Teaching cultural differences through pizza vocabulary and imagery

Pizza! Pizza?

Grade Level:

Intermediate ESL

Estimated Time

minutes

Lesson Description

The lesson begins with the reading of a poem about pizza by John Coe. The poem describes them many differences between different types of pizza, but does not specifically reference certain cultures. The out loud reading of the poem (by selected class members) is then followed by an exercise in which the students are asked to classify pictures according to whether they think they apply to pizza in America or pizza in Italy.

The purpose of this lesson is to teach children that even when certain things are called the same name in different cultures, they are still often very different. This is a chance to show the children that just because they know the definition of a word in English does not mean that that knowledge is universal. (for example, in America, pepperoni refers to a type of sausage, but in Italy, it refers to a large bell pepper). By focusing on pizza -- a food that most children get excited about -- I will be able to keep the children's interest piqued, while at the same time helping them learn about the cuisine of a foreign culture and the ambiguity of definitions and vocabulary between cultures.

This lesson plan will appeal primarily to visual learners because of the use of pictures, but will also appeal to auditory learners due to the verbal discussions. The visual aids will also be helpful to ESL students by helping them associate pictures with vocabulary.

Standards

NYS (New York) Standards for Language Arts

Standard 1: Language for Information and Understanding

Students will listen, speak, read, and write for information and understanding. As listeners and readers, students will collect data, facts, and ideas; discover relationships, concepts, and generalizations; and use knowledge generated from oral, written, and electronically produced texts. As speakers and writers, they will use oral and written language that follows the accepted conventions of the English language to acquire, interpret, apply, and transmit information.

The lesson plan meets this standard because the poem and the exercise allow them to absorb information, discover relationships between objects use oral and written language that follows the accepted conventions of the English language to acquire, interpret, apply, and transmit information

Standard 3: Language for Critical Analysis and Evaluation

Students will listen, speak, read, and write for critical analysis and evaluation. As listeners and readers, students will analyze experiences, ideas, information, and issues presented by others using a variety of established criteria. As speakers and writers, they will use oral and written language that follows the accepted conventions of the English language to present, from a variety of perspectives, their opinions and judgments on experiences, ideas, information and issues.

The lesson plan meets this standard because the students will be able to analyze how what they know matches up with what they have learned from the poem and the exercise.

Standard 4: Language for Social Interaction

Students will listen, speak, read, and write for social interaction. Students will use oral and written language that follows the accepted conventions of the English language for effective social communication with a wide variety of people. As readers and listeners, they will use the social communications of others to enrich their understanding of people and their views.

The lesson plan meets this standard because it creates interaction through reading parts of the poem allowed, and through class voting and discussion.

Objectives

1. Students will learn to differentiate between American pizza and Italian pizza (Informational knowledge)

2. Students will be able to reason and make choices between two options (Procedural knowledge)

3. Students will learn how to apply vocabulary words to different variations of the same word, in different cultures (Basic skills knowledge)

4. Students will learn that cultural differences add variety to life and that information varies across cultures (Affective knowledge)

5. Students will learn to work within a democratic voting process (Affective knowledge)

Teacher's Use of Technology

The teacher will locate and print pictures from the internet

Materials and Resources

Chalkboard or Poster board

Pre-cutout labeled pictures printed from the Internet (see example in appendix a)

Tape

Coe Poem

Lesson Procedure

The teacher will select students to each read 4 lines of the following poem:

Pizza by Jon Coe

Round and round in circles, pizzas' go some were made square, did you know?

Defining the true meaning of this worldly dish is it the ingredients, or the shape, that makes them de-lish?

Scallops, crab, cockles, winkles, pineapple and ham atop a crusty pastry, covered in cheese and strawberry jam

Chicken, deer meat, sausage, octopus and squid a smorgasbord of gourmet delicacies, amid

Deep dish, thin crust, and stuffed if you will round or rectangular, inside out, either way will fill

Frozen from the grocery store or fresh from the shop

Have it delivered or pick it up yourself thick and greasy cheeses, may be bad for your health?

