Famous Things

Ice Cream
Pre-Reading
A. Warm-Up Questions

1. Do you like ice cream? If so, what is your

favorite flavor?

2. Do you know when people first started

to eat ice cream?

3. Where do you think the recipe for ice cream originated?

4. Do you know what a soda fountain is?

5. Have you ever had an ice cream soda or an ice cream sundae?

6. Which country do you think is the leading consumer of ice cream?

7. What invention do you think caused a huge increase in ice cream sales?

B. Vocabulary Preview

Match up as many words and meanings as you can.

Check this exercise again after seeing the words in context on page 2.

1. treat a)  the creation of something new

2. dairy b)  a small body of water
h 3. slave c)  something expensive and enjoyable but not needed
j 4. pension d)  related to milk, cream, butter, etc.
l 5. formula e)  drinking noisily
i 6. cranked f)  something that gives pleasure and is special
k 7. patent g)  a seller
8. luxury h)  a person who is owned by another and forced to work hard
g 9. vendor i)  turned with a handle
10. invention j)  a regular payment paid to a person who is retired
11. slurping k)  an exclusive right to make or sell a new invention
12. pond l)  a recipe, the instructions on how to make something

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 Ice Cream
Famous Things

Reading
1. Ice cream is a frozen treat made by stirring together “Ice cream is
dairy products, flavorings, sweeteners, and air. my comfort food.”
2. The history of ice cream goes back to ancient times. —Jessie Ware
Ancient Greeks sold snow cones mixed with honey and
fruit at their markets. The Roman Emperor, Nero, sent slaves
to the mountains for snow to combine with honey and nuts.

3. Popular folklore claims Marco Polo brought the recipe for ice cream
back to Italy from China. An Italian duchess moved to France with
her chefs and introduced flavored ices or sorbets. Charles I of
England was so impressed by “frozen snow” that he offered his
ice cream maker a lifetime pension to keep the formula secret.

4. Ice cream was not introduced in the US until the 19th century.
People made it in a large bowl inside a tub filled with ice and salt.
A hand-cranked churn replaced this method, making smoother
ice cream more quickly. The first US patent for a hand-cranked
churn was issued in 1843.

5. Ice cream was a luxury because making it required ice. Ice from
frozen ponds and lakes was stored underground or in wood ice
houses, insulated by straw. Industrial refrigeration in the 1870s
ended the need to store ice.

6. Europeans enjoyed ice cream cones long before Americans. The cone
wasn’t created in the US until the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis. An ice
cream vendor ran out of dishes, and a waffle maker next to him rolled
up waffles to hold ice cream. In the early 1920s, going to the soda
fountain for an ice cream soda was a popular event. The noisy slurping
of sodas was not allowed on Sundays, so the sundae was created as
a quieter way to enjoy ice cream.

7. Home refrigerators using ice blocks became available in the 1920s,

but the invention of the continuous freezer caused the explosion
in the number of ice cream outlets and ice cream treats. Baskin-
Robbins offered 31 flavors, one for every day of the month. Soft ice
cream was introduced. With twice the air, it was less expensive and
lighter in texture. Richer ice creams reappeared in the 1980s and
sold as premium and super-premium varieties like Ben & Jerry’s
and Haagen Daz.

8. Today, Americans are the leading consumers of ice cream, eating

an average of 23 liters per person each year.

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 Ice Cream
Famous Things

Comprehension
A. True or False? B. Ask & Answer

Read the statements below. Practice asking and answering the following questions
If the statement is true, write T beside the sentence. with your partner. Then write your answers in
If it is false, write F and correct the information. complete sentences in your notebook.

1. Ancient Greeks and Romans 1. What is ice cream and how is it made?
enjoyed frozen treats. 2. How was Marco Polo involved
2. Italians created the in the history of ice cream?
original recipe for ice cream. 3. What was the first method of making
3. Charles I of England wanted ice cream in the United States?
to share the recipe for ice cream. 4. What effect did the hand-cranked
4. There was no industrial churn have on the production of ice cream?
refrigeration until the late 1800s. 5. Why did ice cream use to be a luxury product?
5. Americans were the first 6. When and how was the ice cream
people to eat ice cream in cones. cone created in the United States?

