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Cooking for twenty on Thanksgiving: a few, a little and a lot of in the kitchen

Students learn a few, a little and a lot of in this A2 ESL lesson plan about food amounts for a Thanksgiving dinner for twenty.

Grammar
Quantifiers without numbers: a few with countable plurals (a few potatoes), a little with uncountable nouns (a little salt), a lot of and lots of with both, and some when the amount isn't exact.
Topic
Thanksgiving dinner on the fourth Thursday of November, cooked for twenty in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with Thanksgiving vocabulary such as thaw, carve, gravy and leftovers.
Activities
A dinner plan to read, a kitchen dialogue and a Thanksgiving toast to hear, self-checking drills, an invitation chat and open-the-box questions.

What's inside

  1. Chapter 1Twenty people for dinner!

    • PictureUnlock
    • Spin the wheel and answerSpin the wheelUnlock
    • Study the words: Thanksgiving dinnerVocabularyTry it
    • Look at the pictures and chooseChoose by pictureUnlock

  2. Chapter 2Let's read: Grandpa's big plan

    • Look at the photo: Thanksgiving dinnerPictureUnlock
    • Read Grandpa's Thanksgiving planReal-life documentTry it
    • Read and mark true or falseTrue or falseUnlock
    • Read again and choose the right answerQuizUnlock

  3. Chapter 3Let's listen: a busy kitchen

    • Listen to Marco and his mom, LindaListeningTry it
    • Transcript, for the teacherUnlock
    • Listen and choose the right answerQuizUnlock
    • Listen to Grandpa's challenge: his Thanksgiving toastListeningUnlock
    • Transcript, for the teacherUnlock
    • Listen and mark true or falseTrue or falseUnlock

  4. Chapter 4Grammar: a few, a little, a lot of

    • Study the scheme: a few, a little, a lot ofGrammar schemeTry it
    • Choose the correct optionChoose the optionUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps: a small number or a small amountFill in the gapsTry it
    • Fill in the table: a small or a big amountFill in the tableUnlock
    • Choose the correct sentenceQuizUnlock

  5. Chapter 5Let's talk: dinner for twenty

    • Choose the right replies: dinner at Walt'sChatTry it
    • Open a box and answer: my holiday dinnerOpen the boxUnlock

  6. Chapter 6Homework

    • Match the words and the meaningsMatchUnlock
    • Unscramble the wordsAnagramUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps with the new wordsFill in the gapsUnlock
    • Sort the words: a few or a little?Sort into columnsUnlock
    • Put the words in the right orderUnjumbleUnlock
    • Choose the correct answerQuizUnlock
    • Choose the correct option: Nora's postChoose the optionUnlock
    • Drag the words into the gaps: the family chatDrag and dropUnlock

29 exercises in 6 chapters. Start a 7-day free trial to open all of them, copy any part into your own lessons, and teach the lesson live.

Thanksgiving vocabulary

10 words and phrases from the lesson, each with a picture and audio in edio.

+7 more with pictures and audio in the lessonMore words

  • turkey
  • stuffing
  • gravy
  • cranberry sauce
  • leftovers
  • wishbone
  • guest

Grammar: a few, a little and a lot of

A few, a little and a lot of are quantifiers: they give an amount without a number. A dinner for twenty needs both kinds, a lot of potatoes but only a little salt, so learners match each quantifier to countable or uncountable food, compare small and big amounts, and keep the a and the of in place.

a few potatoes, a little salt, a lot of turkey

Small and big amounts of food, with no numbers: a few, a little, a lot of.

A few or a little? Count the food

A few means a small number and goes with countable plurals: a few eggs, a few guests. A little means a small amount and goes with uncountable nouns: a little salt, a little gravy. Some fits both when the amount isn't exact: some potatoes, some butter.

WordCountable: eggs, guestsUncountable: salt, gravy
a few (a small number)✓ a few eggs✗
a little (a small amount)✗✓ a little salt
a lot of / lots of (a big number or amount)✓ a lot of guests✓ lots of gravy
some (not an exact number or amount)✓ some potatoes✓ some butter

Small or big: a lot of and lots of

For a big number or amount, a lot of and lots of work with every noun: a lot of guests, lots of gravy. Lots of means the same and sounds friendlier: Twenty people eat a lot of mashed potatoes. The dog wants lots of turkey!

