How cooking can help to teach Spanish as a foreign language

Talking about Spanish Cooking

Anything food related usually sparks a lot of interest when trying to give students a real cultural taste of the country they are studying in. From table etiquette, to the markets, or even the produce of the country, you don’t just talk about cooking but everything that comes with it!

Something however that might come as a cultural shock to foreigners are meal times. Every country has their own specific meal times but for our students more often than not it’s not the same. Having a prior knowledge and understanding of these cultural differences can help reduce intercultural problems that visitors might be faced with when thrown into a completely unknown environment.  A lot of Spaniards, for example, don’t have breakfast first thing in the morning like you would expect, but later have it during a morning break at work.  This can certainly come as a surprise if you arrive at work to find Mr. Perez is having breakfast! For a lot of foreigners it can really come as a surprise discover that the Spanish have lunch about as late as 2:30 or 3:00, which of course is particularly evident in restaurants. You’ll definitely understand the need for an afternoon snack if when you learn that the Spanish often don’t have dinner until nine or ten o’clock at night compared with the “normal “ time of five or six o’clock back home. 

Tapas

Tapas is something of a interesting notion when talking about these cultural differences, not only because of  its interesting recipes but more so  how it is deeply rooted in social life in Spain. For foreigners anything from leaving a tip, to the usual scuffle for the bill, or the paper napkins covering every inch of the floor can really come as a cultural shock.

It’s not really a coincidence then to find that when teaching Spanish as a foreign language cooking recipes are good class exercises. I’ve found that using recipes really gives a practical and hands on use for using grammatical structures like imperatives.  It’s also a way to help students understand different ways of giving instructions. For example in Spanish you would use the tú form if you are giving instructions to a friend. In the same way you would use the usted form if you’re writing the recipe in a cook book or reading on a cooking show etc. There are, of course, other roundabout ways of using imperatives such as using the infinitive in an impersonal manner which is just as common.  

From there it’s all hunky-dory if we can organize a trip to the market so our students can have a go at what they’ve been practicing in the classroom!