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The traditional Food Pyramid is a wonderful starting point to give students a guide of what to eat each day to maintain good health and appropriate weight. By using this visual guide, we can remind our ESOL students that items on top of the pyramid, such as fats/oils and sweets, should be used sparingly to maintain good heart health and a healthy weight, while consuming recommended servings of foods such as fruits, vegetables and lean meats will lead to better overall health through good nutrition.
The traditional food pyramid was recently replaced by the New 2005 Food Pyramid, which allows users to individualize calorie intake suggestions based on age, weight, and activity levels, and is available at www.MyPyramid.gov. The new food pyramid website is somewhat complex and will probably work best with intermediate to advanced students. Later in this training module, we offer suggestions for a classroom internet activity using the New 2005 Food Pyramid.
Instructors who want to continue to use the familiar and
simpler food pyramid when teaching students at lower levels
of English language proficiency or literacy will be happy
to discover that the USDA website still contains information
linked to the traditional food pyramid at www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/Fpyr/pmap.htm.
Therefore, instructors need not abandon use of the traditional
food pyramid since it still can still be a valuable resource
in your classrooms.
Standardized assessment instruments approved by the Florida
Department of Education such as the Comprehensive Student
Assessment Scales (CASAS) assess our adult ELLs' ability
to read charts and graphs quickly. Further, reading research
with English language learners has shown that students prefer
to be taught reading strategies such as skimming for main
idea and scanning for details, distinguishing fact from
opinion, drawing conclusions, summarizing and paraphrasing
and other important strategies that we, as native readers
of English, often do subconsciously when reading.
Scanning for details is an important strategy that good
readers use in their native languages. Scanning is a strategy
for finding details which does not require that students
understand every word. To scan for details students should
be taught to look for numbers, symbols, titles and headings
and words that are bold or italicized. Help the students
practice scanning by having them to find the answers to
the questions on the Food Pyramid handout.
Classroom Procedure:
- Print a copy of the food pyramid on a color transparency
or draw the food pyramid on the board. Teacher explains
that for good health, people should eat a well-balanced
diet from all the food groups every day. Show students
that the higher a food group is on the pyramid, the less
one should eat of it. Distribute Food Pyramid Handout
Reading Activity.
- Pre-reading. Before the students read the passage, the teacher checks the
students' background knowledge "What is a food pyramid?"
"What do you think this story will be about?" The teacher
checks students' knowledge of vocabulary and reviews those
words the students don't know.
- Teacher checks reading comprehension by asking these additional questions aloud.
- Can you get all your nutrients from one food group?
- What does "use sparingly" mean?
- Which foods should you eat the least of? Those
at the base or the top of the pyramid?
- Look at the key. Are there more fats and sugars
in the food groups at the top or the base
of the pyramid?
- Teacher explains that Scanning is reading for details
quickly by looking for labels, bold or italicized words
or numbers. Students read short reading passage below
food pyramid silently and then aloud. Students work alone
or in pairs to answer questions on handout.
Click on the link below for a printable activity appropriate
for adult ESOL students assessed at Low Intermediate or
High Intermediate (LCP C or LCP D) using the Food Pyramid.
Save the activity sheet to your folder and continue for
tips for using this handout in your ESOL classroom. Consider
the activity and suggested classroom procedures before you
answer the What Do You Think questions and post
them to the bulletin board.
Click here for a printable lesson plan with instructions
to guide you through using the Food Pyramid Activity in
your classroom.
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Think about the students in your classroom. Would the short reading comprehension and scanning activity using the food pyramid work with them? If not, what kind of reading strategies could you use with your students? What other activities have you used in your classroom to teach good nutrition? Share your ideas by posting 3 or 4 sentences to the bulletin board. |
Click on this link to print an extension activity on organizing different foods according to the food groups in the food pyramid. Save the activity to your folder. Enjoy using this activity in your classroom. If you have Microsoft Word, choose the Word file and modify this exercise to suit your students' unique cultural background and level. For example, add tofu, plantains, yuka, or other foods which might be common in our students' cultures.
- After completing this exercise, the teacher lists the food groups on the board.
- Have each student write one of their favorite foods from their culture on the board and other students help choose the food group.
- Encourage foods that might contain foods from different
food groups. Many of the foods students love, like arepas
- fried or baked meat or cheese pies - a popular food
in many Central and South American countries - contain
ingredients from more than one food group. Therefore,
have students explain and also write the ingredients on
the board if their favorite food crosses food groups.
How much do you remember about the traditional USDA Food Pyramid. Click the link below to play a fun concentration game to test your knowledge. Share the link with students if you have access to internet. (Note: You'll be prompted to download Shockwave software so that the game will run. Just follow directions for the free download). http://filebox.vt.edu/users/rfentres/import/pyramid.htm
Click on the link below to print a photocopiable classroom
activity appropriate for beginning and high beginning students.
This lesson was created by California Literacy as part of
their funded with federal English
Literacy and Civics funds. The activity also includes an
ethnic food pyramid based on the diet of many of our Mexican
students and a Personal Food Pyramid activity.
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