Text

          Fast food is food that is prepared and served quickly at outlets called fast food restaurants. It is a multibillion-dollar industry, which continues to grow rapidly in many countries.

        Fast food outlets are take-away or take-out providers often with a *drive- thru* service where customers can pick out their food from their cars.

       Fast food has been designed to be eaten *on the go* and often does not require traditional cutlery. Common menu items at fast food outlets include fish and chips, pitas, hamburgers, fried chicken, French fries, chicken nuggets, pizza and ice cream.

          The modern history of fast food in America is connected with the history of the hamburger. The American company * White Castle* opened the first fast food outlet in Topeka, Kansas in 1921 selling hamburgers for five cents apiece to increase the sales.

         Mc Donald’s, a noted fast food supplier, opened its first franchised restaurant in 1955. Their restaurants chains have become the most successful enterprises in terms of their  financial growth, brand name recognition and worldwide expansion.

( adapted from FOOD AND HEALTH  by joan mates 2001)

Activities Related to Reading Comprehension

Format

Read the text and answer the following questions

    How many paragraphs are there in the text?

    How many sentences are there in the first paragraph?

    How many negative sentences are there in the third paragraph?

Comprehension

Read the text carefully and answer the following questions

      What is fast food?

     Do fast food restaurants serve typical menus?

     Where was the first fast food outlet created?

     Who are the leaders in the fast food industry?

1-     Identification

What do the underlined words in the text refer to?

In which paragraph it is mentioned how the Mc Donald brothers made the fame for their restaurants’ chains?

In which paragraph is it mentioned that fast food provides more choices for their customers?

2-     Matching

Match each title with the corresponding paragraph

    Paragraph 1                        Mc Donald’s restaurants

    Paragraph 2                        Definition of fast food

    Paragraph 3                        History of fast food

Match questions in column A with the answers in column B

Match the dates with the corresponding events

          Dates                                                                      Events

          1921                                      Mc Donald’s’ restaurants

          1955                       Opening of White Castle restaurants

3-    Information Transfer

Complete the table with information from the text

Complete the table with the events that correspond to the dates

4-   Multiple Choice Questions

Choose  a- b or c  to complete the following sentences

1.……  are the most frequently eaten food in fast food outlets.

a-    Salads                    b- Hamburgers                     c- pancakes

2.Fast food industry is growing ………………… rate.

a-    in a fast               b-  in a slow                   c- with a difficult.

3.Mc Donald’s are the most famous across …………………... .

a-    America                    b-Europe                        c- the world

Choose the correct answer to complete the sentences

Which of the following is *not* true about fast food outlet?

1-     It provides a quick service.

2-    It provides typical menus.

3-    It provides a variety of sandwiches.

             Fast food restaurants were not available until

1-     The Mc Donald’s’ brothers created their restaurant.

2-    The White Castle created its first restaurant.

3-    Pizza was first made.

             * Drive tru* service

1-     Allows customers to order and pick up food from their cars.

2-    Provide customers with cutlery.

3-    Serves Mexican style food.

Which sentence best summarizes each paragraph?

Paragraph 1         - Fast food is a quick meal eaten in            outlets.

                                     - Fast food industry is spreading rapidly.

                                     - Fast food includes typical menus.

Paragraph 2        .White Castle company was the first to make fast food  restaurants a Successful industry

               .In 1921, the hamburger was created

                              .The hamburger was a primary product

  Paragraph 3                       -Mc Donald’s was created in 1955.  

                                  -Mc Donald’s restaurant is the most   successful in the world.

                                  -Many factors made the fame of Mc Donald’s fast food outlets.  

  Which sentence best summarizes the text 

1-     History of fast food goes back to 1921.

2-    Fast food is fast, cheap and convenient.

3-    Fast food is more popular than homemade food.

5.   Choose the most appropriate title

1-     The White Castle Company

2-    The History of Fast Food

3-    Fast Food

4-   The Mc Donald’s Fame

                         6-  True  /  False  /  Not mentioned 

  Read the following statements and put a cross in the right box

        - Fast food outlets are fashionable restaurants.

        - Mc Donald’s created the first fast food outlet.           

