Be a healthy eater  Learning and teaching activities
Personal Development and Healthy Living
(For primary schools)
Learning objectives：
 Learn to be self-disciplined, and develop healthy eating habits
 Able to reflect on their own eating habits and make improvements
Life event: Be a Healthy Eater
Self-discipline, perseverance, self-reflection
Values
and
：
attitudes
Learning ： A
materials
B
Reference for students I: “Be a Healthy Eater” Presentation
Reference for students II: “Breakfast Struggle” Worksheet
Reference for students III: “Eating crisis” Worksheet
Reference for students IV: “Be a Healthy Eater” Worksheet
Extended student activities
I. “Healthy eating action plan” Sample Letter
to Parents
II. “Healthy Eating Record Sheet”
Teaching procedures：
Procedure (Suggested)
Suggested Activity I: Our Eating Habits
Teaching focus
1. Teachers point out that developing good eating habit is 
important, asking:
 Who has breakfast first before going to school every
day? What do you eat usually?
 Has anyone gone to school with an empty stomach?
Please share that experience and feeling.
 What eating habits are beneficial to health?
 Who can maintain these good eating habits? Please
share your experience.
 Why do you sometimes have difficulty in
maintaining these good eating habits? Share the
difficulties you encountered.
Guide students to the
topic by asking them
about their eating habits,
making
them
do
preliminary review and
reflection on their eating
habits
2. Teachers summarise important points in students’
feedback and point out that health-conscious students
may often encounter difficulties in practising healthy
eating habits. It is thus important to learn to be
self-disciplined and develop good eating habits.
Suggested Activity 2: Breakfast Struggle
1. Teachers show the "Be a Healthy Eater" presentation
(Reference for students 1) and describe the situation,

Through life situations,
allow
students
to
experience the problems
they may encounter in
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Be a healthy eater  Learning and teaching activities
“Meifang meets a classmate asking her to eat
French fries in a fast food shop, but she remembers her
mother and teachers have urged her to develop
healthy eating habits and avoid eating high-fat
foods ...what should she do?”
2. Teachers distribute “Breakfast Struggle” worksheet
(Reference for students II), and then guide students to
judge Meifang’s decision and her values with lead-in 
questions.
3. Teachers describe Meifang’s first approach and then
ask:
 Meifang decided to eat French fries with her
classmate, and lied to her mother that she has eaten
sandwiches and milk. What does that show about
her values? Is this approach problematic?
 Is this approach problematic?
 In order to satisfy her desire, Meifang deceived
her mother. Is it worthwhile? Are there better ways
to handle it?
4. Teachers describe Meifang’s second approach, and then
ask:
 Meifang decided to eat French fries with her friends,
only telling her mother the truth when asked by her.
What does this tell about her values?
 Is this approach problematic?
 What needs improvement? What is worth learning? 
5. Teachers further make students think from Meifang’s
mother’s point of view, imagining what she hopes
Meifang would do, acting it out. Teachers then ask:
 Is there difference between Meifang’s mother’s wish
and Meifang’s actual behaviour?
 Why is there such a difference?
6. Teachers can guide the conversation to students’ daily 
life, leading them to discuss:
 Whether students have similar struggles?
 What is your biggest struggle?
 Given that you know that some food should be eaten
regularly, and some food should be avoided, why
do you sometimes have difficulty to do so?
 What are the difficulties?
 How do you overcome?

7. Teachers’ conclusion (for reference)
Parents generally attach great importance to the
family's health, but less often able to supervise their
children's eating habits. There are also too many
temptations in society such as a great many choices of
snack, and peer influence, so students should be
disciplined in their diet.

practising healthy eating
habits
The discussions
students clarify
values.
help
their
Through role playing,
allow students to put
themselves into the
mother’s shoes, thus
experiencing the parental
care
Allow students to think
more and make informed
judgment
Make students
understand self-discipline
is necessary in their daily
life, and they should
resolutely resist the
temptation to practise
good eating habits.
Through the real case
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Be a healthy eater  Learning and teaching activities
Suggested Activity III: Eating Crisis
1. Teachers read a news story, asking students to listen
carefully.
