Italian restaurant named as best in the world

A restaurant in the city of Modena, Italy, has been named as the best restaurant in the world. The
restaurant Osteria Francescana was crowned number one at the Worlds 50 Best Restaurants awards
ceremony in New York. The ceremony is like the Oscars of the food world. Italian food is loved
worldwide, but surprisingly, this is the first time an Italian eatery has won the annual prize. The Osteria
Francescana came second in 2015 and third in 2013 and 2014. The chef and owner of the Osteria
Francescana is Mr Massimo Bottura. He was very emotional on stage when he collected the award. He
said: "I want to thank everyone because it has been so hard. Our job is all about artin the kitchen."

Winning the award has been good for business. The Osteria Francescana is fully booked until November.
Anyone who wants to eat there must make a reservation six months in advance. Customers will now fly to
Italy just to eat at Mr Bottura's restaurant. The competition judges gave Bottura the award for his creative
and original food and traditional ingredients. In particular, Bottura makes amazing shapes with cheese and
creates, "forms and textures most diners will never have previously experienced." One of his best-known
dishes is a dessert called, "Oops, I Dropped the Lemon Tart". This is a pastry that the chef drops from half
a metre and smashes on the plate.

STUDENT As QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)

1. What did you think when you read the headline?
2. What springs to mind when you hear the word 'restaurant'?
3. What is your favourite restaurant and why?
4. What is the world's best food?
5. What is the best restaurant in your town?
6. What do you think of restaurants?
7. What's the worst restaurant you've been to?
8. Which country do you think has the worst cuisine?
9. Have you ever won an award?
10. What is it about cooking that makes it an art?
STUDENT Bs QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)
11. Did you like reading this article? Why/not?
12. What do you think of Italian food?
13. What is your cooking like?
14. What things are important in a good restaurant?
15. What do you like most about eating in restaurants?
16. Would you like to go to the award-winning restaurant?
17. What do you think it is like to be a chef?
18. How important is the presentation of food?
19. What do you think of the dessert mentioned in the article?
20. What questions would you like to ask Massimo Bottura?
 Women have to pay more in shops
Women have to pay a lot more in stores than men for almost the same things. A new study by The Times
newspaper in Britain found that many products for women cost up to twice as much as similar products
for men. Researchers looked at hundreds of goods in the UK's biggest shops. They found that women's
clothes and beauty products and girls' toys were on average 36 per cent more expensive than products for
men and boys. One store charged over $7 more for a pink scooter aimed at girls than a black one. Another
store charged double the price for ten razors simply because they were pink. Researchers said Levi's 501
jeans for women are on average 46 per cent more expensive than those for men.
The Times called this "sexist" pricing. Other people have called it a "gender tax". Maria Miller, the
chairwoman of the British government's women and equalities committee, called it a "rip-off". She said
she would ask Britain's government to look into this to see if there was price discrimination. Britain's
Financial Times (FT) newspaper said: "Perhaps women tend to be busier and have less time to shop
around. Or perhaps they care more about quality when it comes to deodorant or shampoo, whereas men
just want something cheap." However, the FT said men paid more for some things and questioned why the
journalists did not look at the price differences for things that appeal more to men.

STUDENT As QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)

1) What did you think when you read the headline?
2) What springs to mind when you hear the word 'shopping'?
3) What do you think of shopping?
4) What do you think about what you read?
5) Why are things in shops more expensive for women?
6) Why might a scooter cost more if it is pink?
7) What do you think of stores for charging women more?
8) Should women buy the cheaper men's products?
9) What products for women should cost more than those for men?
10) Should women not shop in stores that charge more?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
STUDENT Bs QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)
11) Did you like reading this article? Why/not?
12) Do you think this is 'sexist pricing'?
13) Why do you think stores charge more for women's products?
14) Is shopping a hobby?
15) Do you think men are more careful with their money when shopping?
16) Should the government stop this unfair pricing?
17) Do women care more about quality?
18) Does it matter if something is pink or another colour?
19) Why do women like shopping more than men?
20) What questions would you like to ask a store that charges more for women's products?