With the Fire on High

Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

“Family Recipes a la Emoni”

Students will bring one of their favorite recipes and rewrite it in Emoni’s style.

Emoni includes three recipes at the beginning of each section. Notice the instructions that teach the reader about Emoni, such as when she writes, “Keep on the stove for the duration of three listens to a Cardi B song.” (Emoni’s “No Use Crying Over Spilled Strawberry Milk” Recipe)

• Read one of Emoni’s recipes.
• Discuss with a partner how she writes the recipe and makes her voice clear to the reader. Consider how she explains amounts and steps. Also, discuss how she teaches the reader about cultural and familiar aspects of her life through the recipe.
• Brainstorm aspects of culture and family from your own life that you may include in your recipe. Consider music, movies, language, traditions, notable events, and family stories.
• Rewrite the recipe you brought to include the aspects of your brainstorm that teacher your reader about yourself, your family, and your culture. Try to make your voice clear to the reader.

Teaching Suggestion: Students may have an important family recipe or may bring a recipe for a meal they like. Encourage them to demonstrate their voice through their recipes. After students write their recipes, consider compiling them into a class recipe book. Reflection discussion could focus on the theme of Rules, Recipes, and Self-Creation and how students demonstrated self-creation through the adaptations of their recipes.

Differentiation Suggestion: Students may benefit from a graphic organizer to help them break down their recipe into steps and to brainstorm aspects of their life to include. Some students may enjoy explaining their recipe in a short video, much like a cooking show, rather than writing out the instructions.

Paired Text Extension:

Reading about how to write a recipe might help students in their own recipe creation.

• “How to Write a Recipe” from BBC Good Food

Teaching Suggestion: Students may benefit from reading the above article before they begin writing their recipe. The article from BBC Good Food also models expository writing, which could be a focus for this activity.