To develop a basic understanding of cancer and an initial familiarity with cancer-related medical vocabulary.
1. Ask students to present the words that came up in response to the Three Words Journal Page in the last lesson. List the words on the board. Ask the students to group the words into categories, if possible. Using the Cancer Map Journal Page, you and your students can record responses. You can record responses on the board. Categories might be broad areas such as feelings, facts and knowledge, types of cancer, and questions.
2. Pre-reading: List the key vocabulary on the board. Read aloud the What Is Cancer? Vocabulary Work Journal Page that all students will have in front of them. Next read all the words aloud. Ask students to repeat after each word. Do the syllable exercise on the What Is Cancer? Vocabulary Work Journal Page. Repeat words as necessary and assist students in their syllable work.
3. Divide learners into pairs. Ask them to look up the words in the HEAL:BCC Word List. Record definitions on the What Is Cancer? Vocabulary Work Journal Page. Remind them that this vocabulary work will help them understand the reading they do next.
4. Hand out the reading What Is Cancer? by Sylvia Greene Journal Page. Explain that the reading covers basic information about cancer and that it includes many additional new vocabulary words that are explained in the text.
5. Depending on your class, ask students to read What Is Cancer? silently first and then aloud in small groups, or you can read aloud to the class as a whole. Once the reading is completed, go over all the new vocabulary with the class using the explanations within the reading to define each word. Remind students that they are only responsible for remembering the key vocabulary words that they looked up in the dictionary, not all of the new words included in the reading.
6. Hand out the What Is Cancer? Comprehension Questions Journal Page that accompany the reading and ask students to complete the questions individually, looking back at the reading for reference. Discuss the questions and answers with the whole class, asking students to support their answers with information from the text.
If students need additional vocabulary work, assign them the What Is Cancer? Cloze Vocabulary Exercise Journal Page.
Have students read the Passport to Health, pages 13-21. Encourage learners to read these pages at their own pace at home.
Ask students to visit their clinic, doctor's office, or local hospital and pick up copies of pamphlets on breast and cervical cancer. If no information is on display, students should ask a receptionist or other health care staff if any are available. Explain to students that these pamphlets will become a class "library" available to them and other students in the learning center for information and use. Create a place in your classroom for these pamphlets to be displayed.
This reading is quite challenging for ESOL learners. It contains a lot of interesting and important scientific information about cancer and will expand learners' understandings of what happens in the body due to cancer. If your students have science or health backgrounds in their first language, they will have less difficulty with it. However, for others it may prove to be overwhelming reading. For these reasons, it really is up to you whether you do this reading with your class. Learners will not be "lost" with the rest of the curriculum if they do not complete this reading.
If you choose to read it with your class, you can split this lesson into two more manageable sections. A natural division would be to work on Steps 1-3 as one lesson and then Steps 4-6 as another lesson.
Students can use the Internet to search for health education materials on breast cancer. The following suggested sites contain health education materials for consumers. Materials are easy to download and ready to copy. These materials can be purchased in brochure or booklet form and may also be found in doctors' offices and health centers.
Available at:
American Cancer Society (ACS) http://www.cancer.org
Available at:
National Cancer Institute (NCI) http://cancernet.nci.nih.gov