurant Reviews, Gastronomy & Present Tenses is a C2 ESL lesson pack that connects culinary heritage, modern gastronomy and the language of food criticism. Students explore dishes from around the world, read about a Basque-inspired restaurant in London and discuss an inventive Philadelphia fusion restaurant before using what they have learned in conversation and writing.

This multi-skill resource includes:

• Reading & Use of English: An adapted review of Ibai, a Basque-inspired London steakhouse, based on Grace Dent’s writing for The Guardian. A one-word open cloze and follow-up questions develop reading comprehension, inference and awareness of review language.

• Food Vocabulary: International food images and activities covering flavour, texture and preparation—from zesty and gamey to braise and emulsify. Students also evaluate language for restaurant atmosphere and service and practise eight everyday food idioms.

• Present Tenses Grammar: Clear examples and practice with the present simple, present continuous, present perfect simple and present perfect continuous. Exam-style transformations, tense-choice tasks and one-word gaps help students distinguish habits, changing situations, experience, duration and present results.

• Listening & Video: Pre-watch discussion and comprehension questions based on a CBS Mornings feature about Black Dragon, a Philadelphia restaurant combining Chinese takeout and soul food.

• Speaking & Writing: Discussion tasks on dining experiences, culinary traditions and restaurant reviews, plus a homework assignment in which students write a review of a fusion restaurant.

• Teacher Materials: Editable lesson slides, an A4 student pack, a teacher’s answer key, and UK and US English versions.

Interactive and printable extras:

• Flip the Tense!: An interactive speaking game in which students turn prompts into complete present-tense questions, ask a partner and respond.

• Conversation Cards: Twenty printable cut-out cards that bring the same question-forming challenge to pairs and small groups.

• Vocabulary Games

• Guess the Food Idiom: Slides activity where students guess the idiom being represented in the pictures.

• Culinary Taboo: Twenty taboo style cards for a fun speaking activity.

• Homework: Follow-up practice in vocabulary, idioms, present tenses, error correction and restaurant-review writing.