Vegemite used as a teaching tool.

One of my favorite classes at the school I teach is a mid level English course where the students concentrate on vocabulary and reading. It’s taught from a text book that introduces some pretty boring topics, but it gives me a chance to make it more interesting by adding some outside elements.

The one lesson which I get the kick out of the most (…sorry, I mean the students receive the most beneficial instruction) is the topic of ‘New Foods”. In it, we read about how different people from different cultures taste new food for the first time. It talks about Chinese people eating dairy products and Swedes eating shark in Australia (one word the students have to learn for the exam is ‘flake’). These people either like or dislike the food and the lesson is used to teach words that describe food, taste and personal opinion. The students get bored of this about 5 minutes into the lesson. I teach the same lesson about 4 times a day, so you imagine how ‘excited’ I get.

To emphasis the point about trying new foods I prepare Vegemite sandwiches for each class. Cutting the bread into quarters, I give each kid a quarter with Vegemite spread thick on it. (Note: Vegemite is sold in local supermarkets, but costs a lot more than home.) The kids sniff and look at the bread with a lot of fear. Some think it is chocolate and stuff into their mouths only to be overcome with disgust at the taste. I normally have to bring a bag into class so those who can’t swallow can spit it out again (roughly 80% of students).

PUC Student demonstrating teaching aid



Moral of the story is that the students tend to remember vocabulary such as ‘revolting’ and ‘unpleasant’ much better with the Vegemite than from just reading the lesson alone. On the exam I normally get a dozen answers that recount their experience of tasting Vegemite for the first time –

“The teacher tried to poison me with Vegemite.”
“One thing I could live without is Vegemite.”
“One kind of illegal drug is Vegemite.”

Number of students who plan to report me to police for attempted poisoning.


The next lesson after the “New Food” lesson is lesson about “Chocolate”. I do get a laugh out of the students who expect that after the Vegemite lesson, they will get some chocolate out of me.