Healthy Lifestyle ESL lesson thumbnail
Book 7 · Unit 12Intermediate · Ages 12–14

Healthy Lifestyle

This healthy lifestyle ESL lesson explores nutrition, sleep, exercise, stress and burnout. Students classify habits, identify signs of tiredness and use should or shouldn't to offer practical wellbeing advice. They write a personal wellness plan and roleplay a doctor helping a patient manage stress and low energy.

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Lesson format

2 × 45 minutes

Level

Intermediate

Age group

Ages 12–14

Main focus

Speaking first

What students will learn

• Use should/shouldn't to talk about health choices
• Discuss healthy and unhealthy habits
• Describe meals, routines, and how they manage stress
• Ask and answer 'What do you do to stay healthy?' and 'How do you relax?'
• Write about well-being and design a wellness plan
• Identify stress signals and coping strategies

Lesson flow

Students sort foods and habits as healthy or unhealthy, watch a Burnout video discussing tiredness, and drill 'You should sleep 8 hours. You shouldn't eat too much sugar.' The second lesson identifies stress signals through mime, discusses what helps them relax, writes 'My Healthy Plan' covering food, sleep, relaxation and exercise, and roleplays a doctor's-advice scene about managing tiredness and stress.

Target language

  • • Should / shouldn't for advice
  • • 'What do you do to stay healthy?'
  • • 'To relax, I...'
  • • Health and well-being vocabulary

Key vocabulary

  • diet
  • exercise
  • stress
  • sleep
  • mental health
  • nutrition
  • vitamins
  • habits
  • balance
  • wellbeing

Speaking questions students answer

  • • What do you do to stay healthy?
  • • How do you relax?
  • • Do you sleep 8+ hours?
  • • Do you eat vegetables daily?
  • • What makes you feel stressed?

Recommended teaching contexts

• Intermediate ESL and EFL classes• Ages 12–14• Primary school classrooms• Language schools• Private and small-group lessons• Teaching health vocabulary• Pair and whole-class speaking• Interactive whiteboards and online teaching

Why this lesson works

The lesson follows a clear progression: Sort foods and habits in a Health or Junk? warm-up, give advice using should/shouldn't, write a wellness plan and roleplay a doctor's-advice scene. Teachers can open the materials and start immediately, while students move from supported vocabulary practice to purposeful spoken English.

This lesson includes

• Interactive lesson slides
• Teacher guide
• Printable worksheets
• Speaking practice: "What do you do to stay healthy?"
• Classroom games
• Videos
• Vocabulary practice
• Pair work
• Extension activities

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