Health and Healthy Habits Lesson Plan

About This Resource

A complete two-period lesson plan for Grade 8 ESL that introduces health and healthy-habits vocabulary and teaches students to give advice using should and shouldn't. It ties together the vocabulary, grammar, reading, speaking, and writing resources in this topic into one classroom sequence, with timing, procedure, differentiation, and assessment guidance for the teacher.

Overview

This lesson plan covers two 50-minute periods. Period 1 introduces health vocabulary and the should/shouldn't grammar structure through a warm-up, teacher presentation, guided practice, and independent worksheet practice. Period 2 moves into a reading passage, a speaking role-play, and a writing task, finishing with an exit ticket. Each stage lists the approximate time, materials, and what the teacher and students do, so the lesson can be taught directly from the plan or adapted to a single 90-minute block.

Resource Details

Subject: ESL
Topic: Health and Healthy Habits
Category: Lesson Plans
File Type: PDF
File Size: 85.1 KB
Published: 06 Sep 2026
Downloads: 8

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Grade 8 50-60 Minutes Lesson Plan

Learning Objectives

Students will be able to use at least eight health-related vocabulary words correctly in speech and writing.
Students will be able to form affirmative and negative sentences with should / shouldn't to give advice.
Students will be able to give and respond to health advice in a short spoken exchange.
Students will be able to write a short piece of advice (2-4 sentences) about a healthy habit.

Lesson Procedure

Read through the full plan before teaching, and gather the materials listed in Section 2 (the PowerPoint, both worksheets, the reading activity, and the speaking cards). Teach Period 1's vocabulary and grammar stages in order, since later activities build on them. If your schedule only allows one class period, teach Period 1 as written and split Period 2 across two shorter sessions, as suggested in the Teacher's Notes.

Assessment

Use the Health and Healthy Habits Grading Rubric to formally assess the Speaking or Writing activity from Period 2. Informally, check understanding through the guided-practice answers in Period 1 and the exit ticket at the end of Period 2.

Differentiation

Support: Provide the vocabulary word bank ahead of time, give sentence frames for speaking and writing, pair weaker students with stronger partners for the role-play, and reduce the number of required writing sentences.
On-Level: Students complete all activities as designed.
Challenge: Ask students to justify advice with "because," write a reply letter from the friend's perspective, or extend the role-play with a follow-up question.

Classroom Activity Ideas

As a five-minute closer to either period, play "Would You Rather... Should or Shouldn't?": read out two competing habits (e.g., "study late every night" vs. "get eight hours of sleep") and have students vote with a show of hands on which one they should choose, then justify their choice with a should/shouldn't sentence.

Teacher Tips

Keep a running list on the board of should/shouldn't sentences students produce during the lesson — by the end of Period 2 you'll have a class-generated reference students can copy into their notebooks.