Healthy eating

Objective & content

This sheet on healthy eating starts from a school podcast: Sam talks to Ruby, a Year 10 runner, about what she eats and drinks to have energy for training and races. Pupils learn to talk about a balanced diet and to give advice ("You should eat more..."). They answer six multiple-choice questions, name six pictures of food and drink from a box of eight words, match eight words such as balanced, protein and hydrated with their meanings, complete eight sentences and add -y to make taste words (salt, salty). The last and hardest task is a school canteen menu for Sports Day, with a choice of three words in each bracket.

Pedagogical guide

The podcast carries the words of the topic, so pupils meet each one in context before working on it. It talks about energy, balance and enjoying food, never about weight, and it sorts no food into "good" or "bad": Ruby has a burger and chips once in a while. Keep the class discussion on the same ground. The tasks go from recognising words to using them: pictures, meanings, sentences, then word forms. The -y task asks for one change only, with a worked example; point out the spelling (juice, juicy; spice, spicy). In the canteen menu, each choice is settled by the words around it, so pupils should read the whole sentence before they circle. Every task tests words, never grammar.

Suggested procedure

1. (5 min) Ask "What did you have for breakfast?" and write the food words pupils know on the board.
2. (10 min) Two pupils read the podcast aloud; the class answers the six questions.
3. (10 min) Pupils name the six pictures and match the eight words with their meanings.
4. (10 min) Pupils complete the sentences, then read the worked example together and add -y.
5. (10 min) Pupils read the canteen menu and circle the right words.
6. (5 min) Check with the answer key on page 4.

Adaptations

[S] Pupils list what they ate yesterday and find their five a day.

[A] Pupils plan a balanced menu for a sports day. To take it further, the class runs a survey of the school canteen.

Materials & prerequisites

One copy of the three pupil pages per pupil, in colour or in black and white. Page 4 is the answer key: keep it. Pupils should know common food words and should for advice.