The Michelin Guide

Start this B1 lesson with the two lead-in activities. The first set of questions gets students talking about their own eating-out habits and whether they prefer new restaurants or old favorites. The second activity asks them to rank atmosphere, service, food quality, cleanliness, and price from most to least important. This works well in pairs or small groups, and it sets up the lesson because students revisit these same priorities when they read the Michelin review criteria.

Move into the vocabulary section next. Students match ten words like tires, prestigious, cuisine, and inspector to their correct definitions, then use those same words in the practice exercise. Before playing the video, ask students how tires, cars, travel, and restaurants could possibly be connected. Most groups won’t guess it, which makes the video more fun to watch. The video explains how Michelin, a tire company, ended up creating the most prestigious restaurant guide in the world. Play it once for the main idea, then use the comprehension questions to check details like why Michelin sent secret inspectors to restaurants.

The Michelin Stars and Michelin Review activities are the core of the lesson. Students match star ratings to their meanings and match five review criteria, like consistency and value for money, to short definitions. These activities work best if students explain their answers out loud rather than just matching silently. The comments section gives students five opinions to react to, which is a good way to get quieter students talking since they only need to agree or disagree.

Finish with the discussion questions and the speaking activity comparing the chef and inspector jobs. For homework, students design their own three-restaurant Michelin guide for their own city, which works well as a written task or a short presentation the following week.