Giving advice on healthy living. Video-based task. All levels.

Hola amigos!

Today I thought I would share this exercise to practice giving advice with deber and using some vocabulary about healthy lifestyle. Introducing media into our learning sometimes can make it more fun and varied :)

If you're up for the challenge you can watch the video and write a description about it using the past tense (preterite and imperfect) and then give advice inspired on the video or have a conversation with a speaking buddy discussing what you just saw.

However, if you have a Spanish beginner this is the exercise for you:

Watch this advert called “magic pills”.

Pause it every time there’s a word on the screen and look for it below to know what it means.
Use wordreference to look up the meaning of other words.

Vocabulary:

Usar - to use
Subir / bajar - to go up/down
Las escaleras – the stairs
Con peso – with weight
El ascensor - the lift
Ceder el asiento - to give away a seat
Hacer sentadillas – to do squats
Caminar al trabajo - to walk to work
Cargar peso - lift weight
Salir a correr – to go running
Empujar – to push
Pasar de – to ignore
Jugar – to play
Dejar el coche– to leave the car
Más – more / menos – less

Now, using the same vocabulary write 5 comments to give health advice.

You will use:
Debes – you must / No debes – you musn’t
You can use this verb in the present tense with no problem, as it's regular:
Yo debo - tú debes - él/ella debe - nosotros debemos - vosotros debéis - ellos deben.

This expression is used before an infinitive ("to do" something) which in Spanish ends in -ar, -er or -ir.

Ex: Debes bajar más las escaleras. - you should go down the stairs more.

If you want to extend your writing or spoken description using expressions like these:

• Para llevar una vida sana debes ... - To lead a healthy life you should...
• Es bueno / Es malo - It's good / it's bad.
• Tener una vida sedentaria - To have a sedentary life.
• Tener un estilo de vida activo- To have an active lifestyle.
• Comer caramelos - To eat sweets.
• Comer comida basura - To eat rubbish food.
• Comer frutas y verduras- To eat fruit and vegetables
• Beber mucha agua - To drink a lot of water.
• Beber alcohol - To drink alcohol.
• Hacer ejercicio - to do exercise
• Fumar - to smoke
• Tomar drogas - to take drugs
• Dormir ocho horas al día - To sleep 8h a day.

Perfecto! Hope you enjoyed it :)