Valeria and Marta in Year 12 have been busy cooking and entering The Linguacuisine ‘LinguaChef’ Prize 2020. The LinguaChef Prize will be awarded to the person who uploads the best language learning recipe using the Linguacuisine recipe author software. Their entries will be judged during June 2020 and the winner and runners-up announced on 6 July 2020.  

The Linguacuisine Project from Newcastle University Computing Science department received an Erasmus Plus grant back in September 2016. Since then, the project has created downloadable smartphone and tablet apps that enable users to be guided through cooking a range of recipes in six different European languages. The phone or tablet speaks to the users in the foreign language and offers multimedia help in the form of photos and videos. Users are able to set the app to their language level and will let the phone or tablet know when they are ready to move to the next step.

Linguacuisine is a really fun way to learn about foreign languages, cultures and cuisines and you get to eat what you produce. You learn foreign words better when you are physically touching food and cooking utensils and using them to prepare food. When you are cooking, you involve all of your senses in the learning experience – touch, smell and taste as well as hearing and seeing. This is task-based language learning with a real product at the end of it and is intended to improve international understanding and communication. With Linguacuisine you will be actually using the language to carry out authentic real-world actions.

Give it a go, and don’t miss Valeria’s Vegan Churros