Should We Start Eating Insects?
This C1 lesson examines whether we should start eating insects through an article exploring cultural disgust, environmental benefits, and psychological barriers. Students learn vocabulary like “visceral,” “habituation,” and “deviance,” then analyze pros and cons by assigning seriousness scores. The activities include identifying controversial foods, combining basic sentences using advanced vocabulary, and navigating three ethical dilemmas about insect consumption.
Lesson overview
- Build sophisticated vocabulary related to instinctive reactions, cultural norms, and behavioral change
- Read an article explaining why Western cultures resist insects despite environmental advantages
- Practice sentence combining by transforming basic pairs into complex sentences using target vocabulary
- Develop ethical reasoning through three dilemmas involving restaurant surprises, workplace mandates, and cultural respect
Student's Version (Light/Dark)
Teacher's Version (Answer Keys)
Printable Classroom Version (A4)
| Level | Vocabulary | Reading Time | Lesson Time |
| C1 / Advanced | 10 words | 6 min / 1117 words | 60-80 min |
Vocabulary
- livestock
- visceral
- wariness
- arbitrary
- revulsion
- connotation
- elicit
- habituation
- deviance
- alter
Contents
- Lead-in
- Vocabulary preview
- Definitions
- Article
- Pros & Cons
- Discussion
- Practice
- Suffixes
- Dilemmas
- Optional video
Start by identifying foie gras, durian, and surströmming from descriptions highlighting controversial production or extreme characteristics. This establishes that food acceptance varies culturally. Lead-in questions explore future food innovations, foods that initially disgusted them, and whether they seek unusual local delicacies when traveling.
The vocabulary section introduces ten advanced terms including “visceral” (deep instinctive reaction), “wariness” (caution toward unfamiliar things), and “habituation” (becoming accustomed through exposure). The article runs 1,117 words explaining that insects offer environmental advantages like lower carbon footprints and complete protein but face psychological barriers in Western cultures where bugs carry connotations of dirt and disease. Students underline three examples of how cultural background influences insect-eating attitudes.
The pros and cons activity lists five advantages like affordability and sustainability against five disadvantages like psychological disgust and underdeveloped infrastructure. Students assign seriousness scores from 1-3 for each point, calculate totals, and decide whether eating insects makes sense overall. Discussion questions explore strategies for changing public perception and whether truly arbitrary food norms mean nothing should be off-limits.
The practice section provides ten basic sentence pairs. Students combine each pair into one sophisticated sentence using vocabulary like “livestock,” “arbitrary,” “revulsion,” and “elicit.” Additional practice asks them to describe three environmental problems from industrial livestock, explain when wariness toward new foods is beneficial, and discuss whether eating insects represents deviance or progressive thinking.
The suffix exercise reviews twelve -ible/-able adjectives including “feasible,” “plausible,” and “negligible.” Students discuss meanings and create original sentences. Three ethical dilemmas test reasoning: discovering you’ve eaten crickets at a restaurant, facing a workplace mandate replacing 50% of meat with insects, and being served insect delicacies by a host family abroad. Students choose positions and defend their reasoning.
