Healthy living and lifestyle: Writing
The GCSE writing task for Theme 2, 'Healthy living and lifestyle', covers food and drink, exercise, sleep and general wellbeing choices. Examiners test whether a student can describe current habits in the present tense, past choices or illnesses in the perfect or imperfect tense, and future intentions to live more healthily in the near future or conditional, while giving an opinion on healthy living with a reason, using connectives and a subordinate clause to extend sentences, and keeping verb endings, adjective agreement and accents accurate.
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Method
- Underline the exact instruction in each bullet point (e.g. what you eat, an illness in the past, a future health goal, an opinion) before planning any sentences.
- Assign a tense to each bullet: present tense for current habits (je mange, je fais du sport), perfect tense for a past illness or event (j'ai été malade, je suis allé(e) chez le médecin), and near future/conditional for a future goal (je vais commencer, je devrais).
- Give an opinion on healthy living using je pense que or à mon avis, followed by parce que and a specific reason, e.g. 'à mon avis, il est essentiel de bien manger parce que cela donne de l'énergie.'
- Add a subordinate clause with qui, que or quand to combine two short ideas, e.g. 'je mange des fruits qui sont riches en vitamines.'
- Use a range of connectives (mais, donc, par contre, de plus, ensuite) instead of repeating et, and vary the vocabulary for healthy/unhealthy choices (sain, malsain, équilibré, gras, sucré).
- Include one impersonal structure such as il faut plus an infinitive or il vaut mieux plus an infinitive to make a general statement about healthy living.
- Check reflexive verb endings (je me couche, tu te lèves), agreement on any être verbs in the perfect tense, and accents (é, è) on words like équilibre, santé and énergie before the final draft.
Worked example
Write about health and lifestyle in French. Mention: what you usually eat and drink; an illness or injury you had in the past; what you do to stay fit; a change you are going to make to live more healthily. Write approximately 40 words.
- Plan: bullet 1 = present tense (je mange, je bois); bullet 2 = perfect tense (j'ai eu, j'étais); bullet 3 = present tense with a frequency word; bullet 4 = near future (je vais) or conditional (je devrais).
- Build bullet 1: 'D'habitude, je mange des légumes et je bois beaucoup d'eau, mais je mange aussi du chocolat de temps en temps.' - present tense with the contrast connective mais.
- Build bullet 2: 'L'année dernière, je me suis cassé le bras en jouant au rugby.' - reflexive perfect tense; cassé stays invariable because the direct object (le bras) follows the verb rather than preceding it.
- Build bullet 3: 'Pour rester en forme, je fais de la natation qui me détend beaucoup.' - subordinate clause with qui adding a reason.
- Build bullet 4: 'Le mois prochain, je vais essayer de dormir huit heures par nuit parce que le sommeil est important pour la santé.' - near future plus a justification with parce que.
- Check accuracy: in 'je me suis cassé le bras', cassé does not agree with the subject because the direct object comes after the verb, not before, so it stays masculine singular regardless of the writer's gender; accents on détend, santé and cassé are also checked before the final write-up.
Practice questions
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Q1Conjugate 'se coucher' in the present tense for 'je' and 'nous'.Show answer
Answer: je me couche; nous nous couchons.
Q2Put this sentence into the perfect tense: 'Je vais à la salle de sport.'Show answer
Answer: Je suis allé(e) à la salle de sport.
Q3Translate into French: 'I should eat more fruit.'Show answer
Answer: Je devrais manger plus de fruits.
Q4Give one French word meaning 'balanced' (as in a balanced diet).Show answer
Answer: équilibré (une alimentation équilibrée).
Q5Explain what makes this a good example of range of language: 'Il faut manger sainement pour rester en forme.'Show answer
Answer: It uses the impersonal structure 'il faut' plus an infinitive to make a general statement, which is exactly the kind of structure examiners reward for range of language.
Q6Write one sentence with a subordinate clause using 'parce que' to justify an opinion about junk food.Show answer
Answer: Je n'aime pas la restauration rapide parce qu'elle contient trop de graisse et de sucre.
Q7Give the imperfect tense form of 'être' for 'je'.Show answer
Answer: j'étais (e.g. 'quand j'étais petit(e), je ne faisais pas beaucoup de sport').
Exam-style questions
Written in the style of a GCSE French exam paper, with a full mark scheme.
Write about your health and lifestyle in French. Mention: what you eat on a typical day; how often you exercise; an injury or illness you have had; your opinion on the importance of sleep. Write approximately 40 words in French.
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Write a blog post in French about healthy living for young people. Mention: your usual diet and whether you think it is healthy; how sport and exercise fit into your week; a time in the past when you were ill or injured and what happened; the dangers of an unhealthy lifestyle, in your opinion; a change you plan to make in the future to live more healthily. Write approximately 90 words in French.
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Tick each line you got. Your score builds from the marks on the scheme.
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See real GCSE French past-paper questions, with official mark schemes →
Free printable worksheet
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