Work it out

The objective

To discuss possible exercise routines which can be done despite busy schedules

The language

Modals: They should.../They could.../They might...

Conditionals: If they woke up at five o´clock, they could run for thirty minutes each day.

Present simple for routines

Relative clauses: They could go to a gym where they have exercise machines.

The set-up

None needed, unless you choose to print out the scenario below.

The low-down

Ask students what they do to stay healthy. Do they exercise? Focus the discussion on how they find the time to exercise. Now present them with the following scenario (dictated or written):

Hilda and John are a middle-aged couple living in the city. They both work from 8:30am to 7pm

with 1 and 1/2 hours for lunch. They take 45 minutes by car to get to and from the offices located in an industrial area where they work. When they get home, they prepare dinner, watch an hour of television and fall asleep on the sofa. At the weekend, they do the cleaning, the shopping and run various errands. Then they usually have dinner in a restaurant, go to the cinema and visit friends and family. By Sunday evening, they are finally able to relax a bit, reading or watching television before going to bed. The problem is that they are overweight. They don´t eat junk food, fried food or fatty food but they don´t exercise either--there´s just no time! Generally, they are very quiet people. Sometimes they go for walks or go cycling. But they don´t like exercising and it doesn´t form a part of their general routine. Still, they need to lose ten kilograms each and do it without changing their routine too much. What should they do?

In pairs/groups, ask students to decide on what they could do to change their habits in the little time they have available. They should make reasonable suggestions which won´t cost them a lot of money. Also, make sure to emphasize that they should be specific about what they should do, when they should do it, how much time they should spend, how frequently and the cost, if any. Give examples, if necessary.

Now what?

Ask students to present their ideas to the the rest of the class. As the others listen, ask them to take notes on what the essence of each idea is. When finished, ask them to rank the ideas in order from either (this depends on the ideas you hear) the easiest to do to the most difficult, the cheapest to the most expensive, the closest to their present routine to the most disruptive or that which they the students would most likely do to that which they would least likely do. Ask groups to share.

Time to teach

This will vary widely and depend on what the class has problems with. Listen, take notes and do a focus session on something they had problems with in general.

More talk-time

Do you exercise? Why or why not?

What do you do? How often?

Do you believe the people in your country are healthy in general?

What´s more important: eating a very healthy diet or exercising a lot?