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The first chocolate chip cookie: countable and uncountable nouns for baking

An A2 ESL lesson plan on countable and uncountable nouns, taught through the ingredients and steps of a chocolate chip cookie recipe.

Grammar
Countable nouns with a or an, or some + -s, uncountable nouns with some alone (an egg, some flour), measures such as two cups of flour, and baking verbs in recipes and in the past.
Topic
Baking in the US, with Ruth Wakefield's chocolate chip cookie from the Toll House Inn in Whitman, Massachusetts, and baking vocabulary such as flour, dough, mixing bowl and baking sheet.
Activities
A recipe card to read, a kitchen dialogue and Grandpa's challenge to hear, self-checking drills, a shopping chat and open-the-box questions.

What's inside

  1. Chapter 1Cookie time!

    • PictureUnlock
    • Spin the wheel and answerSpin the wheelUnlock
    • Study the words: let's bakeVocabularyTry it
    • Look at the pictures and chooseChoose by pictureUnlock

  2. Chapter 2Let's read: a famous recipe

    • Look at the photo: chocolate in small piecesPictureUnlock
    • Read the recipe cardReal-life documentTry it
    • Read and mark true or falseTrue or falseUnlock
    • Read again and choose the right answerQuizUnlock

  3. Chapter 3Let's listen: cookies in the Toaster

    • Listen to Nora and MarcoListeningTry it
    • Transcript, for the teacherUnlock
    • Listen and choose the right answerQuizUnlock
    • Listen to Grandpa's ChallengeListeningUnlock
    • Transcript, for the teacherUnlock
    • Listen and mark true or falseTrue or falseUnlock

  4. Chapter 4Grammar: an egg, some flour

    • Study the scheme: countable and uncountableGrammar schemeTry it
    • Choose a, an or someChoose the optionUnlock
    • Fill in the table: a, an or someFill in the tableTry it
    • Fill in the gaps: two cups of flourFill in the gapsUnlock
    • Choose the right sentenceQuizUnlock

  5. Chapter 5Let's talk: a cookie gift

    • Choose the right replies: Marco at the storeChatTry it
    • Open a box and answer: food and bakingOpen the boxUnlock

  6. Chapter 6Homework

    • Match the words and the meaningsMatchUnlock
    • Unscramble the wordsAnagramUnlock
    • Drag the words into the gaps: in the kitchenDrag and dropUnlock
    • Sort the words: countable or uncountable?Sort into columnsUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps: countable or uncountable?Fill in the gapsUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps: baking verbs in the pastFill in the gapsUnlock
    • Put the words in the right orderUnjumbleUnlock
    • Choose a, an or some: Marco's postChoose the optionUnlock

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.

Baking 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

  • sugar
  • dough
  • chocolate chips
  • mixing bowl
  • baking sheet
  • cookie jar
  • teaspoon

Grammar: countable and uncountable nouns in a recipe

A recipe lists some things by number and others by measure: 2 eggs, but 1 cup of butter. With the ingredients of a chocolate chip cookie, learners sort countable and uncountable nouns, also called count and noncount nouns, choose a, an or some for each one, measure what can't be counted and tell the steps with baking verbs.

an egg, some eggs, some flour

Countable: a / an, or some + -s. Uncountable: some, never a / an or -s.

One egg, two eggs: countable nouns

Nouns for things you can count are countable: one egg, two eggs. A single one takes a or an (a cookie, an egg, an oven), with an before a vowel sound, and more than one takes -s, alone or after some: three cookies, some eggs.

UseCountable: egg, cookieUncountable: butter, flour
onea cookie, an egg (an before a vowel sound: an oven, an idea)✗ no a / an
two or moretwo eggs, three cookies✗ no -s
somesome eggs, some cookiessome butter, some flour
count ittwo eggs, three cookiesa cup of flour, two cups of flour

Butter, flour, advice: uncountable nouns

Nouns like butter and flour are uncountable. They take some, never a, an or -s: some butter, some flour, not a butter or some flours. Sugar, salt, milk, chocolate, vanilla and advice follow the same rule.

