At our vegan cooking activity, students learnt how to make sweet potato chips, garlic aioli and vegan brownies!
Vegan cooking is a culinary approach that avoids animal products while embracing plant-based ingredients to create delicious meals.
Once the meals were prepared, we all gathered outside to enjoy our delicious vegan creations in the open air. Laughter and conversation filled the air as we exchanged stories, discussed our favourite flavours, and praised each other’s culinary skills.
How is the vegan scene in Byron Bay?
Byron Bay is a vegan’s paradise with several excellent restaurants, eateries and shops to cover breakfast, lunch and dinner. Additionally, the farmers market and health food stores offer delicious local, organic, and sustainably produced foods for home cooking.
Learning to cook can provide numerous benefits for students learning English.
Here are a few ways in which cooking can help enhance English language learning:
- Vocabulary Expansion: Cooking introduces students to a wide range of new vocabulary related to ingredients, cooking techniques, kitchen utensils, and recipe instructions. Students can learn and practice vocabulary words such as chop, sauté, simmer, whisk, stir-fry, seasonings, herbs, spices, and various food names. Engaging in hands-on cooking experiences helps reinforce the meaning and usage of these words in a practical context.
- Reading Comprehension: Following recipes requires students to read and comprehend instructions, ingredient lists, and cooking methods. By reading recipes, students can improve their reading comprehension skills, enhance their understanding of written texts, and develop strategies for following step-by-step directions accurately. This can contribute to overall language proficiency.
- Listening and Speaking Skills: Cooking activities often involve collaboration and communication, which provides ample opportunities for practicing listening and speaking skills. Students may need to ask and answer questions, give and receive instructions, and discuss cooking techniques with their peers or instructors. This interactive environment helps improve their listening comprehension, pronunciation, and oral communication skills.
- Cultural Awareness: Exploring different cuisines and cooking techniques exposes students to various cultural practices and traditions. This can spark conversations about different cultures and foster cultural awareness and appreciation. Students can discuss the origins of dishes, traditional cooking methods, and cultural significance, which promotes cross-cultural understanding and expands their worldview.
- Practical Application: Cooking allows students to apply what they have learned in English classes to real-life situations. They can practice grammar structures, sentence formation, and vocabulary usage while describing recipes, explaining cooking processes, or sharing their experiences. This practical application of language skills helps reinforce what they have learned and builds confidence in using English in everyday contexts.
- Creativity and Expression: Cooking is a creative activity that encourages self-expression. Students can develop their own recipes, describe their culinary creations, or share personal stories related to food and cooking. This promotes creativity, boosts confidence, and provides a platform for practicing written and spoken English skills in an imaginative and engaging manner.
Learn English in Byron Bay. Lexis English students study General English, IELTS, FCE, CAE, and English plus Surfing in a friendly and professional school right in the heart of Byron Bay and only 15 minutes from the beach.