Be a healthy eater Learning and teaching activities
Personal Development and Healthy Living
(For secondary 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
1. Teachers point out that developing good eating habit is 
important, and ask:
 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 can’t you maintain these good eating habits?
Share the difficulties you encountered.
2. Teachers summarise important points in students’
feedback and point out that health-conscious students
may encounter many difficulties when practising
healthy eating habits. It is thus important to learn to be
self-disciplined and develop good eating habits.
Teaching focus
Guide students to the
topic by asking students
about their eating habits,
making
them
do
preliminary review and
reflection on their eating
habits
Suggested Activity 2: Breakfast Struggle
1. Teachers show the "Be a Healthy Eater" presentation 
(Reference for students 1) and describe the situation,
“Meifang meets a classmate who asks her to eat
French fries in a fast food shop, but she remembers her
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
mother and teachers have asked 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 value orientation with
lead-in questions.
3. Teachers describe Meifang’s first approach and then

ask:
 Meifang chose 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?
 In order to satisfy her own liking, Meifang deceived
her mother. Is it worthwhile? Are there better ways
of handling it?
4. Teachers describe Meifang’s second approach, and then
ask:
 Meifang chose to eat French fries with her friends,
which she only told her mother when her mother
asked her. What does this tell about her priority?
 Is this approach problematic?
 What needs to be improved? What is worth learning
from it?
5. Teachers further make students think from Meifang’s

mother’s point of view, imagine what she hopes
Meifang would do, and act it out. Teachers then ask:
 Is there difference between Meifang’s mom’s wish
and Meifang’s actual behaviour?
 Why is there such a difference?
6. Teachers can guide the conversation to students’ daily
life, leading students 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 foods should be eaten less, why
can’t you do that sometimes?
 What difficulties does it cause?
 How do you overcome the difficulty?
7. Teachers’ conclusion (for reference)

Parents generally attach importance to the family's
health, but cannot supervise their children's eating
habits often. There are also too many temptations in
society such as too many choices of snack, and peer
influence, so students should be disciplined in their
diet.
Suggested Activity III: Eating Crisis

practising healthy eating
habits
The discussions help
students make value
clarification.
Through role playing,
allow students to put
themselves into the shoes
of the mother, thus
experiencing the parental
care
Allow students to think
deeply and make prudent
judgment
Make students
understand self-discipline
is necessary in their daily
life, and they should
resolutely resist the
temptation and practise
good eating habits
Through the real case
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Be a healthy eater Learning and teaching activities
1. Teachers show the presentation, read a news story, and
ask 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
continue?
 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)
To develop good eating habits, students may have to
pay a price, for example: refusing the invitation of
peers, giving up personal preferences, etc., and have
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)
Suggested Activity IV: Be a Healthy Eater
1. Teachers note the importance of healthy eating habits, 
and then ask:
 Do you think your eating habit is healthy?
 What areas of your eating habits need improvement?
2. Teachers distribute "Be a healthy 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. After 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 good
habits developed are beneficial to the whole-person
development.
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
Students reflect on their
own eating habits, and
establish specific
improvement goals.
Teachers’ summary:
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Be a healthy eater Learning and teaching activities
For reference: Healthy eating habits are essential for health, but many people do not keep
healthy eating habits. 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, articulating 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 is 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, make efforts to kick 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. 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 on the bulletin board, sharing the joy with everyone and filling 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
the “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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