English Language Learners Lesson Plan

Make Your Own Pizza

Grade Levels: 6-7
Overview of Lesson:

The overall purpose of this lesson is to teach students how to

incorporate new vocabulary, specifically that pertaining to pizza,
into well constructed sentences to formulate a personalized
procedure for making a pizza. Student will have the opportunity to
practice verbal, reading, and writing skills in this lesson, as well as
express their creativity through art.

Description of
Learners:

The learners in this class are between the ages of 12-14 years old
with minimal English background. They are considered to be at a
beginner to intermediate level of speaking, writing, and
comprehension, meaning they are familiar with the generic
sentence structures and common vocabulary. All twenty students
are English Language Learning, speaking primarily Spanish, and
are recent immigrants to the United States from Latin America.

Intended Learning
Goals:

At the completion of this lesson, students should be able to do the

following:
Recognize the new vocabulary terms pertaining to pizza.
Incorporate vocabulary into complete sentences.
Formulate a procedure specific to personal taste.
Verbally present their personal pizza preferences.

Learning Objectives:

The learning objectives for this lesson are the following:

1. Provided visual images, such as drawings or pictures, students will
be able to appropriately write the English name for the given food
item, with a 80-90% accuracy.
2. Provided a vocabulary list, students will be able to identify and
verbalize five food items that can be put on a pizza, using
complete sentences in a group discussion without pronunciation
errors.
3. Given a scattered list of steps or a scenario and vocabulary,
students will be able to logically organize and develop a possible
procedure for a described situation, within 10-15 minutes.

Lesson Content:

Procedure Unit

Pizza Vocabulary:
Vegetables:
Peppers, Onions, Olives, Tomatoes, Mushrooms, and Spinach
Fruits:
Pineapple
Meats:
Pepperoni, Sausage, Chicken, and Bacon
Essential Ingredients:

English Language Learners Lesson Plan

Standards1:
1.
2.
3.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Materials:

Procedures:

Dough, Cheese, Tomato Sauce, Salt, Pepper, and Oil

Other Vocabulary:
Pizza, Toppings, Rolling Pin, Baking Sheet, and Oven
Actions:
Knead, Roll, Shape, Put, and Bake
Writing Procedures:
Goal of Procedure
Materials/Ingredients
Steps(e.g. Step 1, Step 2, Step 3, etc.)
Final Product Description
Speaking:
Restate in simple sentences the main idea of the subject matter
content.
Prepare and deliver short oral presentations.
When speaking, students use consistent standard English
grammatical forms and sounds.
Comprehension/Reading:
Students should be able to attentively listen to stories and
information and identify important details and concepts by using
both verbal and nonverbal responses.
Students should be able to produce most English phonemes
comprehensibly while reading aloud ones own writing or simple
texts.
Students should be able to create a simple dictionary of words that
they frequently use.
Students should be able to identify and explain the differences
between various categories of informational materials.
To successfully complete this lesson, the following materials are
required:
Pre-cut construction paper
Glue sticks
Colored Marker or Pencils
Black sharpie markers (4-5 per group, or 1 per student)
Scissors(optional)
Projector system and computer
Introductory video: http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/technique/howmake-pizz
Vocabulary PowerPoint Presentation
Homework assignment (21 copies; 20 students, 1 extra)

Introduction:
Bring the class to order, and if not already done so, divide class

1 Adapted from the English-Language Development Standards for California Public Schools. See
references for link.

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English Language Learners Lesson Plan

Procedure Unit

into four groups of five that the students will work in throughout
the lesson. Make sure that in each group pre-cut construction
paper, glue stick and scissor(optional) are available.
Introduce the lesson topic by playing the introductory home pizza
making video (approximately 5 minutes). Prior to playing the
video, briefly explain the goals of the lesson. Following the video
showing, point out the aspects of a proper procedure that the
actress included, such as a good step by step processes and final
product presentation, and those that she lacked, such as initial list
of materials.
Proceed by working through the PowerPoint introducing all the
new vocabulary.
Show each new vocabulary word on a slide with its counterpart in
Spanish and a representative picture.
Say each new word out loud and then have the students repeat
after you 3 times.
This should take about 10 minutes
Class Activity:
Briefly explain the directions of the activity to the class:
Each student will make a pizza out of construction paper and is
required to put a minimum of five toppings from the vocabulary
list on it.
Each student will receive a pre-cut circular piece of construction
paper which may either be distributed while the directions are
being given or have been previously placed at each group prior to
the beginning of the lesson.
Toppings are left to the discretion of the teacher, they may either
be pre-cut out of construction paper and given to each table, or
student may cut out their own using scissors and loose leaf
construction paper. From a time perspective, it is probably in the
teachers best interest to pre-cut the construction paper toppings.
Toppings are to be glued down to pizza.
Students may decorate their pizzas however they see fit, and may
use the colored markers or pencils for additional design where
needed, such as for sauce coloring.
Students need to label each topping with its proper English name
using the provided black sharpie markers.
Give the students about twenty minutes to complete their pizzas.
After the twenty minutes is up, tell the students to quickly return
any unused materials to their respective locations in the center of
their groups.
Go around the classroom and have each student stand and share
with the class the five toppings they chose to put on their pizza.
This should take about five minutes
As each student finishes sharing their pizza, have them write their
name on the back and then turn it in for evaluation of writing
3

English Language Learners Lesson Plan

Assessments:

skills.
Conclusion/Review:
With the amount of time remaining, pass out the nightly
homework.
The homework worksheet will contain a list of the new vocabulary
and a series of activities revolved around the use of the vocabulary
in sentences and procedures.
During the distribution of homework, open the floor to any
questions that the students might have.
If students would like, time permitting, they may begin working on
the homework sheet collaboratively with their classmates.
The worksheet will be due the following day at the start of class.

