Sometimes it’s fun to interject some international foods into your repertoire of lessons even if you don’t teach an international foods class. Doing so gives you the opportunity to expand the knowledge and tastes of your students who might not otherwise be exposed to these areas and/or foods. Let’s say you’re teaching a lesson on sandwiches, wraps, meats or poultry …this would be a great time to introduce your students to a Middle Eastern food using this Shawarma Mini-Lesson and Lab.

Set

• Play the STRANDS game to introduce students to the topic individually or in pairs. Here are the DIRECTIONS if you are not familiar.
• As students figure out the spangram, have them quietly share it with you by showing you their completed game board.
• Once the entire group knows the spangram, they should be able to tell the food or dish of study.

Materials

• iPad or Laptop
• Projector & Screen
• Colored Pencils or Markers
• Lab Supplies

Directions

• Tell students they will be learning more about Shawarma using a provided resource along with a guide sheet. Students are to research the answers to the required criteria and then use the information learned to create an informative acrostic poem using the word SHAWARMA vertically and add text based on the project requirements.
• The acrostic poems can be hand generated using copy paper and colored pencils or markers. Or, students can create them digitally using the provided template. All they would have to do is add text boxes and insert digital images.
• Either way, when poems are completed, students will share them via the class. The hand-generated poems could be hung as a bulletin board or wall display.
• After students have shared their poems, they will prepare to make a chicken shawarma in the lab.
• Prior to students heading to the lab, it is important for them to see what they will be making and the process. For this, show students a short portion of the Struggle Meal episode titled “How to Make Street Foods at Home” with chef Frankie Celenza. Only show the video segment from approximately 4:03 to 6:37.
• You can adjust the recipe according to the number of students in your lab groups, but this will be a two day lab because the chicken must marinate overnight.

Attachments

• STRANDS Intro Game
• STRANDS Directions
• Shawarma Acrostic Poem & Template (PDF)
• Chicken Shawarma Recipe (PDF)