Small or big?

Small 🤏

  • a few eggs, a few guests
  • a little butter, a little gravy

Big 🙌

  • a lot of eggs, lots of guests
  • a lot of butter, lots of gravy

In Grandpa's kitchen

  • Marco peels a few potatoes.
  • Put a little salt on the turkey.
  • Twenty people eat a lot of mashed potatoes.
  • Biscuit wants lots of turkey!
  • The turkey needs a few days to thaw.
  • We have some pies and some cranberry sauce.

A turkey or turkey?

A turkey is the whole bird, and it counts: one turkey, a few turkeys. Turkey on the plate is meat, which doesn't count: a little turkey, a lot of turkey. So the cook buys a turkey, and twenty guests eat a lot of turkey.

a turkey or turkey?

a turkey is the bird. It counts: one turkey, a few turkeys. turkey is the meat. It doesn't count: a little turkey, a lot of turkey. Grandpa buys a turkey, and the guests eat a lot of turkey!

Keep the a and the of

Without a, few and little change their meaning, a point for later, so here they always keep it: a few onions, a little butter. A lot needs of before a noun: a lot of potatoes, never a lot potatoes or a lots of potatoes.

Don't forget a and of

Say a few and a little with a: a few eggs, a little salt. (Without a, few and little mean something different. You learn that later.) Say a lot of with of: a lot of potatoes. lots of means the same, in friendly talk.

Common mistakes

  • Put a few salt on it.

    Put a little salt on it.

    salt doesn't count: a little

  • We need a little eggs.

    We need a few eggs.

    eggs count: a few

  • We need a lot potatoes.

    We need a lot of potatoes.

    a lot + of

  • Biscuit wants a lots of turkey.

    Biscuit wants a lot of turkey. / Biscuit wants lots of turkey.

    a lot of or lots of, never a lots of

More lessons on this grammar: Quantifiers lessons and exercises · Countable and uncountable nouns lessons and exercises

Try the a few and a little exercises

Try them yourself: these are the same exercises your students do in edio.

More exercises

What's in the lesson

  • 16 auto-checked exercises
  • 4 games
  • 1 real-life document
  • 1 grammar scheme
  • 1 set of word cards
  • 2 audio clips
  • 2 pictures
  • 2 transcripts

The main objectives of this lesson are to:

  • talk about a small number of things with a few: a few potatoes, a few guests, a few days
  • talk about a small amount with a little: a little salt, a little gravy, a little butter
  • use a lot of or lots of with both kinds of noun: a lot of potatoes, lots of turkey
  • tell a turkey, the bird, from turkey, the meat: We bought a turkey. The guests ate a lot of turkey.

American food, unit 3 of English A2.1 · Then and Now, ends with lesson 12. It builds on A2.1 lesson 9, which split food nouns into countable and uncountable with a, an and some, and A2.1 lesson 25 goes on to much, many, How much…? and How many…? With twenty guests at one table, every dish needs the right amount, which gives the quantifiers real work.

After a wheel of questions about family dinners and holiday food, students learn ten words, from carve and thaw to gravy and wishbone, with pictures and audio. They read a day-by-day plan for Thanksgiving dinner, with a pound of turkey per guest and four to five days to thaw it, then listen to Marco and his mom, Linda, cook (an AI-voiced dialogue) and to Grandpa's Thanksgiving toast. Four self-checking drills come after the scheme, with a table of small and big amounts as the third. In the speaking chapter, an invitation to dinner from a neighbor arrives in a chat, and open boxes ask about students' own holiday meals.

Homework has eight tasks that check themselves: a match, an anagram and a gap-fill with the new words, a sort into a few or a little, a word-order task, a quiz, a choice of quantifiers in Nora's post and a family chat with words to drag into it.

Grammar:
a few · a little · a lot of / lots of · countable and uncountable nouns · some
Topic:
Thanksgiving · cooking for a big family · American holidays · football on TV · leftovers

Teaching tips

  • Bring three potatoes and a salt shaker, or pictures of them: hold up the potatoes for a few potatoes, shake the salt once for a little salt, and let students say which is which.
  • Read the plan as a timeline: draw Saturday to Friday on the board, and students place each job on it, from buying the turkey to eating the leftovers.
  • Play the kitchen dialogue and listen for amounts: students tap the desk at every a few, clap at every a little and stand up at every a lot of.
  • After the chat, act out the invitation in pairs: one student invites a partner to a holiday dinner, and the partner asks for just a little or a lot of each dish.

