INTRODUCE
Restaurant review sites are extremely popular in Japan. One such site boasts over 60 million monthly users and is growing in popularity among tourists as well.
PRESENT
STEP A EXPRESSIONS
Go over the first two expressions with your tutor and choose T for true or F for false. Then, guess the meaning of the third expression based on the clues provided.
1. Meticulous means being very careful about the smallest details.
The coffee beans go through ten meticulous roasting processes to guarantee the right level of caffeine and acidity.
My coworkers would call me a meticulous worker. ( T / F )
2. Picky means very choosy or hard to please, often paying attention to details that most people would feel are not important.
We’ve visited about ten apartments already, but Michael has said no to them all because he’s really picky.
I’m usually picky about what I eat. ( T / F )
3. .
MovieJudge.com is the definitive source for movie reviews – if you can’t find it on that site, you probably won’t find it anywhere.
Q: What do you think the definitive source for something means?
STEP B SPEAK YOUR MIND
Sometimes you want to say that you're 100% sure of something.
Jenna trains six times a week! There’s no question that she’s going to finish her full marathon.
That’s amazing! I don’t know if I’m going to finish this lap.
UNDERSTAND
READING
This is an online article for people planning to visit Japan.
Looking for the best restaurants in Japan? Here’s how to find them!
You can find the best restaurants easily on funfood.com. With over 50,000 restaurants reviewed, it’s the definitive source for restaurants in the Land of the Rising Sun.
When I first visited Japan, I was so excited to eat authentic Japanese food, but I was overwhelmed by the number of restaurants in Tokyo. Unable to choose a place to eat my first night there, I ended up just buying a riceball at a convenience store!
I’ve been to Japan several times since then and have luckily gotten much better at choosing a restaurant. The biggest help for me came when a Japanese friend told me about funfood.com. Although it was originally created for locals in Japanese, there’s a beta version in English. Some parts are a little hard to understand, but overall, it’s pretty good. The website has a meticulous filtering process to help you choose a restaurant based on location, type of food, customer rating, price range, and much more. Perfect for picky people like me!
One tip: Restaurants are rated 1-5, but you’ll almost never see a 5. A score of 3 is considered pretty decent, and a score of 3.5 means there’s no question that the restaurant is good.
So, what are you waiting for? Grab your phone and plan where you’re going to eat during your next trip to Japan today!
TRIVIA
On many Japanese restaurant review sites, a 3.5 is considered a pretty good rating. However, this may confuse foreign visitors, who would assume that a 3.5 out of 5 is only an average score. On American review sites, for example, excellent restaurants would generally be given a 5.
PRACTICE
Choose the best follow-up sentences.
1.
Tutor: Do you want to invite Nicole to watch Point Blank X?
Student: Picky Nicole? __________.
- I don’t think she’ll go. She only watches romance movies like To The Moon and Back.
- Sure! She’s usually up for watching anything.
2.
Tutor: Is this book any good?
Student: It’s the definitive source for all things cat. __________.
- I don’t recommend it. It’s lacking some really important info.
- I highly recommend it. I learned so much about my cat from it!
3.
Tutor: Why don’t you think Steff would make a good archaeologist?
Student: Because archaeologists have to be so meticulous. __________.
- Steff is so careless!
- Steff is really careful.
CHALLENGE
Challenge 1
You promised to take your foreign friend out for dinner on his/her birthday this weekend. You talked about this at lunch with your coworker, who later sent you an email with her recommendation. Read the email from your coworker. Then, talk about it with your friend.
Today's Expressions
- meticulous
- picky
- the definitive source for something
Speak Your Mind
- There’s no question that...
Hey!
I just remembered the name of the restaurant that I wanted to recommend to you: L’italia Ristorante. I’m copy-pasting a review of it from EatJapan.com. Do you know that site? In my opinion, it’s the definitive source for good restaurants. I always check it before eating somewhere new.
Anyway, I think your picky friend will like L’italia Ristorante, but if you don’t think so, I’m sure you can find another good restaurant on EatJapan.com. I think it covers over 100,000 restaurants! They also have an app that you can download.
See you at work on Monday!
Cheers,
Yukiko
L’italia Ristorante
Casual Dining
3.5/5 (82 votes)
Average cost: 7,000 – 9,000 yen
Most Recent Review:
L’italia Ristorante is probably the best Italian restaurant I’ve been to in a while. It brings back memories of my hometown in Milan. We Italians are very meticulous about what ingredients we use in our food, and I can say that the chefs have adopted this attitude. Italian diners who are really picky about their food should definitely try this restaurant. I wanted to give it a 5 out of 5, but the location is a bit of a pain to get to, so I’m giving it a 4.5.
Challenge 2
What do you think? What does your tutor think? Discuss.
If TimeAllows
1 RESTAURANTS |
2 PICKINESS |
|---|---|
|
1 RESTAURANTS
|
2PICKINESS
|
FEEDBACK
I can read and understand a text about restaurant review sites.
LESSON GOAL ACHIEVEMENT
-
4
Very GoodCould complete the task with ease
-
3
GoodCould complete the task with some clarifications
-
2
FairCould complete the task with additional instructions
-
1
PoorCould somehow complete the task with difficulty
PERSONALIZED FEEDBACK
- RANGE
the ability to use a wide variety of vocabulary - ACCURACY
the ability to speak correctly - FLUENCY
the ability to speak smoothly without pauses or fillers - INTERACTION
the ability to manage a conversation
