Spanish Level 2- Face-to-Face Activities
🧑🍳 Spanish Level 2, Activity 08: El restaurante / The Restaurant (Face-to-Face)
Description: In this activity, the instructor will act as a server at a restaurant and the students will be guests. They will practice ordering food, discussing their meal, and paying for their meal.
Semantic Topics: Food, restaurants, ordering food, money, paying, real world context, comida, restaurantes, pedir la comida, dinero, pagar, situaciones reales
Grammatical Structures: Questions, demonstrative adjectives, pedir vs. preguntar, imperfect tense, preguntas, los adjetivos demostrativos, pedir vs. preguntar, el imperfecto
Products: Restaurants in Spanish-speaking countries, popular menu items in Spanish-speaking countries
Practices: Interacting with servers, ordering food
Perspectives: How is eating out at a restaurant different in Hispanic cultures?
NCSSFL-ACTFL World Readiness Standards:
- Standard 1.1 Students engage in conversations, provide and obtain information, express feelings and emotions, and exchange opinions.
- Standard 1.2 Students understand and interpret spoken and written Spanish on a variety of topics.
- Standard 2.1 Students demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between the practices and perspectives of Hispanic cultures
- Standard 4.2 Students demonstrate understanding of the concept of culture through comparisons between Hispanic cultures and their own.
Idaho State Content Standards:
- COMM 1.1 – Interact and negotiate meaning (spoken, signed, written conversation) to share information, reactions, feelings, and opinions
- COMM 2.1 – Understand, interpret, and analyze what is heard, read, or viewed on a variety of topics.
- COMM 3.1 – Present information, concepts, and ideas to inform, explain, persuade, and narrate on a variety of topics using appropriate media in the target language.
- CLTR 1.3 – Function appropriately in diverse contexts within the target culture.
NCSSFL-ACTFL Can-Do Statements:
- I can understand the differences in services and dishes between restaurants in the United States and Spain
- I can order food at a restaurant, including items such as drinks, entrees, and desserts (novice high)
- I can ask for the bill/check after I have finished eating (novice mid)
Materials Needed:
- Google slideshow (linked)
- Menu
- Paper plates
- Whiteboard to take order (for lab instructor)
- Collage with a picture of Spanish food items (these are to help students see what the food looks like)
- Food cards (To “give” as dishes)
Would you like to make changes to the materials? Access the template(s) below:
- Collage with a picture of Spanish food items (Canva Template, free account required)
- Food Cards (Canva Template, free account required)
- Menu (Canva Template, free account required)
Need help with customizing the templates? View this video for help.
Warm-Up
- Begin by introducing the Can-Dos for today’s activity.
Hola, ¿cómo están? Estoy ____. Hoy vamos a ir al restaurante. Primero, vamos a empezar el lab de hoy con los can-do statements. - For the warm-up there will be 8 slides that will review key vocabulary and phrases for going to a restaurant. For each question or scenario, students will have to come up with useful phrases as responses to the given situation.
1. ¿Cuántas personas hay?
2. ¿Qué quieres para tomar?
3. ¿Qué quieres para la entrada?
4. ¿Hay alguien que tiene alergias? ¿Hay alguien que es vegetariano o vegano?
5. ¿Qué quieres para el plato principal?
6. ¿Qué quieres para el postre?
7. ¿Podemos tener la cuenta?
8. ¿Me puede dar recomendación? - In Spanish-speaking countries, servers are not constantly checking on their tables like in the U.S. because they receive a higher wage and do not depend on tips. Explain this in Spanish to your students so they understand why it is important for them to know how to ask for the check.
En el mundo hispanohablante, los meseros no están revisando los clientes. Ellos no dependen de las propinas (tips) como en los Estados Unidos y tienen un sueldo (salary) más alto. Entonces los clientes deben pedir la cuenta porque el mesero/a no se los va a dar hasta que el cliente pregunte.
Main Activity
- Students will be “eating” at the WLRC restaurant. The instructor will play the role of the waiter/server. Students will use the phrases that they reviewed in the warm-up to order food, ask for the check, etc. They will receive the menu with pictures of the Spanish dishes they can choose from. Explain the meal culture in Spain, and how lunch is often the largest meal of the day.
¡Hoy tienen la oportunidad de comer en el restaurante WLRC! Yo voy a ser su camarero/a (o mesero/a). Van a practicar el proceso de ordenar comida en el restaurante, que incluye pedir la cuenta al fin. Les voy a dar un menú auténtico con comida de España. También les voy a dar un collage con fotos de los diferentes platos. Cada vez que van a pedir un plato diferente, voy a “fingir” (to pretend) que voy a otro lado del restaurante y ustedes van a hablar de que quieren comer. - Give students the opportunity to talk with each other and make plans to go to the WLRC restaurant. Motivate them to use the words and phrases (kitchen, food, and restaurant) that they already know. After their chat, they walk to the table.
Hablan como un grupo y crear un plan para ir al restaurante para el almuerzo. Usan el vocabulario que saben. Cuando regreso, voy a ser un/a mesero/a - You are going to give the welcome to the students, give them the menu, and then ask the following:
¿Qué quiere/desea para tomar? - Give students their beverages, then ask about their appetizer. Students will need to discuss as a group what they want.
¿Qué les gustaría como un aperitivo / para compartir? - Return with the appetizer they asked for, then take their orders for dinner.
¿Qué le gustaría para cenar? - You are going to bring the food to the students. However, you are going to choose incorrect food for one or two of the plates. After you bring the food wait for a few seconds and then ask the following:
¿Cómo estaba la comida?
¿Le gustó el/la _____? - If you gave an incorrect plate to a student you should make it so they try to ask you a question or say a complaint.
- Now walk away and look busy. The students have to ask for the bill but you shouldn’t help them. If too much time passes you can walk to the table and teach the students how to ask for the check and how to sign for the check.
¿Necesitan la cuenta? ¿Recuerdan cómo pedirlo? - Ask every student how they want to pay.
¿Cómo quieren pagar?
Wrap-Up
- Ask students the following questions to finish the lab:
- ¿Qué frases o palabras nuevas aprendiste con esta actividad? (What new phrases or words did you learn in this activity?)
- ¿Pueden compartir algunas diferencias entre la experiencia en el restaurante de Red Robin y el restaurante de España? (Can you share any differences between the experience in Red Robin and the restaurant in Spain?)
End of lab:
• Read Can-Do statements once more and have students evaluate their confidence.
(Use thumbs up/thumbs down or download our student cards)
• Encourage students to be honest in their self-evaluation.
• Pay attention, and try to use feedback for future labs!
NCSSFL-ACTFL Can-Do Statements:
- I can understand the differences in services and dishes between restaurants in the United States and Spain
- I can order food at a restaurant, including items such as drinks, entrees, and desserts
- I can ask for the bill/check after I have finished eating
Cultural NOtes:
- 15 Useful Spanish Phrases Etiquette and Tips for Dining
- Dining Differences: Spain and US
- 21 Popular Latin Food
- Chipe Libre Menu
- Contramar Menu
How to Revise or Remix a Pathways Project Activity
Feeling creative? The Pathways Project needs your help in revising and remixing activities for the K-16 language classroom.
Try taking an activity to the next level by:
- Add new content (something you’ve created or another OER source)
- Contribute additional activity suggestions
- Integrate authentic materials such as videos, infographics, photos, etc.
- Suggest how to implement the activity in the classroom
- Customize the content for a specific audience or group of learners (for example, K-5 learners or to differentiate for student’s needs)