Eat it hot for dinner or eat it in the morning cold what ever your preference, a meal in one slice to behold

Small, large, extra large, or super sized share it with your friends and eat it with fries

Keep it to yourself, a few days it may last

A pizza is a popular dish, a nutritious repast

Source: http://www.helium.com/items/996711-poetry-pizza

The teacher will ask the students the following questions in an open discussion:

1. Can you describe in your own words what a pizza looks like? What is it made of? How is it made? What kind of toppings are on your favorite kind of pizza?

2. Do you think of pizza as being an Italian dish or an American dish? Why?

3. What do you think some of the differences might be between a pizza from a local pizza shop and a pizza made in Italy?

The teacher will then write on a chalkboard or poster board the words "America" and "Italy," divided by a vertical line. She will then instruct the class she will be holding up two pictures (with labels) of different items related to pizza. She will then take a vote by the raising of hands on which picture should be taped up on the American side and which should be taped up on the Italian side, based on what they think they know about pizza.

The first two pictures the teacher will show the children are a pizza oven and a wood fire stove. (See example in appendix a) the teacher will tell the students that one picture is of a pizza oven and the other is of a wood fire stove. She will tell them that in one country, pizza is usually cooked by a pizza oven and in another country, it is usually cooked on a wood fire stove. She will then ask them which side of the board each picture belongs on and take a vote by show of hands, reminding the students that we are looking for what happens most of the time -- not necessarily all the time. .She will then place the picture on the side of the board that the majority of children have voted on.

The second two pictures will show a pepperoni pizza with meat (as we know it here in America) and a "pepperoni" pizza with large bell peppers (as they know it in Italy). The same procedure as above will be followed

The third two pictures will be of a round, relatively thick pizza crust and a rectangular, thin, cracker-like pizza crust. The same procedure as above will be followed, with the teacher once again reminding the students that we are looking for what happens most of the time -- not necessarily all the time.

The fourth and final two pictures will be of a pizza loaded with all sorts of toppings including pineapples, anchovies, etc. And another pizza with very sparse vegetable toppings. The same procedure will be followed as above.

The teacher will then ask for a show of hands to see how many students think they got everything right. She will then proceed to tell them that in Italy, they use a wood fire stove and in America we use a pizza oven. If the students got it wrong, she will switch the pictures, and compliment their efforts either way.

The teacher will then inform the children that if you ask for pepperoni on your pizza in Italy, you will not get the little round sausage-type meat you are used to, but instead you will get big bell peppers. Again, if the students got it wrong, she will switch the pictures and compliment their efforts either way.

The teacher will then tell the students that while pizza can be all different types of thicknesses in America, in Italy it is usually very thin, almost like a cracker. She will also tell them that in America, pizza is usually round, but in Italy, it is often rectangular in shape. Once again, if the students got it wrong, she will switch the pictures, and compliment their efforts either way.

Lastly, the teacher will tell the children that pizza in America is often loaded with all kinds of crazy toppings, but in Italy, the toppings are much sparser and tend to be just vegetables. Sometimes they don't even have cheese. Again, if the students got it wrong, she will switch the pictures and compliment their efforts either way.

The last part of the lesson is to encourage an open discussion about what they have learned. The teacher should guide the conversation so that the children don't just reflect on what they learned about pizza, but also what they learned about the difference in cultures and how what they know about pizza in America does not necessarily apply to Italy.

Extension

If feasible, a pizza party featuring both types of pizza could follow the lesson. Students could also be asked to bring in pizza recipes and share them with the class.

Assessment

Assessment will be informal. Prior knowledge will be assessed by how well the students are able to correctly choose which picture belongs under which heading. Post-lesson knowledge will be assessed by the discussion that ensues after the lesson is complete. The teacher should not only look for what the children have learned about the differences between the pizzas in America and Italy, but also for what they have learned about how knowledge is relative across cultures. In other words, they may think they know what a pizza is, but they may not know what a pizza is relative to the way it is perceived in other cultures. Lastly, teachers need to assess the social skills of the students in terms of how they react when they win or do not win the vote, how and if they try to influence each other's votes, if they always vote the way their best friend votes, and so on.