These first lessons help students develop a common vocabulary for talking about health. There are opportunities for students to share stories and common experiences related to general health practices. The activities and discussions allow you and your students to begin the process of sharing and building trust that will be key to using this curriculum. Students will use critical thinking skills to analyze situations and propose solutions. Also in these first lessons, a format for exploration is established that is followed throughout the curriculum. These lessons begin with an exploration of what learners think, know and feel, and from there additional skills and knowledge are developed.
In this unit, students will receive their own copies of the complete HEAL:BCC Word List. They will also be introduced to to Passport to Health: A Guide to Staying Healthy. These are two valuable resources that students will use throughout the curriculum and, hopefully, even after their work with the curriculum is completed.
Unit One builds skills for vocabulary development, grouping and categorizing, writing, critical thinking skills, and group discussion. Mastery of health-related vocabulary is a goal of this curriculum. This mastery will provide each student with stronger skills for understanding and negotiating the health care system. Learners will use semantic maps as categorizing, organizing, and pre-writing tools. Writing activities vary from note-taking to paragraph development. The Community Health Wall is introduced as a forum to share student writings with other learners and program staff.
Unit One helps students think about the actions people take to stay healthy. The vocabulary of prevention and detection is introduced in relation to general health practices. What actions can individuals take to prevent disease and illness? What actions can individuals take to detect disease or illness? Also, the roles of obstacles and support systems in health maintenance are explored.
In this unit, learners explore good health and illness. The good health discussion allows for learners to share what is important to them about their health and what habits and behaviors they have learned from their families and cultural communities to maintain health. The teacher will also be guiding a discussion that explores symptoms, prevention, and detection of illness in general. These discussions provide a good opportunity to discuss natural remedies that exist in any community. The sharing of these natural remedies bring learners' communities into the classroom. Also sparks of recognition among learners will enliven the discussion.