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The whole course: English A2.1 · Then and Now

32 lessons for adults at A2 in simple American English, from the past simple to going to, should and might. Eight units tell stories of journeys, American firsts, food, places, sports, music, neighbors and dreams. Pictures and definitions replace translations, and the practice exercises check themselves.See the course

  1. Unit 1 Amazing journeys

    the past simple, regular and irregular verbs, negatives, prepositions of movement

    1. Lesson 1Around the world in 72 daysThe past simple of regular verbs
    2. Lesson 2The first drive across AmericaIrregular verbs in the past simple
    3. Lesson 3Get your kicks on Route 66Past simple negatives with didn't
    4. Lesson 4She walked 2,000 miles in sneakersPrepositions of movement

  2. Unit 2 American firsts

    was and were, past questions and short answers, ago and in, could for past ability

    1. Lesson 5The first American woman in spaceWas, were, there was and there were
    2. Lesson 6A real bug in the computerPast simple questions with did
    3. Lesson 7“Mr. Watson, come here”Wh- questions in the past simple
    4. Lesson 8Twelve seconds in the airCould and couldn't for past ability

  3. Unit 3 American food

    countable and uncountable nouns, comparatives, ordering food, a few and a little

    1. Lesson 9The first chocolate chip cookieCountable and uncountable nouns in a recipe
    2. Lesson 10Is a jalapeño hotter than a habanero?Comparatives of short adjectives
    3. Lesson 11Two eggs, sunny side up!Offers and orders with would like
    4. Lesson 12 · you're hereCooking for twenty on ThanksgivingA few, a little and a lot of

  4. Unit 4 City or country?

    comparatives with more and less, superlatives, as … as, too and enough

    1. Lesson 13The island with no carsComparatives with more and less, plus better, worse and farther
    2. Lesson 14America's extremesSuperlatives with the + -est, the most and the least
    3. Lesson 15San Francisco or Yosemite? You choose!As … as for the same, not as … as for less
    4. Lesson 16A park on an old railroadToo, enough and not … enough

  5. Unit 5 Game on

    play, go and do with sports, going to, adverbs of manner, reflexive pronouns

    1. Lesson 17Basketball started with peach baskets?Play, go and do with sports
    2. Lesson 18What's going to happen at LA 2028?Be going to for plans and predictions
    3. Lesson 19Pickleball: a game from a backyardAdverbs of manner
    4. Lesson 20Be brave and tryReflexive pronouns and each other

  6. Unit 6 Music and nights out

    love, enjoy and hate + -ing, the present continuous for plans, suggestions, to for purpose

    1. Lesson 21Where jazz was bornGerunds after love, like, enjoy, hate and don't mind
    2. Lesson 22Music on every streetThe present continuous for future arrangements
    3. Lesson 23A night on BroadwaySuggestions with Let's, Why don't we and How about
    4. Lesson 24An orchestra for every kidThe infinitive of purpose and to or for

  7. Unit 7 Neighbors and community

    much and many, should, something and everyone, because and so

    1. Lesson 25Everybody cleans up!Much and many with nouns you can and can't count
    2. Lesson 26Good neighbors shovel snowShould and shouldn't + the base verb
    3. Lesson 27Take a book, leave a bookIndefinite pronouns with some-, any-, no- and every-
    4. Lesson 28A bench for making friendsBecause for reasons, so for results

  8. Unit 8 Plans and dreams

    verb + to, the present continuous vs going to, might, when, before and after

    1. Lesson 29Never give up: from farm fields to spaceVerb + to + the base form
    2. Lesson 30Across America by trainGoing to and the present continuous for the future
    3. Lesson 31Open in the year 6939Might and might not for possibility
    4. Lesson 32A college graduate at 95Time clauses with when, before and after

