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

by Alba Castro

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 :)