7. Why was the ice cream sundae created?

Vocabulary Review
Complete the sentences using vocabulary from the word list to the right. Word List:

• flavor
1. People who lived on a farm used to use a • folklore
           to make their own butter. • recipe
• duchess
2. I love your chocolate cake! I’d like your            so I can make it myself. • impressed
• churn
3.            refers to the beliefs and
• insulated
stories passed from one generation to the next.
• waffles
4. It is very cold in this house because the walls are not well-           .

5. John has            his new boss, so he’ll probably get a raise in pay soon.

6. She likes to eat her            with butter and syrup.

7. This soup needs more salt and pepper. It doesn’t have enough            .

8.            is the royal title given to a woman who is married to a duke.

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 Ice Cream
Famous Things

Discussion
1. List all the different brands of ice cream that you know.
Do you think they differ much in taste or price? Do you
have a favorite brand? What do you like about it?

2. The inventions of the home refrigerator and freezer had a huge

impact on the sale of ice cream products. What other effects did
these inventions have on people’s daily lives and on society as a whole?

3. Why do you think Americans are the leading consumers of ice cream?

4. Have you ever made or tasted homemade ice cream?

How did it differ from commercially prepared ice cream?

5. What’s your comfort food?

Class Activity
THE MOST DELICIOUS FLAVOR

Anything goes when it comes to ice cream flavors these days.

The term “anything goes” means nothing is too strange to be acceptable.
Work together with your class to create some fun ice cream flavors! Tear
out two slips of paper from your notebook. Write a flavor or type of food
on each slip. Your teacher will gather the papers in a container. Take turns
picking out two slips of paper to create a new ice cream flavor. Write the
flavors on the board, and vote on the following: the most delicious, the
most disgusting, the healthiest...

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 Ice Cream
Famous Things

Answer Key
LESSON DESCRIPTION: LEVEL: Int

In this lesson, students read about the history of ice cream TIME: 1–2 hours
and the invention of refrigeration. They discuss their favorite
TAGS:  famous things, ice cream, dessert, history, food
types of ice cream and their own comfort foods.

Pre-Reading Vocabulary Review

A. WARM-UP QUESTIONS 1. churn 4. insulated 7. flavor

2. recipe 5. impressed 8. Duchess
Answers will vary.
3. Folklore 6. waffles

B. VOCABULARY PREVIEW
Discussion
1. f 3. h 5. l 7. k 9. g 11. e
2. d 4. j 6. i 8. c 10. a 12. b
Discuss in small groups or as a class. Answers will vary.

Comprehension
Class Activity
A. TRUE OR FALSE?
Help students with the spelling and pronunciation of the ice cream
1. T flavors they create. Encourage them to use their imaginations so that
2. F – F olklore claims that Marco Polo brought the when you mix and match the words they come out as interesting
original recipe for ice cream from China to Italy. flavors! Have a vote on which flavors are the most delicious, most
3. F – Charles I wanted to keep the recipe a secret. disgusting, healthiest, etc. Which flavors would likely sell well?
4. T
5. F – Europeans were the first people to eat ice cream cones. SPELLING NOTE:

This lesson shows the American spelling of the words Flavor,

B. ASK & ANSWER
Favorite, Liter, and Practice. Most other English-speaking countries
1. Ice cream is a frozen treat made by stirring together spell these words this way: Flavour, Favourite, Litre, and Practise
dairy products, flavorings, sweeteners, and air. (when used as a verb; Practice when used as a noun). Make it a
2. Popular folklore claims Marco Polo brought the challenge for your students to find these words in the lesson
recipe for ice cream back to Italy from China. and see if they know the alternate spellings.
3. People made it in a large bowl inside a tub filled with ice and salt.
Also note that paragraph 8 of the reading mentions
4. A hand-cranked churn made smoother ice cream more quickly.
23 liters, which is equivalent to about 6.07 US gallons.
5. Ice cream was a luxury because making it required ice.
6. The cone wasn’t created in the US until the 1904 World’s Fair in
St. Louis. An ice cream vendor ran out of dishes, and a waffle
maker next to him rolled up waffles to hold ice cream.
7. The noisy slurping of sodas was not allowed on Sundays, so
the sundae was created as a quieter way to enjoy ice cream.

Copyright 2019, Red River Press Inc. For use by ESL Library members only. (I N T / V E R S I O N 3 . 0) 5