Countable and Uncountable Nouns Roleplay- A Buffet Lunch

A buffet lunch countable and uncountable nouns roleplay meeting

Your company has decided to provide a buffet in the office at lunch time during next week’s annual sales conference, which will have 40 participants from all over the world. Hold a meeting to decide which food, etc you need, and how many/ how much of each thing, thinking about cultural differences such as taboo foods. Start at the very beginning of the meeting (greetings, etc) and continue until the very end (saying goodbye, etc). Your teacher will tell you if/ when to use the possible things to discuss and/ or the possible numbers and amounts to help.

Share two of your ideas, including how much/ how many, and see if other groups agree.

Ask about anything below you don’t understand, couldn’t use in your discussion, etc, discussing how much or how many for the buffet lunch as a class each time.

First of all without any help, write suitable words to go with countable and uncountable nouns below, with an example noun each time, putting them in order if you can. Some words can go in both columns.

	…+ countable nouns (+ spring roll/ spring rolls etc)	…+ uncountable nouns (+ meat etc)
big                                       small

Use the list on the next page below to help, then check as a class.

 

Countable and uncountable food and drink presentation

Without any help, add “some” and “+s” to any of the words on the following which can take it (because they’re countable) and just “some” without “+s” to the others (because they’re uncountable). Then check with the list of possible things to discuss.

Possible things to discuss

• Alcoholic drinks – (hard) cider, cocktails, lager, liqueurs, mixers, rice wine, spirits, vodka
• Asian food and drinks – bamboo shoots, bean curd/ tofu, beansprouts, bonito flakes, chewy rice cake, Chinese dumplings/ dim sum/ pot stickers, Chinese cabbage/ Chinese lettuce, cucumber sushi, fermented soy beans, fried rice, Japanese horse radish/ wasabi, lotus roots, miso soup, pickled plums, pork buns, pot noodles, prawn crackers, red bean jam desserts, rice crackers, rice porridge, sesame oil, soy sauce, spring rolls, stir fry, water chestnuts
• Condiments/ Seasonings – barbecue sauce, black pepper (shakers), brown sauce, chili sauce, (English/ French/ wholegrain) mustard, gravy, oil, sweet pickle, salad dressing, salt, vinegar
• Crockery – bowls, cups, glasses, jugs, mugs, (paper/ plastic) plates
• Cutlery – chopsticks/ disposable chopsticks, forks, knives, (tea) spoons, toothpicks, bottle openers, corkscrews, tongs
• Dairy food – (blue/ parmesan/ processed) cheese, butter, (full-fat/ skimmed) milk, quail eggs, yoghurt, whipped cream
• Dessert/ Sweet – biscuits/ cookies, cake/ cakes, chocolate/ chocolates, crème caramel, croissants, custard, Danish pastries, honey, ice cream/ ice creams, ice lollies, pancakes, shaved ice with toppings
• Fruit –apricots, cherries, grapes, mandarins/ satsumas/ tangerines, pears, plums
• Hot drinks – creamer, (black/ green/ oolong/ powdered) tea, herb tea, hot chocolate, (instant/ real) coffee, (brown) sugar, (sachet of) sweetener
• Meat and meat dishes – bacon, beef, (roast/ fried) chicken, chicken legs, chicken wings, chops, cutlets, duck, hamburgers, lamb, meat balls, mutton, pâté, pork, sausages, stew, tongue, tripe, turkey, veal, wild boar
• Seafood – cod, crab/ crabs, eel/ eels, fish eggs, (fried/ grilled/ raw/ smoked/ dried) fish, jellyfish, mackerel, octopus, prawns/ shrimps, puffer fish, scallops, salmon, sea urchin, (dried) seaweed, sardines, shellfish, squid, tuna
• Snacks – chestnuts, crisps/ chips, fresh green soy beans, monkey nuts/ peanuts, walnuts
• Soft drinks – drinking yoghurt/ lassi, energy drinks, fruit juice, fizzy drinks/ pop/ soda, fizzy water/ sparkling water, iced tea/ iced barley tea
• Staple foods/ Starchy foods – (slices of) bread, (bread) rolls, chips/ French fries, brown/ white rice, croquettes, mashed potato, noodles, pasta
• Vegetables – aubergine/ egg plant, (pickled) cabbage, (baby) carrots, cauliflower, (chili/ green/ red) peppers, green beans, (leaves of) lettuce, mushrooms/ champignons, peas, (baked/ boiled/ roast) potatoes, soy beans, spinach, spring onion, sweet potatoes

 

Possible numbers/ amounts to talk about

a/ an                         a couple (of)                                  a dozen                           

a few (of)                   a huge amount (of)                   a huge number (of)             

a little (of)                  a lot (of)/ lots (of)                           no

not many                    not much                                     one or two

quite a lot (of)             some                 

 

vodka

spring roll

toothpick

barley tea

biscuit/ cookie

black pepper

bread

brown rice

brown sugar

chicken wing

Chinese dumpling/ pot sticker

chip/ French fry

(hard) cider

corkscrew

crisp/ chip

crockery

croquette

custard

Danish pastry

disposable chopstick

fish egg

fizzy water

fried rice

gravy

jug

lager

mandarin/ satsuma/ tangerine

meat dish

parmesan cheese

pickled plum

pork bun

pork cutlet

powdered green tea

quail egg

rice cracker

rice wine

salad dressing

seaweed

shaved ice

vinegar

bean curd

beansprout

Hints: There should be the same number of each, liquids and powders are uncountable, and general categories are often uncountable

Check your answers with the first page, then discuss how much or how many of each thing above might be suitable for the buffet (maybe in a new group).

Food which is both countable and uncountable presentation

Draw the pairs of foods in the spaces given below. They are always different from each other.

some cake	some cakes
some chocolate	some chocolates
some ice cream	some ice creams
some chicken	some chickens
some crab	some crabs
some (mashed) potato	some potatoes
some (black) pepper	some (green/ red/ yellow) peppers

Check as a class.