Chocolate Lovers Rejoice!

Warm Up: Discuss the question with your partner for five minutes.

1. Do you think chocolate is healthy? Why/not?
2. What foods are generally healthy? How about unhealthy?

Reading: 

According to a new study, chocolate is good for the brain. The reasons aren't yet clear, but chocolate contains substances that led to better mental performance in the laboratory.

In four separate tests, a group of volunteers ate eighty-five grams of milk chocolate, eighty-five grams of dark chocolate, and eighty-five grams of carob. After fifteen minutes, the volunteers then took a computer-based test to measure memory, attention span, reaction time, and problem solving.

For people who had eaten milk chocolate, the average scores for verbal and visual memory were much higher. Milk and dark chocolate gave the volunteers better reaction times.

So if you love chocolate, rejoice!

Vocabulary: Check the new vocabulary in a dictionary. Then match the words.

1. substance       a.   celebrate
2. attention       b.   thing
3. average         c.   in the middle
4. rejoice         d.   concentration

Discuss: Discuss these questions with a partner. Remember to support your answers.

1. Do you think that chocolate can make you smarter? Why/not?
2. If you wanted to be smarter, what should you do to improve your mind?
3. If you ate some chocolate before a test, would you do better? Why/not?

http://www.headsupenglish.com/index.php/lower-intermediate-students/lower-intermediate-mini-lessons/572-chocolate-research