The Gotemba Minami ALT: Cooking Time for English Club

A few weeks ago the members of the English club asked if they could learn about food from other countries and cook them. I love cooking so I was extra excited about this request. First we talked about the different continents and the types of food we knew from each and we voted on which one we wanted to study. The students decided on Europe, so the next week I gave them a list of different types of European food. They read over some different recipes and had to choose four dishes that they would cook, two mains and two desserts. The four dishes chosen were Spaghetti from Italy, Quiche from France, Apple Strudel from Austria and Eton Mess from the UK.

The students were divided into groups of four and each group cooked their dish and everyone shared at the end. However, the week before they had to study and translate the recipes into Japanese.

The boys making Apple Strudel

The girls making Eton Mess

The students all worked well together and finished each dish perfectly. We all enjoyed working and eating together and it was a very nice to have our little European food party. I think that it was interesting for them to learn about food from other countries because Japanese food is so unique and is especially different from European food. They have also decided to present world food as their topic for the school festival.

The girls waiting for their Quiche to cool

Maybe it’s a little sexist to say, but it was also brilliant to see that the boys were great chefs and they understood the instructions well. Most of them are third years, so soon they will be off to university and having to cook for themselves. Great to know that they will survive!

The boys with their Spaghetti

All of the dishes and the students together. I was very proud of their achievement, from translating to cooking, Mr Katsumata and I hardly helped at all.