Job Training: Creating a Restaurant Experience

Here is an introduction to lessons at CGK Afterschool.

CGK's eight-week-long project works will be based on the main “Driving Question”.

Here are the Driving Questions for this "Job Training" lesson.

"How can we come up with a good place to eat in our town with an exceptional menu and exceptional service? How can we make people feel happy through the food we create?

We followed this question with fun lessons each week that drew the student's interest.

Here are the comments of Mr. Bobby, the teacher who was in charge of the lessons.

Week 1

With most PBL projects we begin with an entry event. An entry event is where we introduce to the students the question we want to try to answer, the final project goal, and finally the steps we plan to take to get there. For job training I showed a video of a restaurant visit and had the students think of questions about what they saw. Are restaurants in America different from Japan? Do you see the same tools? We wrote down our answers on our Anchor chart and discussed about restaurants we liked and ones we didn’t.

Week 2

We concluded the first week with the students thinking about and writing about their favorite restaurants. We start this week looking back on what we wrote about and share our ideas with the each other. Now we start to think about our own restaurant and in groups begin to imagine our restaurant and what we to serve.

Week 3

The students read an article titled “So Many Kinds of Food” and after reading we discussed reading questions together as a class. The main idea of the story is about different people from different countries share their food with us and we can learn about other cultures that way. We watched a short video about how to make Bao and wrote down the steps to get the kids thinking about their own food in their restaurants.

Week 4

The students learned about atmosphere and what it means. We looked back at their favorite restaurants from week one and talked about the atmosphere in each one. Using those examples, the groups began to think about their own restaurants and what sort of atmosphere they wanted in their own restaurants. We used the following question to help guide them in their choices – “What do you imagine when you walk into your restaurant?”

Week 5

I shared with students a menu from a fine dining restaurant that I went to. I let them look the menu over and we discussed what it looked like and what they liked about it. We again discussed about the different types of restaurant, fine dining, fast food, buffet, and thought about what kind of restaurant I had gone to. In groups the students began to think up their menu and their food and prices. Students researched more about their type of restaurant and made connections to their own through their picture choices and food choices.

Week 6, 7

Student groups presented their final projects. Using Keynote, the groups created a short presentation showcasing their food choices, menu design and the kind of atmosphere they wanted for their restaurant. The students also shared what kind of ingredients were inside their main dishes or signature dishes. We had three student groups with two of them picking fine dining and the last one making a Chinese buffet. The students also talked about where they planned on building their restaurant and why they picked that place.

Each group thought of their favorite food, and it was fun to see them discussing and integrating their ideas with their friends.

In the next lesson, they are learning about "Teacher."

The students are having a lot of fun as they research different learning methods and think about the job of a teacher in preparation for their final project.