Girls, dispense with the latest fad diet, toss the new weight loss chocobars. The way to shed kilos and lose weight is to eat breakfast every day. So says a newly published study conducted by America’s Maryland Medical Research Institute. Researchers tracked the eating habits and weight of nearly 2,400 girls throughout their adolescence. Research continued over a ten-year period, which, according to lead researcher Bruce Barton, is a time when “girls put on a lot of weight”. The conclusion of the team’s findings was that teenage girls who ate cereal for breakfast three times a week or more were more likely to stay slim. For girls who didn’t eat breakfast cereal frequently, the risk of being overweight increased by 13 percent.

A press release from the Journal of the American Dietetic Association reports that “cereal consumption had positive effects on the girls’ nutrient intake, particularly in higher levels of calcium and fiber and lower levels of fat and cholesterol. In addition to nutrients contributed by cereal, the researchers suggest that other factors related to cereal consumption may have an impact on girls’ diets. For example, other healthful foods are usually eaten with cereal such as milk and juice and the cereal may replace other less nutritious food choices. According to the researchers: “Cereal consumption may be one component of a healthful lifestyle that helps adolescent girls to maintain adequate nutrient intake,” and stay slim.

WARM-UPS

1. BREAKFAST: In pairs / groups, talk about breakfast. Is it the best meal of the day? Do you ever skip breakfast? Which of these things would you like to eat in the morning?

Cereal Eggs Rice Toast

Pancakes Seaweed Curry Fish

2. HEALTHY WEIGHT: What should teenagers do to stay at a healthy weight? Talk about the following:

Breakfast Lunch time Exercise Weekends

Television and computer games Fast food Dieting Pills

3. CHAT: In pairs / groups, decide which of these topics or words are most interesting and which are most boring.

Girls / diets / weight loss / chocolate bars / breakfast / eating habits / weight gain / cereal / nutrients / cholesterol / milk / juice / staying slim

Have a chat about the topics you liked. For more conversation, change topics and partners frequently.

4. TEENAGE GIRLS: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with teenage girls. Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories.

5. OPINIONS: How far do you agree with these opinions on teenagers and weight? Talk about them with your partner(s).

1. People worry too much about kids’ weight.
2. Parents are to blame for overweight kids.
3. Food companies should be more responsible and stop promoting unhealthy food.
4. Kids shouldn’t have to worry about their weight.
5. Cereals are boring.
6. It’s difficult to make sure kids get a good breakfast in today’s hectic world.
7. Kids are too busy to eat a healthy breakfast every day.
8. Kids want to eat the delicious things they see on television.

BEFORE READING / LISTENING

1. TRUE / FALSE: Look at the article’s headline and guess whether these sentences are true (T) or false (F):

a.	A new diet breakfast cereal has become popular with girls.	T / F
b.	Researchers tracked the eating habits of 2,400 girls for ten years.	T / F
c.	Adolescence is not a time when girls put on weight.	T / F
d.	Girls who don’t eat cereal increase their chances of being overweight.	T / F
e.	Cereal consumption increases the intake of nutrients.	T / F
f.	Cereal is very high in cholesterol.	T / F
g.	Milk and juice must be drunk with cereal for people to lose weight.	T / F
h.	Cereal consumption helps adolescent girls get adequate nutrients.	T / F

2. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article:

a.	dispense with	nourishing
b.	shed	youth
c.	tracked	prospect
d.	adolescence	influence
e.	risk	lose
f.	positive	sufficient
g.	impact	ignore
h.	nutritious	keep up
i.	maintain	beneficial
j.	adequate	monitored

3. PHRASE MATCH: Match the following phrases from the article (sometimes more than one combination is possible):

a.	dispense	the eating habits
b.	The way to shed	of fat and cholesterol
c.	Researchers tracked	increased by 13 percent
d.	… nearly 2,400 girls throughout	on the girls’ nutrient intake
e.	the risk of being overweight	adequate nutrient intake
f.	positive effects	with the latest fad diet
g.	lower levels	less nutritious food choices
h.	In addition to nutrients	kilos and lose weight
i.	the cereal may replace other	contributed by cereal
j.	helps adolescent girls to maintain	their adolescence

WHILE READING / LISTENING

GAP FILL: Put the words in the column on the right into the gaps in the text.