Speaking:
Students will be evaluated on their speaking, pronunciation, and
fluency when presenting their pizza toppings to the class. They
will be expected to list the toppings in 1-2 complete sentences.
Writing:
Students will be evaluated for writing proficiency based on the
labeling of their pizza toppings and in their homework completion.
Unless otherwise stated in the directions, students will always
write in complete sentences.
Reading & Comprehension:
Student will be evaluated on their reading and comprehension
skills based on their performance on the homework assignment,
which contains instructions solely in English.

References/ Reference
Materials:

August, D., Carlo, M., Dressler, C., & Snow, C. (2005). The
critical role of vocabulary development for English
language learners. Learning Disabilities Research &
Practice, 20(1), 50-57.
DOI: 10.1111/j.1540-5826.2005.00120.x
This article is based on research regarding the
importance of properly taught and reinforced
vocabulary instruction in the learning curriculum of
English language learners (ELLs). It discusses
several strategies for educating ELLs on basic
English vocabulary. One such strategy is the use of
parallel between the cognates that exist between the
students first language and English. This strategy
was put into use in the lesson plan through the use of

Procedure Unit

English Language Learners Lesson Plan

the vocabulary PowerPoint and the take home
vocabulary list attached to the homework which both
contained specific translation from Spanish to English
for the new pizza relate vocabulary. Furthermore, the
way in which the homework worksheet is designed, is
intended to model repetition in the use of vocabulary
under different circumstances, another method which
this article talks highly of.
Goldenberg, C. (2008).Teaching English language learners:
What the research does---does and does not---say.
American Educator, Summer 2008, 1(1), 8-44.

This article discusses the various questions that have

arisen regarding the standpoints that should be taken
on ELL students and the proper environment for their
educational instruction. It goes on to examine the
various research that has taken place and was
written in the hopes of spurring on further research
into the topic. One of the first topics Goldenberg
addresses is the idea of forcing ELL students to learn
solely in an English centered classroom as opposed
to specialized integration centered environment
where first languages are involved in the teaching.
He discusses the fact that generally speaking, most
ELL students are thrown into traditional English
classrooms with minimal support if any, and as a
result from a national standard standpoint, they fall
well below the acceptable line. For this reason, when
developing our lesson plan, we designed it to be for a
specialized ELL classroom in which all twenty
students are ELLs. By doing this we are allowing the
teacher free reign to integrate Spanish where it is
needed for clarification, but we are designing a plan
more English centered. Our hope in doing this is to
promote a more uniform class of students with equal
English skill levels to assist in the collective education
of all the students.

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English Language Learners Lesson Plan

English-Language Development Standards for California Public
Schools:
http://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/documents/englangdevstnd.pdf
Pizza Video Link: http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/technique/howmake-pizza

Homework Worksheet
Name:_____________________

Date:___________

Vocabulary List: please make flashcards of the vocabulary for your personal practice.
Vegetables- verduras
*Peppers- pimientos
*Onions- cebollas
*Olives- aceitunas
*Mushrooms- hongos
*Tomatoes- tomates
* Spinach- espinacas

Essential Ingredients- ingredientes esenciales

*Dough- masa
*Cheese- queso (mozarela, parmesian, etc.)
*Tomato Sauce- salsa de tomate
*Salt- sal
*Pepper(spice)- pimienta
*Oil-aceite

Fruits- frutas
*Pineapple- pia

Other Vocabulary- otro vocabulario

*Pizza- pizza
*Toppings- coberturas
*Rolling Pin- rodillo
*Baking Sheet- bandeja para hornear
*Oven- horno

Meats- carnes
*Pepperoni- pepperoni
*Sausage- salchicha
*Chicken-pollo
*Bacon- tocino

Actions- acciones
*to knead- amasar
*to roll- para rodar
*to shape- para dar formar
*to put- poner
*to bake- para cocer al horno

Activity 1:
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English Language Learners Lesson Plan

Using the vocabulary list from above, describe each of the objects below using complete
sentences.
1.

__________________________________________________________
__
2.

_________________________________________________________
__

3.

________________________________________________________
___
4.

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English Language Learners Lesson Plan

________________________________________________________
__
5.

_______________________________________________________
_
6.

_________________________________________________________

Activity 2:
You are trying to teach your younger brother how to wash the dishes. Write a procedure he can
follow. Include at least FOUR steps. All steps should be written in complete sentences.
Bonus points if you use at least three pizza vocabulary words.
Make sure to include at least FIVE of these vocab words:
Wash

Water

Dry

Sink

Wipe

Plate

Put Away

Dish soap

Activity 3:
Procedure Unit

English Language Learners Lesson Plan

Order the following steps 1-5 from first to last, write a procedure goal, make a list of possible
materials, and describe the final product.
Procedure Goal: ________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Materials:

Procedure:
Spread peanut butter on one piece and jelly on the other. ____
Cut sandwich in half and place on plate. ____
Take bread and jelly out of the fridge and peanut butter out of the pantry. ____
Put peanut butter piece and jelly piece together. ____
Open bread and take out two pieces. ____
Final Product: __________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

Procedure Unit