World Food Day is celebrated on 16 October. According to the United Nations, 'World Food Day marks a day to take action against hunger with the sole aim of eradicating it in this lifetime.' Their aim is to reach zero hunger. More information can be found here:
http://www.fao.org/world-food-day
https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/hunger/
In this lesson, instead of focusing on the topic of food itself, learners learn about the problem of hunger in the world and the need to work together to eradicate it.
Learners start by reading a differentiated text about World Food Day that contains some statistics about hunger. They answer a series of questions related to the text, designed to make them think critically about issues related to hunger. They share their ideas about what they can do to raise awareness in their community. Finally they collaborate to write letters to world leaders, explaining how they feel and why this issue is important.
For more lesson ideas related to the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals, download the publication 'Integrating global issues in the creative English language classroom':
https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/integrating-global-issues-creative-english-language-classroom
Learning outcomes
- Practise reading comprehension
- Use critical thinking and collaboration skills
- Discuss how to raise awareness about hunger in the world
- See the world from another person's perspective and develop compassion for others
- Practise writing a letter with scaffolding
Age/ Level
Aged 9-12 and 13-17 (CEFR A1-2+
Time
50 - 65 minutes
Materials
- Lesson plan
- A1 level worksheet (for differentiation)
- A2+ level worksheet
- Writing template - blank paper could also be used
- Blank paper for group brainstorming is also needed.
- Warmer (10 mins)
- Introduce the topic of World Food Day. Write ‘World Food Day: 16 October’ on the board. Explain that this lesson is about World Food Day.
- Have a classroom discussion. Write these questions on the board and encourage learners to share their ideas. Accept any reasonable ideas at this stage.
- How many meals a day do you have?
- Why is it important to eat a variety of food every day?
- Does everybody have enough food?
- Reading (15 mins)
- Give out the worksheet. Read the instructions for activity A aloud and give learners a limited time to read the article. Remind learners of the question above the reading, ‘How does it make you feel?’, and encourage all of the learners to share their ideas, saying how the article makes them feel.
Learners then read the article again. Ask them to underline any words that are new for them. Monitor and support as needed. Try to note any words that learners commonly need support with.
- Elicit or explain the meaning of the unknown vocabulary.
- Do activity B as a whole class, orally. Read each question in turn and encourage learners to put their hands up to share their ideas.
Note: These questions encourage learners to use their critical thinking skills, so accept any suitable answers.
- The final question is designed to elicit ideas of how the learners can help to raise awareness. Elicit and/ or write these ideas on the board.
- make posters
- tell our friends and families
- organize a community picnic
- send a letter/an email to our leaders.
- Writing preparation (15 minutes)
- Put learners into small groups. Tell them they are going to write a letter to a leader (in the community, in the country or in the world) about world hunger.
- Give each group one piece of paper. On the left side they brainstorm how they feel about world hunger, on the right side they write ideas of how to make the problem better. Monitor and support with ideas and vocabulary.
- Writing (10 mins)
- When groups have enough ideas, give them another piece of blank paper or the letter template.
- Ask them to either nominate a writer or take turns to write each line.
- Write this skeleton letter on the board:
1. Dear …
2. We are students at (school)
3. Today we read an article about World hunger
4. It made us feel (feelings)
5. We are writing to ask you (ideas)
6. (Say thank you)
7. (End the letter)
8. From (names) - Explain that they already have their ideas for 4 and 5. Ask each group to discuss what to write and to choose the best ideas to complete their letters.
- Groups write their letters.
- Peer checking (15 minutes) - Optional
- Ask groups to write a group name above their letter.
- Write on the board:
a) Good ideas
b) Grammar
c) Spelling
d) Punctuation - If your learners don’t know these terms give examples for each.
- All groups swop their paper with another group.
- Ask groups to read the letter and decide on a mark out of 10 for good ideas and to write it on top of the paper. Show that they should write this as: a) /10
- Monitor and support throughout this whole activity. Check groups are being fair and thoughtful when giving marks.
- Groups change papers again, so they have a new letter (not their own). They have to mark this letter for grammar. They should underline any grammar mistakes. Then they write on the paper b) /10
- Repeat this process twice more so that spelling and punctuation are checked.
- Give letters back to the original groups so they can check their marks and the underlined words.
Tip: When swopping the letters ask groups to give it to a group on their direct left/ right or behind them so you can keep tabs on where each groups letter is.- Follow up activities
- Learners write their letters neatly, correcting any mistakes. Then they send their letters or make them into a wall display.
- For higher-level teenage learners, there are a variety of resources available on the LearnEnglish Teens website:
https://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/study-break/video-zone/food-waste-rebel
https://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/study-break/youtubers/cutting-down-waste - Video about reasons for hunger for higher levels: https://youtu.be/zOyI6N4Teq0?si=BEEDoxrHZgEpG7pr