  • butter
  • flour
  • sugar
  • salt
  • milk
  • chocolate
  • vanilla
  • advice

A cup of flour, a piece of advice

To count an uncountable noun, put a measure with of in front of it: a cup of flour, a bar of chocolate, a glass of milk. For more than one, the measure takes the -s, never the noun: two cups of flour, two pieces of advice.

one

  • a cup of flour
  • a bar of chocolate
  • a glass of milk
  • a teaspoon of salt
  • a bag of sugar
  • a piece of advice

two or more

  • two cups of flour
  • two bars of chocolate
  • two glasses of milk
  • two teaspoons of salt
  • three bags of sugar
  • two pieces of advice

Bake, mix, add, melt, chop

A recipe gives its steps as instructions with the base verb: Mix the butter and the sugar. Add two eggs. To say what you did, add -ed (mixed, added, melted), only -d after an e (baked), and double the p in chopped.

Baking verbs

VerbIn a recipeIn the past
bakeBake the cookies for ten minutes.We baked cookies.
mixMix the butter and the sugar.Nora mixed the dough.
addAdd two eggs.Marco added some salt.
meltMelt some butter.The butter melted.
chopChop a chocolate bar.Ruth chopped a chocolate bar.

Past: -ed

Add -ed: mix → mixed, add → added, melt → melted. A verb with -e: bake → baked. A short verb like chop: chop → chopped.

Chocolate chips, not chocolates chips

In a two-word name, only the last word takes -s: chocolate chips, mixing bowls, baking sheets. A chocolate bar is right too, since the a belongs to bar, a countable noun, and not to chocolate.

chocolate chips · a chocolate bar

In a two-word name, the -s goes on the last word only: chocolate chips, baking sheets, mixing bowls. (Not: chocolates chips.) a chocolate bar is one bar: bar is countable, chocolate is not.

Common mistakes

  • Add a butter and a salt.

    Add some butter and some salt.

    butter, salt: no a / an

  • We need some flours.

    We need some flour.

    flour: no -s

  • Grandpa gave us an advice.

    Grandpa gave us a piece of advice.

    advice: no a / an

  • Add the chocolates chips.

    Add the chocolate chips.

    -s on the last word only

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

Try the countable and uncountable nouns exercises

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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:

  • use a or an with one countable thing and some with more: an egg, a cookie, some eggs
  • keep uncountable nouns free of a, an and -s: some butter, some flour, some advice
  • count ingredients with a measure: a teaspoon of salt, two teaspoons of vanilla, a glass of milk
  • follow and retell a recipe with baking verbs: Mix the butter and the sugar. We baked cookies.

Lesson 9 opens American food, the third unit of English A2.1 · Then and Now. It builds on two lessons of English A1.2 · Out and About: lesson 15, which taught some and any with plural nouns, and lesson 32, which used containers such as a bag of marshmallows for a camping trip. A2.1 lesson 12 comes back to the same two kinds of noun with a few, a little and a lot of. Every line of a recipe card counts or measures something.

A spin-the-wheel warm-up about cookies and baking leads into ten words, from bake and mix to dough and cookie jar, with pictures and audio. Students then read a recipe card for Ruth Wakefield's cookie, which food historians call the first chocolate chip cookie recipe, then hear Nora and Marco bake in a camper's tiny kitchen (an AI-voiced dialogue) and Grandpa's challenge, a voice message. After the scheme come four drills that check each answer, among them a table that pairs nouns with a, an or some. In the speaking chapter, students help Marco shop for the cookies in a chat, then open boxes about food and baking.

Homework has eight self-checking tasks: a word match, an anagram, a kitchen drag-and-drop, a sort into countable and uncountable, gap-fills with a, an or some and with baking verbs in the past, a word-order drill and a choice of a, an or some in Marco's recipe post.

Grammar:
countable and uncountable nouns · a / an / some · a cup of, a piece of · baking verbs
Topic:
chocolate chip cookies · Ruth Wakefield · Whitman, Massachusetts · baking · recipes · cookies and milk

Teaching tips

  • Sort the ingredients on the board before the reading: one column for what you count, one for what you measure. Students then check their columns against the recipe card.
  • Pause the kitchen dialogue at each ingredient and let students call out the word they heard before it: some before butter and flour, a number before eggs, a before cookie.
  • Bring a measuring cup and a teaspoon, real or drawn, and ask what goes in each: a cup of flour, a teaspoon of salt. Then ask why eggs need neither.
  • Turn one open box into a recipe swap: a student tells a family recipe in three steps, First, mix… Then, add… Finally, bake…, and the class lists its ingredients with a, an or some.

