Let's Get Cooking
This cooking ESL lesson teaches kitchen utensils, cooking verbs and practical recipe language. Students identify tools from silhouettes, explain what each item is used for and mime actions such as chop, stir and fry. They write a simple recipe and present the method in a classroom cooking-show roleplay.
7-day trial · Card required · €0 today · Cancel before renewal
Lesson format
2 × 45 minutes
Level
Pre-Intermediate
Age group
Ages 10–13
Main focus
Speaking first
What students will learn
Lesson flow
Students guess kitchen items from silhouettes, learn utensil vocabulary matching names to photos, and drill 'What's this? It's a pan. What do you use it for? Frying eggs.' The second lesson mimes cooking verbs in charades, watches a Cooking with Kids video pausing on 'What is she doing?', writes a simple recipe like a sandwich or smoothie, and performs a cooking-show skit introducing their dish.
Target language
- • 'What's this? What do you use it for?'
- • Cooking verbs (cut, stir, mix, boil, fry, bake)
- • Imperatives for recipe steps
- • Kitchen tools vocabulary
Key vocabulary
- fry
- bake
- boil
- roast
- grill
- steam
- chop
- mix
- slice
- recipe
Speaking questions students answer
- • What do you use a whisk for?
- • What is she doing?
- • Do you know how to fry an egg?
- • What's your favourite recipe?
- • You boil water in a...?
Recommended teaching contexts
Why this lesson works
The lesson follows a clear progression: Guess kitchen items from silhouettes, ask 'What do you use it for?' with cooking tools, write a simple recipe and perform a cooking-show roleplay. Teachers can open the materials and start immediately, while students move from supported vocabulary practice to purposeful spoken English.