Health and Fitness just got a little healthier.
Give your students a dose of Classroom Hero 
ESL Health and Fitness Speaking Game: Healthy Habits.
LEVEL: A1-A2
AGE: Adults/Teenagers
SYNOPSIS: Health and fitness class survey followed by health myths interviews & presentations.
LANGUAGE FOCUS: Interview question, fluency on the topic of health and fitness and modals of obligation
EXAM FOCUS: Accuracy and fluency with Present Simple questions.
TIME: 45-90 minutes
INTERACTION: Pair work
VOCABULARY: outside, windy, junk food, lose weight, swallow, digest, beverage, tobacco, alarm clock, braces, humans, ban, cosmetic surgery, blood type, low-fat, produced, allergies, homeopathic, prescription drugs, get a cold, virus, soap, cavemen, firelight, blind, research, make your eyes tired, bright, chewing gum, lower class, drown, muscles, cramp, brain, low-fat, weight gain
Healthy Habits Procedure:
1. Copy and cut up a set of the Find the Answer Cards and their corresponding Popular Myth Cards so each student has a copy.
2. BEFORE starting the main activity:
(a) as a class, brainstorm as many ailments and illnesses as you can in 3 minutes. In pairs, students choose one and write a “how to get better guide” for the rest of the class using should/must/mustn’t/have to, etc.
(b) write the words doctor, vet, dentist and nurse on the board. Give pairs 2 minutes to write as many words they associate with that one person as they can. The class compares their lists when time’s up. The team with the most associations for that person wins the round.
(c) brainstorm as many ailments and illnesses as you can as a class, then in pairs have them rank the illnesses from more painful to least painful – in their own opinions.
3. Introduce the main activity by reading:
You have an interview card, and your job is to find the answers to your sentences. Interview your classmates to learn how healthy everyone is.
4. Hand out the Find The Answer Cards and make sure students mingle around the class asking enough questions to complete the answers for the card.
5. After the students have finished interviewing each other, have them make some remarks about their findings.
6. Hand out the Popular Myths Cards so each student has the corresponding number to their Find the Answer Cards. Have them read their Popular Myth Cards, and then point out the fact that the first sentence is a popular myth in many countries. They should read about that popular myth and present their findings to the class – either in pairs as a class mingle or as timed presentations.
The aim of the activity is to learn about the exercise and eating habits of the class by conducting a class survey, and then to debunk popular health myths by making presentations.
Healthy Habits Follow up:
1. With the information from the previous activities, students work in groups to come up with three lifestyle changes that would have the greatest impact on their classmates’ health.
2. In pairs, students compare their own habits with those of the class and discuss the following questions
1. Is your lifestyle generally healthier or less healthy than that of the class?
2. In what ways is your lifestyle similar to that of the class?
3. Has your lifestyle become healthier over the last 5 years? Why/not?
3. Divide the students into “smokers” (or “drinkers”) and non-smokers (or “teetotalers”) and have them create a “How to quit/start smoking/drinking” guide for the people who don’t share their habits.
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