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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 9 · you're hereThe 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 12Cooking 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 countable and uncountable nouns?
Countable nouns name things you can count one by one, and uncountable nouns name things you can't. Countable nouns take a or an and a plural -s (an egg, two eggs); uncountable nouns take neither (flour, butter). Both can follow some: some eggs, some flour. The A2 lesson The first chocolate chip cookie on edio.ai sorts the ingredients of a famous recipe into the two groups.
What are uncountable nouns?
Uncountable nouns have no plural form and never take a or an: we say some butter and some flour, not a butter or some flours. Many are food and drink words, like sugar, salt, milk and chocolate, and some are ideas, like advice. They take a singular verb: Chocolate is bad for dogs, not Chocolate are bad for dogs.
What are countable nouns in English?
Countable nouns are nouns with a singular and a plural form: egg and eggs, cookie and cookies. A singular countable noun needs a word in front, such as a, an, the or my: a cookie, an egg, with an before a vowel sound. A plural can stand alone or follow some or a number: Add two eggs. I bought some eggs.
How do you know if a noun is countable or uncountable?
Put a number such as two in front of it: if that sounds right, the noun is countable. Two eggs and three cookies work, but two flours and three advices don't, so flour and advice are uncountable. In edio.ai's A2 lesson The first chocolate chip cookie, a homework game sorts words such as egg, teaspoon, salt and advice into the two groups.
Is it "an advice" or "a piece of advice"?
Say a piece of advice, because advice is uncountable: My grandpa gave me a piece of advice. Without the measure, use some: He gave us some advice. For more than one, the plural goes on the measure, so it's two pieces of advice, never two advices. Kitchen measures work the same way: a cup of flour, two cups of flour.
Is it "chocolates chips" or "chocolate chips"?
It's chocolate chips: only the last word takes -s. In a two-word name, the first word works like an adjective and stays singular: mixing bowls, baking sheets, cookie jars. That's also why a chocolate bar is fine: the a goes with bar, which you can count. The shopping chat in The first chocolate chip cookie, an A2 lesson on edio.ai, hides chocolates chips among its wrong replies.
What are the common cooking verbs in English?
Five common cooking verbs, all used in baking, are bake, mix, add, melt and chop. A recipe uses them as instructions: Mix the butter and the sugar. Chop a chocolate bar. Bake the cookies for ten minutes. In the past, most add -ed (mixed, added, melted), bake adds only -d, and chop doubles its last letter: We chopped the chocolate.
What baking vocabulary do you need for a recipe?
Basic baking vocabulary covers ingredients, tools and a few action verbs: flour, sugar and chocolate chips; a mixing bowl, a teaspoon and a baking sheet; and mix and bake. Dough is the soft flour mix that goes in the oven, and many American families keep the finished cookies in a cookie jar and eat them with milk.
How do I teach countable and uncountable nouns to A2 students?
Start from real food and a real recipe, where the difference has a clear job: two eggs, but some butter. Students sort the ingredients, put a, an or some before each and then add a measure to the uncountable ones. Point out the singular verb too: The butter is soft. In this lesson, a recipe card and a kitchen dialogue come before the scheme and its drills.
What's a good game for practicing countable and uncountable nouns?
An open-the-box game about your own kitchen works well: a box asks What's in your kitchen right now?, and the student answers There's some milk, and there are some eggs. Another asks what you can make with an egg, some flour and some milk. Both are in this lesson's speaking chapter, and its homework adds a sorting game with a countable and an uncountable column.
What's good homework for practicing countable and uncountable nouns?
Self-checking sorts and gap-fills make good homework, since each answer shows at once whether a, an or some fits. A sort into countable and uncountable can come first, then sentences such as Add … butter to the bowl. The homework of The first chocolate chip cookie on edio.ai has eight self-checking tasks, ending with a recipe post that has a choice of a, an or some in every line.
Are there interactive exercises for countable and uncountable nouns?
Yes: drills and chats that check every answer give instant feedback on a, an and some. This page plays four parts of The first chocolate chip cookie, an A2 lesson on edio.ai, with no account: the recipe card, Nora and Marco's dialogue in a camper kitchen, a table that pairs egg, flour, milk and other words with a, an or some, and a chat in which Marco shops for the cookies. The rest is locked.
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