| Getting Ready to Use the Lessons Many ESL instructors may be concerned about teaching ‘nutrition’ – a topic they may or may not be familiar with. Along with attending a Training and reading more in More About Nutrition, teachers can prepare themselves with these Key Steps before beginning to use the “Eating Well, Living Well” lessons and materials.
The instructor will:
- Become familiar with the underlying research and knowledge base related to the nutrition content objective by reading the Teacher Background found at the beginning of each lesson.
- Preview and Download the Lessons before using them.
- Survey students to determine interest levels and choose lessons.
- Gather and prepare materials for the demonstrations and presentation of the content.
- Pre-teach the language to be used in the content focused lesson.
Integrating the Lessons
The “Eating Well, Living Well” lessons are designed to be integrated into existing ESL program curricula, but in ways that are meant to be flexible enough to meet the varied needs of particular students, teachers and programs throughout California.
Some different ways to use these lessons include:
- Use all of the lessons at a given level over a semester by integrating them into other topics in an ESL curriculum. For example, a lesson on eating more fruits and vegetables fits well into the “Food’ unit; food safety lessons can be a part of an “Employment” unit; a lesson about finding low-cost healthy foods in the community could be in the “Transportation,” “Shopping” or “Money” units.
- Use an ‘Interest Survey’ to see what topics students are particularly interested in, and use only those lessons. An “Interest Survey” is available in the “Eating Well, Living Well” materials as part of the nutrition Journal.
- Use a nutrition lesson as a ‘culminating’ lesson at the end of a unit of study in order to give students an opportunity to apply the language and competencies they learned in the ESL unit. The “Eating Well, Living Well” lessons can be used with many commonly found ESL lesson units- including food, health, employment, and community. They are also closely related to EL Civics and CBET topics.
- Use as a separate, intact ‘course’ over the summer, for example, teaching all of the lessons as a ‘mini- curriculum’ for interested students, or as a change from the regular curriculum.
- Use the lessons to fulfill state requirements for EL Civics objectives.
See Pre-approved Civics Objectives for a list of current objectives.
Using the Lessons with Students
Here are some tips for using the lessons with students:
- Check student understanding of the content in the presentation before moving to the practice of skills.
- Provide practice activities that integrate the nutrition content and language competencies.
- Provide opportunities for students to reflect on the connection between the practice activities and their own skills.
- Provide opportunities for students to apply the nutrition content in their own lives.
- Conduct follow-up activities over time to keep awareness of nutrition content high.
- Monitor student progress towards nutrition goals.
What's in a Lesson?
“Eating Well, Living Well” materials include:
- 24 Nutrition Education Lessons with Language, Content and Behavior objectives
- 4 Levels: Beginning Low, Beginning High, Intermediate Low and Intermediate High
- Nutrition Background Information for the Teacher, including websites for more information.
- A six-stage lesson plan, as endorsed by the California Department of Education.
- Lesson plans, worksheets, visuals, quizzes, ‘Dynamite’ Demos and additional activities
- Journals
- Supplemental Activities
- Textbook Checklist
Each level begins with an ‘Interest Survey’ and includes a ‘Post/Pre’ Survey given at the end of the instructional unit. Students are asked to reflect on their current behavior that is the result of instruction.
Finally, there is the ‘Teacher’s Report to Student,’ that can be used to report to the student on their progress. For students who complete the assigned work, a Certificate can be awarded.
See Preview Lesson to see some examples of lesson materials. Ordering Information for creating a ‘Teacher Kit’ of realia, visuals, kits and posters and other ‘hands-on’ materials can also be found in Materials to Order.
What are the Lessons About?
Teachers may choose to integrate all or some of the lessons from “Eating Well, Living Well.” To help make decisions on which lessons to use and when and how to integrate lessons, see the ‘Lesson Summary Grid’ (PDF).
The lessons are all based on the following nutrition ‘Key Messages’ below.
Key Message 1 |
Students will identify solutions for healthy eating (as defined by the USDA) with limited time to cook and eat in order to function optimally at work, at school and in the home. |
Key Message 2 |
Students will continue to eat, or add, fruits and vegetables to their diets to equal the number of servings recommended by the USDA. |
Key Message 3 |
Students will influence children to eat healthy meals and snacks. |
Key Message 4 |
Students will eat a balanced diet as defined by the USDA. |
Key Message 5 |
Students will access resources for low-cost, healthy food. |
Key Message 6 |
Students will demonstrate safe food handling practices at home, at school and on the job. |
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