Topical lesson: 11 September 2010

Health scare of the week

Before you read

Task 1 – Speaking
What do you usually have for lunch
 at work/university/school
 at home?
Do you think this is healthy? How do you feel after eating it?

Task 2 – Predicting
Which do you think contains the most salt:
 a Big Mac burger
 a prepared salad
 a packet of Walkers Ready Salted Crisps?

Task 3 – Saying numbers

Say the numbers below.
1) 0.5g
2) 2.1g
3) 264w
4) 270
5) 1/10
6) > 1/3

Reading
Task 4 – Scanning and checking predictions
Find the numbers from task 3 in the text. Some are written as figures and some as
words.
Now match them to what they represent.
1) the amount of salt in a Big Mac burger
2) the amount of salt in a packet of Walker’s Ready Salted Crisps
3) the number of salads tested

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Topical lesson: 11 September 2010
Health scare of the week
4) the number of salads which contained the same amount of salt, or more, as the
crisps
5) the proportion of salads which contain more salt than the burger
6) 2.1g as a proportion of the salt we should eat each day (i.e. we should eat less
than 6.3g of salt a day.)
Compare with your answers to task 2 above. Which amounts do you find
surprising/interesting and why?

Task 5 – Changing text to diagrams

The pie chart below summarises the information in the text. Label each segment
with one of the following labels:
≥ 0.5g salt but < 2.1g
< 0.5g salt
> 2.1g salt

The salt content of salads tested in the survey

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Topical lesson: 11 September 2010
Health scare of the week
Task 6 – Guessing new vocabulary from context
Match the words from the text and the definitions.

1) intake a. did / conducted

b. finding it difficult to move

2) survey
quickly

3) carried out c. keeping / holding

d. the amount of something that

4) bloated
you eat or drink

5) sluggish e. suddenly and uncomfortably fat

6) retention f. study / piece of research

According to Katherine Jenner, how does eating prepared salads make people
feel and why? Try not to use the words from the text.

Task 7 – Carrying out a survey

1) Work in pairs. Think of a question to ask the class about their eating and
drinking habits, e.g. How many cups of coffee do you drink a day?
2) Interview half the class each and record their answers.
3) Get back into your pairs and make a pie chart of the whole class’s answers.
Remember to include labels and a title.
4) Now write a short paragraph describing the information in your pie chart.
5) Display your pie chart and paragraph on the classroom wall.
6) Look at the other pie charts and paragraphs. Which information do you find
the most surprising/interesting and why?

Task 8 – Writing a formal letter

Write a letter to a supermarket, asking to know the amount of salt in their prepared
salads. You can refer to the findings of the survey to explain why you are
concerned.

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Topical lesson: 11 September 2010
Health scare of the week

Teacher’s notes and key

Level: pre-intermediate

Timing: about 2½ hours in total

Task 1: 10 minutes
Tasks 2 and 3: 5-10 minutes
Task 4: 15 minutes
Task 5: 5-10 minutes
Task 6: 5-10 minutes
Task 7: at least 60 minutes
Task 8: at least 20 minutes

Aims:
 predicting the content of a text
 scanning a text for specific information
 reading to check predictions
 interpreting and creating pie charts
 guessing the meanings of new vocabulary from context
NB Can be useful as low-level preparation for IELTS writing task 1.

Task 1 – Speaking
This task gets students thinking about the topic of the text.

Task 2 – Predicting
This task focuses in on the research findings reported in the text.

Task 3 – Saying numbers

You may also want to mention the < (less than), ≤ (less than or equal to) and ≥
(greater than or equal to) symbols and ways of expressing them in everyday
English (e.g. the same amount as or less, at least as much as …).
Answers:
a. nought point five grammes
b. two point one grammes

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Topical lesson: 11 September 2010
Health scare of the week
c. two hundred and sixty-four
d. two hundred and seventy
e. one in ten, one out of ten, or one tenth
f. more than a third.

Task 4 – Scanning and checking predictions

This task rephrases some of the statistics and may make them easier to understand
for some students.
Answers: 1b, 2a, 3d, 4c, 5e, 6f.

Task 5 – Changing text to diagrams

This task may make the information easier to understand for more mathematically-
minded students. It also simulates one of the typical IELTS Academic Reading
tasks.
> 2.1g salt

< 0.5g salt

≥ 0.5g salt but < 2.1g

Task 6 – Guessing new vocabulary from context

Answers: 1d, 2f, 3a, 4e, 5b, 6c.

Task 7 – Carrying out a survey

The writing part of this task simulates task 1 of the IELTS Academic Writing exam.

Task 8 – Writing a formal letter

This task simulates task 1 of the IELTS General Training Writing Exam.
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