Breakfast helps girls stay slim

Girls, _______ with the latest fad diet, toss the new weight loss chocobars. The way to _______ kilos and lose weight is to eat breakfast every day. So says a _______ published study conducted by America’s Maryland Medical Research Institute. Researchers tracked the eating _______ and weight of nearly 2,400 girls throughout their adolescence. Research continued over a ten-year period, which, according to _______ researcher Bruce Barton, is a time when “girls _______ on a lot of weight”. The conclusion of the team’s findings was that teenage girls who ate cereal for breakfast three times a week or more were more likely to stay _______. For girls who didn’t eat breakfast cereal frequently, the _______ of being overweight increased by 13 percent.		put habits shed risk lead dispense slim newly
A _______ release from the Journal of the American Dietetic Association reports that “cereal consumption had _______ effects on the girls’ nutrient _______, particularly in higher levels of calcium and _______ and lower levels of fat and cholesterol. In addition to nutrients contributed by cereal, the researchers suggest that other _______ related to cereal consumption may have an _______ on girls’ diets. For example, other healthful foods are usually eaten with cereal such as milk and juice and the cereal may replace other less nutritious food _______. According to the researchers: “Cereal consumption may be one _______ of a healthful lifestyle that helps adolescent girls to maintain adequate nutrient intake,” and stay slim.		positive impact factors intake component press fiber choices

AFTER READING / LISTENING

1. WORD SEARCH: Look in your dictionaries / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … for the words ‘weight’ and ‘loss’.

• Share your findings with your partners.
• Make questions using the words you found.
• Ask your partner / group your questions.

2. ARTICLE QUESTIONS: Look back at the article and write down some questions you would like to ask the class about the text.

• Share your questions with other classmates / groups.
• Ask your partner / group your questions.

3. GAP FILL: In pairs / groups, compare your answers to this exercise. Check your answers. Talk about the words from the gap fill. Were they new, interesting, worth learning…?

4. VOCABULARY: Circle any words you do not understand. In groups, pool unknown words and use dictionaries to find their meanings.

5. STUDENT “BREAKFAST” SURVEY: In pairs / groups, write down questions about breakfast, teenage diets and weight loss.

• Ask other classmates your questions and note down their answers.
• Go back to your original partner / group and compare your findings.
• Make mini-presentations to other groups on your findings.

6. TEST EACH OTHER: Look at the words below. With your partner, try to recall exactly how these were used in the text:

toss shed tracked lead findings 13 percent

press positive cholesterol factors choices adequate

DISCUSSION

STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)

1. What were your initial thoughts on this headline?
2. Did the headline make you want to read the article?
3. Do you like breakfast cereals?
4. What do you usually have for breakfast?
5. What would you like to eat for breakfast?
6. How have your breakfast eating habits changed over the years?
7. Do you think breakfast is the most important meal of the day?
8. Do you think it is important to eat breakfast with your family?
9. Why do you think many children do not eat healthier breakfasts?

STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)

1. Did you like reading this article?
2. What do you think about what you read?
3. Are teenage girls overweight in your country?
4. Do kids have a more hectic lifestyle now than 10 or 20 years ago?
5. Do you think it’s easy to get adolescents to change their eating habits?
6. How nutritious is the breakfast you eat?
7. Did you worry about your weight or your figure when you were fifteen years old?
8. What do you think about the size and length of this study?
9. Did you like this discussion?

AFTER DISCUSSION: Join another partner / group and tell them what you talked about.

1. What question would you like to ask about this topic?
2. What was the most interesting thing you heard?
3. Was there a question you didn’t like?
4. Was there something you totally disagreed with?
5. What did you like talking about?
6. Do you want to know how anyone else answered the questions?
7. Which was the most difficult question?

SPEAKING

MY DIET

How nutritious and healthy is your daily diet?

Write what you usually eat every day in the “food eaten” column. In pairs / groups, discuss how healthy this food is. Partners must suggest a healthier alternative. Talk about whether you will change to this healthier alternative.

FOOD EATEN	HEALTH VALUE	HEALTHIER ALTERNATIVE	CHANGE?
Breakfast
Mid-morning snack
Lunch
Afternoon snack
Dinner
Evening snack

Change partners and report what you heard from your first partners. Are there any similarities between different students’ answers?

