En el restaurante: cultura gastronómica y comunicación en español
This is a structured, scaffolded KS3 (Year 8) Spanish lesson resource focused on the theme “En el restaurante”. It combines cultural knowledge, reading comprehension, and guided written production to support students in moving from vocabulary recall to meaningful communication.
The lesson begins with a silent Do Now that revises food vocabulary through Spanish–English matching, with an extension task that promotes grammatical awareness (identifying verbs and food items). This ensures retrieval practice and immediate engagement.
A cultural reading text (“Carta de Tío Spanish”) introduces students to typical Spanish dishes from different regions of Spain, developing cultural capital while reinforcing key vocabulary. Comprehension questions in English allow all learners to access the content and demonstrate understanding without language overload.
Students then complete a guided gap-fill writing task to model how to order food in a Spanish restaurant, supported by sentence starters and prior learning. An extension translation task provides appropriate challenge for higher-attaining students.
The lesson ends with a reflection task, encouraging students to articulate what they have learned, supporting metacognition and consolidation.
Overall, the resource is inclusive, well-scaffolded, and knowledge-rich, with clear progression from recognition → comprehension → production, and built-in differentiation through extensions and support prompts.

