Theme 2.2: Healthy Living and Lifestyle - Listening Comprehension
Listening comprehension for Theme 2.2 (Healthy living and lifestyle) tests whether a student can follow spoken Spanish about diet, exercise, sleep, illness and lifestyle changes, and pick out the specific facts, frequencies and reasons a speaker gives. The examiner is checking recognition of reflexive verbs used for daily routine (me levanto, me entreno, me acuesto), advice structures such as 'hay que' and 'tener que' plus the infinitive, and the ability to distinguish a habit that used to happen (imperfect, e.g. fumaba) from a specific change that happened once (preterite, e.g. dejé de fumar) or is planned (voy a empezar a hacer ejercicio).
Before you start
Make sure you're comfortable with these topics first:
Method
- In the reading time, underline whether each question wants a routine/habit, an opinion, a piece of advice, or a specific one-off event, since healthy-living recordings mix all four.
- Predict reflexive-verb vocabulary describing routine: me levanto (I get up), me acuesto (I go to bed), me entreno (I train), me alimento bien/mal (I eat well/badly); the reflexive pronoun (me/te/se) changes with the subject but the meaning stays tied to daily habits.
- Track how often something happens using frequency words: todos los días (every day), dos veces por semana (twice a week), casi nunca (almost never) and de vez en cuando (from time to time) are common short-answer targets, so note the exact phrase, not just 'often' or 'rarely'.
- Distinguish advice from fact, and watch for negatives within advice too: 'hay que dormir ocho horas' and 'no deberías comer tanta comida basura' describe what should or should not happen, while 'duermo ocho horas' and 'como comida basura' describe what the speaker actually does; do not answer an advice question with a fact the speaker only stated about themselves.
- Listen for the contrast between imperfect habits and a preterite change, including negatives that show a habit has stopped: 'antes fumaba, pero el año pasado dejé de fumar' and 'ya no como carne' both show a past habit (imperfect or present) that has now ended (preterite dejé, or ya no plus the present).
- Catch quantities and measurements: litros de agua al día, horas de sueño, kilos, minutos de ejercicio; these numbers are exam favourites and are easy to mishear if written down after the sentence rather than during it.
- Expect regional accent variation: seseo means a Latin American speaker's 'hacer ejercicio' sounds the same whether an equivalent word were spelled with s, c or z, and some speakers say 'ustedes' rather than 'vosotros' when addressing a group of friends about their health habits; do not let the pronoun alone signal formality.
- When a speaker corrects a figure about their routine (hago ejercicio dos veces... en realidad tres veces por semana), record the corrected, final version, and double check it answers the exact question asked.
Worked example
You hear Rodrigo talking about his lifestyle changes. Transcript: 'Antes llevaba una vida bastante sedentaria: comía mucha comida rápida y casi nunca hacía ejercicio. Pero hace seis meses empecé a cambiar mis hábitos. Ahora me entreno tres... perdón, cuatro veces por semana en el gimnasio, y bebo al menos dos litros de agua al día. También dejé de fumar, lo cual fue muy difícil. Sin embargo, todavía me acuesto demasiado tarde, sobre la una de la madrugada, así que hay que mejorar eso también.' Answer in English: (a) How did Rodrigo describe his lifestyle before? (b) How many times a week does he now train? (c) How much water does he drink daily? (d) What does he say still needs to improve?
- Reading time: underline 'before', 'how many times', 'how much water' and 'still needs to improve' as the four targets.
- Catch the imperfect description llevaba una vida bastante sedentaria... comía mucha comida rápida... casi nunca hacía ejercicio for the 'before' picture: sedentary, lots of fast food, hardly ever exercised.
- Catch the self-correction: tres... perdón, cuatro veces por semana - the corrected answer is four times a week, not three.
- Note the quantity al menos dos litros de agua al día (at least two litres of water a day) as the direct answer to the water question.
- Identify the final admission introduced by sin embargo (however): he still goes to bed too late, around one in the morning, so this is what still needs to improve.
Practice questions
Try each question, then tap to reveal the answer.
Q1What does the reflexive verb 'me entreno' mean, and how would you say 'she trains'?Show answer
Answer: 'Me entreno' means 'I train'; 'she trains' is 'se entrena'.
Q2Give the difference between 'hay que dormir ocho horas' and 'duermo ocho horas'.Show answer
Answer: 'Hay que dormir ocho horas' is advice/a general rule, it is necessary to sleep eight hours; 'duermo ocho horas' is a fact about what the speaker actually does.
Q3Translate: 'Antes fumaba, pero lo dejé hace dos años.'Show answer
Answer: I used to smoke, but I gave it up two years ago.
Q4You hear 'hago ejercicio de vez en cuando.' How often is this, roughly?Show answer
Answer: 'De vez en cuando' means 'from time to time' / 'occasionally' - not regularly.
Q5A speaker says 'ya no como carne.' What does this tell you, and what tense is 'ya no' paired with here?Show answer
Answer: It tells you the speaker used to eat meat but has stopped, I no longer eat meat; 'ya no' is paired with the present tense to show a habit has ended.
Q6What is the difference in meaning between 'como bien' and 'comía bien'?Show answer
Answer: 'Como bien' (present) means 'I eat well' as a current habit; 'comía bien' (imperfect) means 'I used to eat well', implying this is not necessarily still true.
Q7Translate the advice: 'Deberías beber más agua y dormir más.'Show answer
Answer: You should drink more water and sleep more.
Exam-style questions
Written in the style of a GCSE Spanish exam paper, with a full mark scheme.
Transcript of the recording: Escucha a Valeria hablar de su salud. 'Hace un año, mi médico me dijo que tenía que cambiar mi estilo de vida porque tenía el colesterol alto. Desde entonces, como muchas más verduras y menos comida procesada. También empecé a correr; al principio corría solo diez minutos, pero ahora corro cuarenta y cinco minutos, tres veces por semana. Duermo unas siete horas cada noche, aunque mi médico recomienda ocho. Lo más difícil ha sido dejar el azúcar: todavía tomo café con azúcar por la mañana, aunque intento reducirlo.' Answer the following in English: (a) What did the doctor tell Valeria a year ago, and why? (2 marks) (b) How long did she run at first, and how long/how often does she run now? (2 marks) (c) How many hours does she sleep, compared to what the doctor recommends? (2 marks) (d) What has been the hardest thing to give up, and has she fully succeeded? (1 mark)
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Transcript of the recording: Escucha a Ignacio hablar del estrés y del sueño. 'Este año he tenido mucho estrés por los exámenes, y por eso duermo mal. Normalmente me acuesto sobre las once, pero últimamente no me duermo hasta la una o las dos de la madrugada. Para relajarme, hago yoga dos veces por semana y también salgo a caminar con mi perro todos los días, unos treinta minutos. Mi hermana me recomienda que beba menos café, porque tomo unas cuatro tazas al día, pero es difícil cambiar esa costumbre.' Answer the following in English: (a) Why has Ignacio had a lot of stress this year? (1 mark) (b) What time does he normally go to bed, and what time does he actually fall asleep lately? (2 marks) (c) Name two things he does to relax, including how often. (2 marks) (d) How many cups of coffee does he drink a day, and what does his sister recommend? (2 marks)
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See real GCSE Spanish past-paper questions, with official mark schemes →
Free printable worksheet
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