To introduce and begin to emphasize the differences between prevention and detection. To explore and analyze ill health. To introduce and utilize the HEAL:BCC Word List as a resource tool.
1. Introduce the discussion with references to the previous lesson on good health. (If learners have written good health paragraphs, they could share them at this point.) Recall from the previous discussion and from the good health diagram what was similar and different about learner strategies for staying healthy. After this, raise the point that everybody gets sick sometimes.
2. Proceed with the following general questions for discussion:
What happens when you are ill?
How do you know that you are sick?
What are examples of health problems?
Use examples such as asthma, a cold, chicken pox, heart disease, or cancer. Gather learner responses around the word illness on the board and continue the discussion.
For example:
Then elicit examples of symptoms of various illnesses and record them in a cluster diagram. This discussion will help the class develop a definition of the word symptom.
3. A guided discussion follows. In this discussion, learners will explore and develop an understanding of vocabulary words such as acute, chronic, detect, prevent, symptoms, and treat. You can record learners' answers in the appropriate part of the cluster diagram. Suggested questions include:
Which of these illnesses are serious? Why?
Which is the most serious? Why?
Which illnesses happen suddenly and don't last for a long time? Which is acute?
Which illnesses take a long time to make you really sick and then last a long time? Which are
chronic?
Which illnesses can you take medicine for? Which illnesses can you treat?
How can you tell (detect) when you are sick?
When you are sick what happens to your body? For example, if you have a cold, what happens? What are the symptoms?
Is there anything you can do so you don't get sick? Which of these illnesses can you prevent?
Can you tell that you have cancer? Can you do anything so you don't get cancer?
4. Use the Illness and Disease Vocabulary Journal Page. First have students repeat vocabulary after you. Then they should alphabetize the list of health words. A discussion of word families and parts of speech can follow. What is similar and what is different between the words ill and illness, detect and detection, etc. How and why do we use them differently in sentences?
5. Pass out the HEAL:BCC Word List to each student. Explain that this is a mini-dictionary that will help them in their work in the classroom and also in understanding their health care providers. Next use the What Do These Words Mean? Journal Page. Working in small groups, the students can look up assigned vocabulary and expressions in the HEAL:BCC Word List. They should record the definitions on their Journal Pages.
In Step 3 there are questions for a guided discussion. To facilitate the discussion especially for ESOL learners, questions have been framed in more familiar vocabulary. The question with the bold-faced vocabulary word is for the teacher's reference. This vocabulary will be defined in the context of the discussion and through the focused vocabulary work in Steps 4 and 5. Learners will become knowledgeable of the more complex vocabulary by the end of this unit.
One way to stimulate discussion about issues of culture and health is to visit the Haitian Multi-Service Center's Web site. This site contains many student writings and collaborative projects, including writings on home remedies. These short essays on home remedies show a diversity of cultural approaches to illness and getting well. The Haitian Multi-Service Center is an ESOL program in Boston, Massachusetts. Available at: http://www2.wgbh.org/MBCWEIS/LTC/HMSC/HC/HCWelcome.html