Questions about this lesson

What are quantifiers in English?
Quantifiers are words that say how much or how many, without an exact number: a few eggs, a little salt, a lot of guests, some butter. Some go only with countable nouns (a few), some only with uncountable nouns (a little), and some with both (a lot of, lots of, some). The A2 lesson Cooking for twenty on Thanksgiving on edio.ai teaches them with food for a big family dinner.
When do you use "a few" and "a little"?
Use a few with plural nouns you can count and a little with nouns you can't: a few potatoes, a few days, but a little butter, a little gravy. Both mean a small amount, and both sound positive: there is some. So Put a little salt on the turkey asks for a small amount, and I peeled a few means a small number of potatoes.
What's the difference between "few" and "a few"?
A few means some; few means not many. A few guests came sounds positive: some people came. Few guests came stresses that not many came, fewer than you hoped. Little and a little work the same way with uncountable nouns: We have a little milk (some) and We have little milk (hardly any). Cooking for twenty on Thanksgiving, an A2 lesson on edio.ai, keeps to the forms with a.
What's the difference between "a lot of" and "lots of"?
There's no difference in meaning: both mean a big number or amount, and both work with countable and uncountable nouns: a lot of guests, lots of guests, a lot of gravy, lots of gravy. Lots of sounds more informal, so it suits chats and family talk. The verb agrees with the noun, not with lot: A lot of families fly home. There's a lot of food.
Is it "a few salt" or "a little salt"?
It's a little salt, because salt doesn't count. Few and a few go with plural nouns you can count (a few eggs, a few onions); little and a little go with uncountable nouns (a little salt, a little butter). The opposite mistake is a little eggs, which should be a few eggs. A quick test: if two fits before the noun, use a few.
Is it "a lots of" or "lots of"?
Say a lot of or lots of, never a lots of. The a goes only with singular lot, and plural lots has none: a lot of turkey, lots of turkey. Keep the of before a noun too: We need a lot of potatoes, not a lot potatoes. With no noun after it, drop the of: He ate a lot. A drill in edio.ai's Cooking for twenty on Thanksgiving sets a lots of as a trap.
Is turkey countable or uncountable?
Both: a turkey is the bird, turkey is the meat. The whole bird counts, so it takes a and a plural: We bought a turkey. The farm has a few turkeys. The meat on your plate doesn't count: a little turkey, a lot of turkey, never a few turkey. Chicken works the same way: a chicken in the yard, some chicken for dinner.
What Thanksgiving vocabulary should English learners know?
Start with the dishes, the kitchen verbs and the traditions: turkey, stuffing (a bread mix cooked inside the bird), gravy and cranberry sauce; thaw the frozen turkey, peel the potatoes and carve the meat; then guests, leftovers and the wishbone, which two people pull until it breaks. The one with the bigger piece makes a wish. Thanksgiving is always the fourth Thursday of November.
How do I teach a few and a little to A2 students?
Tie each word to countable or uncountable nouns first: a few for eggs and onions, a little for salt and gravy. Real objects help, such as three onions on the desk and one pinch of salt. Add a lot of for big amounts once the pair is clear. Cooking for twenty on Thanksgiving on edio.ai builds up the same way, with a dinner plan and a kitchen dialogue before the scheme.
What's a good game for practicing a few, a little and a lot of?
Plan a party menu in teams: each team gets a number of guests and lists what it needs with We need a lot of…, a few… and a little…, then the class checks every quantifier. The first open box in this lesson starts the same way, with Plan a dinner for twenty people. For homework, a sorting game puts food words under a few or a little.
What's good homework for practicing quantifiers?
Self-checking drills with food words make good homework for quantifiers: a sort of potatoes, gravy and salt into a few or a little, a quiz of sentences such as He needs a lot of potatoes, and a post or a chat with the right quantifier to choose. That's how the homework of Cooking for twenty on Thanksgiving, an A2 lesson on edio.ai, works, with every answer checked at once.
Are there interactive exercises for a few and a little?
Yes: quantifier drills that mark each answer at once are a quick way to practice. This page lets anyone try four parts of Cooking for twenty on Thanksgiving, an A2 lesson on edio.ai, with no account: the Thanksgiving dinner plan, Marco and his mom's dialogue in the kitchen, a gap-fill that asks for a few or a little, and a chat in which a neighbor invites you to dinner. The other exercises are locked.
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