        - Fast food industry is growing in a fast rate.

        - Chinese style food is most often served as take-away.

    Read the following statements and write *True*, *False*       or *Not mentioned*

        - The idea behind the lowering of the hamburger prices was to increase the  number of customers. ……………………

        - Mc Donald’s has always been the leader in the fast food industry. …………..

        - Fast food outlets serve healthy food. ……………….

        - Hamburgers were not popular in 1921. ……………..

7-    Listing

  Find in the text what happened in 1921 and in 1955.

  Find in the text four names of sandwiches.

  Find in the text the two symbols that made fast food restaurants a successful industry.

Activities Related to Lexis

Match the words in column A with their synonyms in colm. B

Match the words in column A with their opposites in colm. B

Match each word with its appropriate definition

What do these words mean? Choose the correct meaning  1, 2 or 3

   Outlet restaurants:   mean   1- restaurants inside the hotels.

                                                     2- restaurants in the open air

                                                     3 -restaurants in big boats.

  A successful industry:  means

                        1- an industry that gains a lot of money.

                        2- an industry that loses a lot of money.

                        3- an industry that needs a lot of money.

Primary product:means   1- product that is lowest in rank.

                                             2- product that is slowest in rank.

                                             3- product that is highest in rank.

Find in the text words that have the following  definitions

   A thousand million

Sweet frozen food made of milk, sugar, eggs and  flavouring.

  Put in with something else.

Find in the text words that are closest in meaning to the following

            Named = ………     /                    Closed = …………

Find in the text words that are opposite in meaning to the following

           Last =/= ………                          Slowly =/= ………..

Fill in the gaps with the appropriate words from the list below

        Mc Donald’s restaurants are becoming famous ………… over the world.

1-     in                                2- out                       3- all

       Not ………….. people like fast food.

1-     some                        2- many                    3- none

        Fast food is cheap ……………… sometimes unhealthy.

1-     but                            2- and                       3- or

Fill in the gaps with the following words

           For   /   recent   /   cola   /   created   /   century    /   primary

             Hamburgers were …………….. in the early twentieth …………… . In 1916, J. Walter .

Anderson sold the first hamburger ………… five cents with fries and ………….. .

Find in the text two words related to economy

Find in the text the names of the two giants of fast food industry

Activities Related to Mastery of Language

MCQ

Choose the correct letter a, b or c to complete the sentences

      Fast food did not become popular…………. World War 2.

a-    since                     b- until                    c- to

      The history of fast food goes ………… to 1916.

a-    back                     b- down                  c- up

       Fast food restaurants are popular not only in USA, ………….. around the world.

a-    Or                        b- but                      c- and

Choose the correct form of the verbs between brackets

         Today, many people ( eats  -  eat  -  ate ) fast food instead of home made food. However, fast food ( is creating  -  was creating  -  create ) a serious problem in the USA.

15% of US children ( has become  -  have become  -  had become) over weigh since they started consuming fast food.

Matching

Match the questions in column A with the answers in colm. B

Complete the following questions with the correct question

words

Match A and B to form correct sentences

Words Sequencing

Reorder the words to get coherent sentences

-           People    /   their   /   changing   /   eating   /   habits   /   are   /.

-         are   /   health   /   are   /   getting   /   conscious   /   tired   /   Some people   /   fast/        and   /   becoming   /   food   /   of   

Tense Concord

Write the correct form of the verbs in brackets

           Fast food and take away ( to be) often considered as

unhealthy food because they ( to contain ) lots of sodium, fat

and cholesterol. Fast food companies should ( to serve )

healthy food if they (to want ) to increase their sales.

Transformation

Rewrite the following sentences in the imperative

-         You shouldn’t eat too much of processed food.

-         You have to eat all the food that is fresh and natural.

Rewrite the following sentences in the future

-         Customers can order the food they like.

-         Fast food companies supply their menus with new dishes.

Rewrite the following sentences in the passive voice

-         Many people prefer fast food sandwiches.

-         The White Castle created the first fast food restaurant.

Rewrite the following sentence using *He* instead of *you*

   What’s your favourite food?   You probably like vegetables.

