Do you have lunch at school? Do you like having lunch at school?

http://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/uk-now/read-uk/school-dinners

School dinners (that means ‘lunch’) are a hot topic in the UK these days and there are lots of different opinions about what young people eat at lunchtime. Some people think that school meals are unhealthy, some people say that they are much better than in the past and others say that midday meals should be free for all school children.
What is a school dinner?
A typical school dinner costs about 2 pounds a day for a secondary pupil in the UK. There is usually a main course, a dessert and a drink. Parents often pay in advance online. School dinners must include food groups such as fruit and vegetables, protein (for example meat, fish or cheese) and carbohydrate (for example rice or pasta). There are rules about how the food is prepared, for example there are limits on the quantity of fried food.
Neverseconds – the school dinners blog
Martha Payne, from Scotland, started a blog called ‘Neverseconds’ about her school dinners when she was just nine years old. She posts photographs of her lunch every day and gives the food a grade out of ten. The grade depends on the quality and quantity of the food and how healthy it is. She doesn’t always give good grades. Her complaints include too much fried food, small quantities and hair in the food (yuck!). Many people read her blog and young people from all over the world post pictures of their school meals on Neverseconds.

Jamie Oliver, the celebrity British chef, is passionate about school dinners. He thinks that they need to be healthier and tastier. Jamie helped to promote Martha’s blog by tweeting about it and Neverseconds became very popular, very quickly on social media websites. On the blog, Martha also collects money for charity. The money is used to provide food for more than 600,000 poor children around the world.

Do all children have school dinners?    More than a third of British school pupils have school dinner. Some take a packed lunch, prepared at home. Others either have lunch at home or eat at nearby take-away restaurants. We asked some young people to tell us about what they eat at lunchtime on school days.

       ' I have school dinners most days but I take a packed lunch on Fridays. This Friday I had a cheese

sandwich, tomatoes, crisps, a chocolate bar and an apple juice.

’Tom, 14, Dorset

``Today we had pizza, salad, then an apple for dessert. I get free school meals because

my mum and dad are unemployed`

 Rae, 13, Hathersage

      `I had fish and chips today. I went to the chip shop near school with some friends. Sometimes I takea packed lunch and sometimes my parents give me money to buy lunch´

Theo, 15, Cambridge

       I have school dinner every day. Today I had roast chicken, carrots, green beans and po

tatoes. For dessert I had cake.’

Sarah, 14,Birmingham

The future for school dinners   

There are plans to examine school dinners in the UK and look at ways to make 

them better. HenryDimbleby and John Vincent started ‘Leon’, a chain of restaurants 

which aim to sell healthy fast food. The British government has asked the two 

restaurant owners to collect information about school dinners and see how they 

can be improved. Perhaps complaints about lunchtime food in British schools will

soon be a thing of the past.
1. Check your understanding: true or false
Circle True or False for these sentences.
1.School dinner is eaten at lunchtime.True False
2.A school dinner in the UK costs about 2 pounds.True False
3.Martha Payne wrote a magazine article called ‘Neverseconds’.True False
4.Martha Payne raises money to help feed poor children.True False
5.All British schoolchildren have school dinners.True False
6. The British government wants to improve school dinners.True False
2. Check your understanding: multiple choice
Choose the best word to complete these sentences.
1.Some people say that midday meals should be _______ for all schoolchildren.
free passionate fried
2.There are limits on the amount of _______ food in British school dinners.
poor fried good
3.Martha Payne grades her lunch on how _______ the food is.
free fried healthy
4.Martha doesn’t always give _______ grades for her school dinners.
good healthy free
5.Jamie Oliver is _______ about school dinners.
fast healthy passionate
6.Martha’s blog became very _______ on social media websites.
roast popular free
 7. Some children have free school meals if their parents are _______.
healthy popular unemployed
8. A typical school dinner is carrots, potatoes and _______ chicken.
fast free roast
3. Check your understanding: matching
Match the words to make phrases from the text.
sandwich restaurant shop dinner lunch chips bar juice
1. packed ___________________
5. cheese ___________________
2. school ___________________
6. apple ___________________
3. fish and ___________________
7. take-away ___________________
4. chocolate ___________________
8. chip ___________________
Discussion 
Do you have lunch at school? Are school dinners in your country free? Are school dinners in your country delicious or healthy? Do you think school dinners should be free to all students? Why or why not?