2. Teachers distribute the "Eating crisis" worksheet,
urging students to reflect whether their own eating
habits would affect their health. (Reference for students 
III)
3. The news report noted that Hong Kong children’s
eating habits lead to obesity problems, affecting their
health. Teachers ask:
 What do you feel when hearing the report?
 Do you think obesity is a problem? Why?
 Would you change your eating habits for your
health’s sake?
 If you think your eating habit is unhealthy, why
don’t you change?
 What price do you have to pay to develop healthy
eating habits?
 What attitude should you adopt to develop good
eating habits?
4. Teachers’ summary: (for reference)
Students wishing to develop good eating habits may
have to pay a price, for example, rejecting the
invitation from peers, giving up personal preferences,
etc., and the perseverance and self-discipline to achieve
it.
(Reference website: Assessment of dietary pattern in
Primary Schools (2012)
http://www.chp.gov.hk/files/pdf/dietary_assessment_20
12_executive_summary.pdf)
reported in newspaper,
make students understand
the importance of
establishing healthy
eating habits.
Ask students questions to
prompt them to think
how to maintain healthy
eating habits
Suggested Activity IV: Be a Healthy Eater

1. Teachers note the importance of healthy eating habits,
asking:
 Do you think your eating habit healthy?
 What area of your eating habits needs improvement?
2. Teachers distribute "Be a healthy diet eater" worksheet
for students to set for themselves three specific
improvement goals and be committed to practising
healthy eating habits. Students can refer to the four
slogans on the worksheet or otherwise: "Three meals
should be balanced diets / fruits and vegetables are
everyday-have / junk snacks should be less looked at /
happiness and health will be possessed." (Reference for
students IV)
3. Finishing the worksheet, students share in groups.
4. Teachers’ conclusion (for reference):
Students set specific improvement goals for their
eating habits and keep practising in daily life. The
Students reflect on their
own eating habits to
establish specific
improvement goals.
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Be a healthy eater  Learning and teaching activities
good habits developed are beneficial to whole-person
development.
Teachers’ summary:
For reference: Healthy eating habits are essential for whole-person health, but the eating habit
of many people is far from satisfactory. Of course, changing their eating behaviour presents a
lot of difficulties, but even though students cannot change their habits overnight, they should
still set some goals for themselves. Daily self-discipline and perseverance help develop good
eating habits, and facilitate whole-person development.
Extended student activities:
Schools / teachers issue the “Healthy Eating Action Scheme” letter to parents, explaining the
importance of healthy diet to students’ physical and mental development, while encouraging
parents to help students practise healthy eating habits according to the “Food Pyramid” diet
principle. The scheme may include three parts:
1. Students record their weekly food intake on the “Healthy Eating Record Form” with
drawings or text to increase the understanding of their eating habits.
2. Students learn more about the information about healthy eating in the Department of
Health’s
webpage
for
the
“'EatSmart@school.hk”
campaign
(http://school.eatsmart.gov.hk/en/template/home.asp), design their lunch for a week of five
school days, make a booklet and introduce it to their parents, teachers and classmates,
asking them for advice.
3. Schools’ Parents Association can organise “Healthy Snacks Taste Better” parent-child
activity in which parents are free to participate. Parents and children are encouraged to
cooperate to cook healthy food. Parents can write down the cooking methods and
materials, take photos of the production process and the finished products for the school to
display in the bulletin board, filling the school with "healthy eating" atmosphere. (B
Extended Student Activities)
Credits:
Some pictures are provided by Or Zeon Wai.
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Be a healthy eater Learning and teaching activities
A. Reference for students II
“Breakfast Struggle” Worksheet
Scenario：
Every day Meifang eats breakfast with her mother before going to school, but
this week her mother is on a business trip. Before she leaves, she asks her to eat
nutritious breakfast every day. At first Meifang is very self-disciplined, choosing
mainly porridge, noodles, eggs and milk for breakfast ... Three days later,
Meifang meets a classmate asking her to go to a fast food shop to eat French
fries. It is a rare opportunity to eat delicious French fries, but she remembers her
mother and teacher have asked her to develop healthy eating habits by avoiding
fried and high-fat food…
She is struggling about what she should do…
Approach 1：
Meifang chooses to
eat tasty French fries at
the fast food shop with
the classmate, thinking
that when her mother
asks her what breakfast
she eats, she could
answer, “I have eaten
sandwiches, milk, etc.”