Then you are vegetarian.

Rewrite the following sentences to the singular or plural

-         Hamburgers were sold five cents apiece.

-         Mc Donald’s company is worldwide famous.

Complete this table correctly with one word:

Choose the correct prefix to form the opposite

Editing

Spot the mistakes and write the corrected sentences on your answer sheet

     Mc Donald’s is always been the imperial fast food giant.

     French people doesn’t like fast food.

     Customers   should chose healthy food.

Supply the right punctuation and capitals where necessary

   hamburgers pizza and french fries are the most preferred

sandwiches in america

Completion

Fill in the gaps with the suitable words

          Because   /   may   /   should   /   when   /   must

        ………….. people go to fast food restaurants or eat fast food,  they ………… be careful of the quality of food ………….. it …………..  cause some health troubles such as: stomach pains and obesity.

Therefore, we …………..take into consideration: Prevention is much better than cure.

Find the questions to complete the following dialogue

   A: ……………………………………………………………..?

   B: More than 54% of American people are over weigh.

  A:………………………………………………………………..?

  B: I think fast food is one of the main reasons of this problem.

  A: ………………………………………………………………?

  B: Yes, fast food companies should take their responsibilities.

Complete the following passage with the correct relative pronouns

          Fast food outlets are restaurants ………….. serve instant and cheap food for customers …………. Prefer it rather than homemade food.

         Mc Donald’s brothers were the first …………… established the modern fast food industry. Their restaurants’ chains ……………. Fame is becoming giant is spread all over the world.

Combining

Combine the following statements into a new one using the words between (   )

-         Fast food is not so good for health. Many people consume it.    ( Although  )

-         The popularity of fast food menus are declining. People are becoming more health conscious.  ( because )

Choose the correct suffix to get the noun

                 Words                                                   Nouns

                 Collect                                                 ………………

                Science                                                ……………….

                   Sing                                                    ……………….

                Library                                                  ………………

Recognition / Identification

Find in the text two words to complete each column

Find in the text four verbs describing past participle actions

Find in the text four verbs describing present simple actions

Pronunciation

Sound Recognition

Find in the text words that have the following sounds

Find in the text four words that have the following vowel sounds

Write the following words in the right column according to their consonant sounds

              Financial    /    Which    /    Cholesterol    /    Growth

Copy down these words and circle the silent letters

1-     Designed     -     Hamburger      -     Providers

2-    Often     -      White      -     Cents

3-    World     -     First     -      called

4-   Castle      -    Modern     -    Which

In each list, pick out the word with a different vowel sound

  List 1:   five    -    ice    -    in    -    wide

  List 2:   food    -    wool    -    cool    -    cold

  List 3:   name    -    fast    -    take    -    sale

  List 4:   bread    -    cream    -    eaten    -    increase

Pick out from the text four verbs and complete the table according to the

pronunciation of their final *ed*

Pick out from the text four words and complete the table according to the pronunciation of their final *s*

Rhyme

Read the text and find one word that rhymes with each of the following

  List one:       far   -   are    -  ………….

  List two:       roast   -   coast    - …………..

  List three:    pan    -   and   -   ……………

  List four:      tool    -   cool    -     ……………

Match the words that have the same rhyme. One word in column B has no rhyming in column A

Read the text and add a word to each of the following lists according to their vowel

Sounds

Part Two : Written Expression

1-        You won a prize of tens of million dollars and you want to create your own fast food business.

2-    To introduce it, design an advertisement leaflet.

           Include: the name of your fast food restaurant.

                          Home office and brief history ( date of establishment , …etc )

                          Internet site address.

                          Types of food served.

                          Advertising blurb.

3-    Your teacher has asked you to write a report about a famous fast food company. Send an e- mail to an American friend in which you ask him or her for some information

4-   Fast food is sometimes dangerous. It may cause health troubles.

Write a composition of about six lines about the advantages and disadvantages of fast food.

5-    You were asked to write an article about the Mc Donald’s restaurants.

              Imagine a dialogue in which you interview the boss of  this famous company.  Ask him about the information you’d like your reader to know.