| Level | Topic | Speakers | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intermediate | Baking | Man – Young Woman | 02:31 |
Pre-Listening Exercise
What are three types of cookies you like to eat? Are there any kinds of baked goods you don’t care for? Do you bake your own cookies, or do you buy them? Who does the most baking in your family: mother, father, grandparent, you, or another person?
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- Eating dessert every day is not a problem if you exercise enough.
- Children should not be taught to bake sweets because it encourages unhealthy habits.
- Store-bought cookies are often just as good as homemade ones.
- People who can’t bake shouldn’t bring desserts to social gatherings.
- Vegan desserts can never taste as good as those made with butter, eggs, and milk.
- It’s better to throw away failed desserts than to eat them.
- Baking shows on TV give people unrealistic expectations.
- Desserts should always be sweet — salty or spicy “desserts” are wrong.
- Baking desserts for profit takes away the joy of baking for fun.
- Cookies are the best type of dessert, better than cakes, pies, or ice cream.
Idioms
“chow down” = eat enthusiastically
“The kids couldn’t wait to chow down the bacon and eggs for breakfast.”
“pig out” = eat a lot of food
“Don’t let the children pig out on pizza and soda. They need to eat vegetables, too.”
Listening Exercise
Listen to the recording and answer the questions. (See transcript)
Vocabulary and Sample Sentences
Here are some words that appear in the recording:
- endure (verb): keep doing something unpleasant or difficult
– I can’t endure my roommate’s cooking for another day. It’s terrible! - switch (verb): exchange for another
– Can we switch recipes for tonight’s dinner? I’d rather have chicken instead of fish. - entire (adjective): complete or whole
– My daughter prepared the entire meal for the family. - ingredients (noun): materials for cooking
– These are great cookies. What ingredients do you use to make them? - pinch (noun): a small amount
– The chicken might taste better if you add a pinch of salt and pepper. - preheat (verb): heat an oven or stove before you start cooking something
– First, you should preheat the oven to 325 degrees before you start preparing the meal. - batch (noun): a group of similar things, used also with baking cookies
– I don’t think two batches of cookies will be enough to feed all of the guests at the party.
Vocabulary Practice
Do the vocabulary quizzes with the words from the conversation for more practice:
Post-Listening Exercise
In addition to cookies, what traditional sweets are common in your area? What are the ingredients to prepare them? Are there any ingredients that are unique to your area that people in other countries might not include in the recipe?
Online Investigation
Imagine you are hosting a party at your house, and you have a variety of people attending. You are considering the option of either buying cookies online or making your own. Use the internet to complete two tasks: (1) find at least one online service where you can order cookies and have them delivered to you (and identify the costs and quality of such a service), and (2) find at least one cookie recipe online that is easy to prepare and healthy to eat.