LISTENING

Listen and fill in the spaces.

Breakfast helps girls stay slim

Girls, ________ _____ the latest fad diet, toss the new weight loss chocobars. The way to ______ kilos and lose weight is to eat breakfast every day. So says a newly published study conducted by America’s Maryland Medical Research Institute. Researchers ________ the eating habits and weight of nearly 2,400 girls throughout their ____________. Research continued over a ten-year period, which, according to lead researcher Bruce Barton, is a time when “girls put on a lot of weight”. The conclusion of the team’s ____________ was that teenage girls who ate cereal for breakfast three times a week or more were more _________ to stay slim. For girls who didn’t eat breakfast cereal frequently, ____ ______ ___ being overweight increased by 13 percent.

A press release from the Journal of the American Dietetic Association reports that “cereal ____________ had positive effects on the girls’ _________ intake, particularly in higher levels of calcium and _______ and lower levels of fat and cholesterol. In addition to nutrients contributed by cereal, the researchers suggest that _______ ________ related to cereal consumption may have an ________ on girls’ diets. For example, other healthful foods are usually eaten with cereal such as milk and juice and the cereal may ________ other less nutritious food choices. According to the researchers: “Cereal consumption may be one ___________ of a healthful lifestyle that helps adolescent girls to maintain adequate nutrient intake,” and stay slim.

HOMEWORK

1. VOCABULARY EXTENSION: Choose several of the words from the text. Use a dictionary or Google’s search field (or another search engine) to build up more associations / collocations of each word.

2. INTERNET: Search the Internet and find more information on the different things people eat for breakfast around the world. Share your findings with your class in the next lesson.

3. NUTRITION POSTER: Make a poster showing the healthiest breakfast adolescents can eat. Show your posters to your classmates in your next lesson. Did you all include similar things in your breakfast choice?

4. DIET RECORD: Keep a record of what you eat over a three-day period. Write a short report on how healthy this food is. Show your findings to your classmates in your next lesson. Who had the healthiest diet?

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

a. F

b. T

c. F

d. F

e. T

f. F

g. F

h. T

SYNONYM MATCH:

a.	dispense with	ignore
b.	shed	lose
c.	tracked	monitored
d.	adolescence	youth
e.	risk	prospect
f.	positive	beneficial
g.	impact	influence
h.	nutritious	nourishing
i.	maintain	keep up
j.	adequate	sufficient

PHRASE MATCH:

a.	dispense	with the latest fad diet
b.	The way to shed	kilos and lose weight
c.	Researchers tracked	the eating habits
d.	…nearly 2,400 girls throughout	their adolescence
e.	the risk of being overweight	increased by 13 percent
f.	positive effects	on the girls’ nutrient intake
g.	lower levels	of fat and cholesterol
h.	In addition to nutrients	contributed by cereal
i.	the cereal may replace other	less nutritious food choices
j.	helps adolescent girls to maintain	adequate nutrient intake

GAP FILL:

Breakfast helps girls stay slim

Girls, dispense with the latest fad diet, toss the new weight loss chocobars. The way to shed kilos and lose weight is to eat breakfast every day. So says a newly published study conducted by America’s Maryland Medical Research Institute. Researchers tracked the eating habits and weight of nearly 2,400 girls throughout their adolescence. Research continued over a ten-year period, which, according to lead researcher Bruce Barton, is a time when “girls put on a lot of weight”. The conclusion of the team’s findings was that teenage girls who ate cereal for breakfast three times a week or more were more likely to stay slim. For girls who didn’t eat breakfast cereal frequently, the risk of being overweight increased by 13 percent.

A press release from the Journal of the American Dietetic Association reports that “cereal consumption had positive effects on the girls’ nutrient intake, particularly in higher levels of calcium and fiber and lower levels of fat and cholesterol. In addition to nutrients contributed by cereal, the researchers suggest that other factors related to cereal consumption may have an impact on girls’ diets. For example, other healthful foods are usually eaten with cereal such as milk and juice and the cereal may replace other less nutritious food choices. According to the researchers: “Cereal consumption may be one component of a healthful lifestyle that helps adolescent girls to maintain adequate nutrient intake,” and stay slim.

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