Readying Arkansas for a lifetime of literacy

Food For Thought: Boosting Literacy Skills with Holiday Recipes

Holiday recipes offer a fun and practical way to improve reading comprehension while introducing learners to food-related vocabulary, instruction-following skills, and math literacy. By reading and following simple recipes, learners get to engage with multiple literacy skills that have real-world applications. 

Lesson Objectives:

  1. Develop reading comprehension skills by interpreting written instructions.
  2. Introduce and reinforce food-related vocabulary (e.g., ingredients, measurements, and cooking terms).
  3. Build learners’ confidence in following step-by-step tasks.

Choose Simple Recipes:

  • Select easy, familiar holiday recipes with short ingredient lists and simple instructions (e.g., sugar cookies, hot cocoa, or a fruit salad).
  • Print copies of the recipes or share them digitally with learners.

Introduce Vocabulary:

  • Teach key cooking terms such as “mix,” “stir,” “bake,” “preheat,” and “chop.”
  • Review measurements like teaspoon (tsp), tablespoon (tbsp), cup, and pinch.
  • Show pictures or real examples of ingredients to help learners visualize the terms.

Read the Recipe Together:

  • Read through the recipe as a group. Break it into parts: ingredients list, preparation steps, and cooking instructions.
  • Ask learners comprehension questions such as:
    • “What temperature should the oven be set to?”
    • “How much sugar do we need?”
    • “What is the first step in the instructions?”

Practical Activity:

  • Create the recipe together in class, or assign it as a take-home activity.
  • While cooking, encourage learners to refer back to the recipe to follow each step.

Reflect on the Activity:

  • Discuss the recipe after completion:
    • “What was the most difficult part to follow?”
    • “What new words did you learn?”
    • “How did you know what to do in step 2?”

Expand the Lesson:

  • Have learners bring in or share their favorite family recipes for the class to read and discuss.
  • Practice writing short recipes as a group activity to reinforce sequencing skills and food vocabulary.

Contact Info

Thanks for visiting the website of Adult Learning Alliance of Arkansas.

124 W Capitol Ave, Suite 1000

Little Rock, AR 72201

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