Activity

A Balanced Diet – ESL Listening Exercise

Food is one of those magical ESL topics (not to mention a quite common IELTS speaking topic, too). Students love to talk about it. Today I am going to share with you an exercise I created that tests students’ listening on the topic of food. All you need is the worksheet below and the audio, which you can take from YouTube.

First, I have my students discuss what they think a “balanced diet” is, and then get them to watch this video. It’s quite simple and most of the vocabulary is written on the screen for students to see, along with pictures that illustrate the meaning. Students then record their answers on the simple worksheet.

Normally, I would have the students take notes and then watch a second time to check their notes, or add more details. Then I give them the following worksheet to test their understanding of the vocabulary:

You may want to point out that the word “fibre” is spelled the British way in both the video and the worksheet, whereas in the U.S. it is spelled “fiber.”

David S Wills

I am a writer, editor, and educator. I have written various books on mid-20th century American writers and a few on grammar and IELTS preparation. I have been in the education field since 2008 and have worked in various countries. I started this website to share some ideas and resources to help my fellow teachers.