Approach 2：
Meifang
chooses to eat tasty
French fries at the
fast food shop with
the classmate,
thinking that if her
mother asks her what
breakfast she eats,
she could frankly tell
her the truth.
1. What is your view to the two approaches of Meifang?
Approach 1
worth learning /needs
improvement
/
Approach 2
/
Reason
2. If you were Meifang’s mother, what would you want Meifang to do? Express her mother’s
feeling.
Meifang, I understand that you
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Be a healthy eater Learning and teaching activities
A. Reference for students III
“Eating Crisis” Worksheet
Ask students to listen carefully to the following news report and then answer questions.
Overeating 200-pound boy suffers a stroke
A 14-year-old obese boy who weighs two hundred pounds suffers from a mild stroke because of
overeating frequently. Eating too often fast food and lunch boxes cause an increase in his weight,
blood pressure and cholesterol levels. The boy’s left face once had paralysis and convulsions.
The doctor advised him to change his diet and lifestyle to prevent suffering from stroke again.
(Source: Adapted from an online news report in April, 2010)
(1) Is your eating habit similar to the boy in the news above? Put tick the item.
a. eat fast food often
b. eat lunch-box food often
c. overeat frequently
d. no similarity
(2) Do you think your eating habit healthy? Circle your choice. (If you answer is unhealthy,
proceed to Question 3.)
/
(Healthy)
(unhealthy)
(3) Would you change your eating habits for your own health? Circle your choice.
/
(Yes)
(No)
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Be a healthy eater Learning and teaching activities
A Reference for students IV
“Be a Healthy Eater” Worksheet
Which part of your eating habits needs improvement?
Set three concrete goals for improvement yourself and determine to practise healthy eating
habits. Share them with classmates.
My healthy eating actions
1.
______________________________________________________
2.
______________________________________________________
3.
______________________________________________________
"Three meals should be balanced diets,
fruit and vegetables are everyday-have,
junk snacks should be less looked at,
happiness and health will be possessed."
Students, work hard to kick the bad
habits.
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Be a healthy eater Learning and teaching activities
B Extended activities for students
“Healthy Eating Action Scheme” Sample Letter to Parents
Dear Parents/ Guardians:
To develop children’s physical and mental health, maintaining healthy eating habits is
essential.
Therefore, the school’s “Healthy Eating Action Scheme” is aimed at facilitating
students to develop healthy eating habits. The scheme includes two parts:
1. Parents are encouraged to help students choose healthy breakfast, lunch, dinner and
snacks in accordance to the “Food Pyramid” diet principle. Students record their weekly
food intake on the “Healthy Eating Record Form” with drawings or text. Students with
good performance can become the “Healthy Eating Experts”.
2. Parents are welcome to join the parent-child activity “Healthy Snacks Taste
Better” organised by the Parents Association to cook healthy food with their children.
Parents can write down the cooking methods and materials, take photos of the
production process and the finished products for the school to display on the bulletin
board to share the joy with everyone and fill the school with "healthy eating"
atmosphere .
Thank you for your support.
Yours sincerely,
_______________________
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Be a healthy eater Learning and teaching activities
B Extended activities for students
“Healthy Eating Record Form”
Students can record their weekly food intake with drawings or text to see if they can become
“healthy eating experts”.
Date
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
Snacks
Personal
reflection
Gentle reminder:
Students should choose food and drinks carefully, in accordance
with the “Healthy Eating Food Pyramid” principles.
(You may refer to the following website:
http://school.eatsmart.gov.hk/files/pdf/R416_en.pdf for the “Eat Smart! Follow the
Pyramid” pamphlet in Printed Materials.)
Self-evaluation:
can/cannot
After one week, I think I
become a “Healthy
Eating Expert”.
In order to become a “Healthy Eating Expert”, I would :
__________________________________________________
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