Lesson 1
La comida y la dieta.
Meals, food and drink, and healthy versus unhealthy eating — the vocabulary and opinions you need to talk about your diet. Work through the eight steps below: learn the words, read, listen, translate, then practise the photo card, role-play and writing exactly as they appear in the AQA exam.
Refresh your KS3 food words.
You met all of these in Years 7–9. Tap any word to hear it, and check the model sentence to see it in action. These are the building blocks — make sure they're solid before the new GCSE words.
Twenty new GCSE words.
Each card shows the word, its meaning, a model sentence and a tag: F on the AQA list (Foundation & Higher), H Higher only, útil not on AQA's list but very useful for speaking & writing. Tap to listen.
Read, then answer.
Two texts on the same topic — a Foundation text and a tougher Higher text. Read each one, then answer the questions in English underneath. They mark themselves: tap your answer and you'll see straight away if you're right.
Como bastante sano — Sofía
Equilibrio, no perfección
Listen, then answer.
Press play to hear the passage read aloud, as many times as you need, then answer the English questions. You can reveal the transcript afterwards to check what you heard.
🎧 Native-quality audio. Play it as many times as you need — just like the real exam, where each recording is played twice.
Mi dieta — Marta
Deporte y alimentación — Hugo
Translate both ways.
First Spanish → English (reading translation), then English → Spanish (the harder direction, tested in Paper 4). Have a go on paper, then tap to reveal the model answer and compare.
Translate into English
Translate into Spanish
Describe the photo card.
In the speaking exam you get a card with two photos from one theme. You must say at least one thing about each photo, then have a conversation on the topic. Here are two photos of people eating and the kind of questions you'll be asked.
- 1.¿Qué hay en las fotos? Describe la comida. Compulsory
- 2.¿Qué sueles comer y beber en un día normal?
- 3.¿Comes de forma sana? ¿Por qué (no)?
- 4.¿Es importante la dieta para estar sano? (opinión + razón)
Describing the photos — model answer
The first question is compulsory: say at least one thing about each photo. Below are two model descriptions you can adapt to whoever is in the picture — tap the speaker to hear them.
Foto A — healthy eating. En la primera foto hay una chica comiendo en una cafetería. Está disfrutando de un plato sano con verduras, y a su lado hay pan y un café. Parece muy contenta y relajada; es el tipo de comida que se debería comer a menudo.
In the first photo there is a girl eating in a café. She is enjoying a healthy dish with vegetables, and next to her there is bread and a coffee. She looks very happy and relaxed; it's the kind of food you should eat often.
Foto B — junk food. En la segunda foto se ve a un hombre comiendo una hamburguesa con patatas fritas. Es comida rápida o comida basura: está muy rica, pero tiene mucha grasa y no es nada sana. Solo se debería comer de vez en cuando.
In the second photo you can see a man eating a burger with chips. It's fast food or junk food: it's very tasty, but it has a lot of fat and isn't healthy at all. You should only eat it now and then.
Useful vocabulary & phrases
Para empezar: en la primera / segunda foto hay… (there is) · se ve… (you can see) · un plato de… (a dish of)
La comida: fruta · verdura · ensalada · carne · pescado · una hamburguesa · patatas fritas · un postre
¿Sana o no?: parece sano / saludable / rico · tiene mucha grasa / azúcar · es comida basura · no es nada sana
Opinar (tu turno): se debería comer… · lo más importante es una dieta equilibrada · …porque…
Then the conversation
- Q2 — a normal day: Para desayunar tomo …, como … y ceno … Bebo …
- Q3 — do you eat healthily?: Como bastante sano porque … / No como muy sano porque me encanta …
- Q4 — opinion + reason (this is where Higher students score): Para mí, una dieta equilibrada es esencial para estar sano y tener energía.
- Higher tier: add tenses — De pequeño/a comía… (imperfect) or En el futuro voy a/me gustaría comer… (future) — and opinions with creo que / pienso que.
The role-play.
The instructions are in English. You must answer the prompts and ask one question (the ! bullet). Try it out loud first, then reveal the model answers.
You are talking to your Spanish exchange partner about food and eating habits. Your teacher plays your exchange partner.
Model answers & tips
Write your answer.
Two tasks in the real exam style — a Foundation ~50-word task (five bullets) and a Higher ~90-word task (three bullets). Use the sentence starters (tap to drop them into the pad) and the useful vocab, then compare with a model answer.
La comida
≈ 50 words · 5 bullets · 10 marksDescribe lo que comes y tus hábitos alimentarios. Menciona los cinco puntos. Escribe aproximadamente 50 palabras en español.
Mi dieta y yo
≈ 90 words · 3 bullets · 15 marksDescribe tu alimentación y tu opinión sobre la comida sana. Menciona los tres puntos. Escribe aproximadamente 90 palabras en español.
Foundation answers cover all the bullets with clear, accurate present-tense sentences joined by y, pero and porque, plus at least one opinion. Higher answers do all that and then reach further: more than one tense (e.g. imperfect vivía, near future voy a, conditional me gustaría), opinions with developed reasons, a wider range of connectives (aunque, sin embargo, además) and more ambitious vocabulary. The biggest single lift from Foundation to Higher is justifying opinions and using a second and third tense accurately.