KS34: Cross-curricular work can reinforce the importance of a healthy diet and set language learning in a meaningful context. Start with a list of drinks and foodstuffs and ask students to identify those with a high sugar content and estimate their calorific value. This could lead into number practice followed by comparisons and culminating in a piece of writing where they describe and evaluate their own eating habits. Able students should develop complex sentences incorporating adjectives, negatives and different tenses.
KS5: Compare the typical UK diet with that of target language countries.
The political and environmental implications of expanding sugar plantations and global trade practices are of particular relevance to Spanish and French students (some scientists suggest that developing countries have populations more prone to obesity as they have “thrifty” genes which conserve energy).