To familiarize learners with basic facts on cervical cancer, including early detection, screening, and treatment.
1. Teachers should preview this video before showing it to their classes.
2. In the past, teachers have found talking about the cervix in the classroom to be more difficult than talking about breasts. Using this video as a teaching medium may make it easier to approach this topic, as students will be able to see and hear other people talking about it. The video deals with feelings, experiences, and facts about cervical cancer and the Pap test. Before you begin, you may again need to acknowledge students' reluctance or embarrassment about discussing private parts of the body. You may also need to remind students that the class has built a safe place for such discussions and that people who do not want to talk do not have to. It is important to frame this discussion about cervical cancer in a positive light. With regular Pap tests, cervical cancer can be caught early. If found early, cervical cancer is almost always curable.
3. In preparation for the video, ask students what they know about cervical cancer or the Pap test. Record what they know on newsprint.
4. Students may not know where the cervix is in a woman's body. This is explained in the video. However, before you show the video you can refer students to the Female Body Diagram Journal Page. Use this drawing as a way to locate the cervix.
5. Explain that the class will be watching a short video developed for Native American women. Explain that they will watch the video twice. Before the first viewing, ask students to think about what they have in common with the Native American women in the video.
6. After showing the video, ask learners to think about what is familiar and what is not familiar about the scenes and situations they watched. Use these questions to facilitate a discussion.
What do you have in common with the women in the video?
In what ways, if any, are you different from the women in the video?
Does the Indian Health Service seem the same as or different from the health center you go to?
In what ways is it the same? In what ways is it different?
7. Next explain that students will see the video again. This time they should listen for specific information so that they can answer the question: What are the most important messages for women in this video? You can write this question on the board.
8. After viewing, ask the above question again. Record student responses on newsprint. You can prompt students with questions that direct their memories to different parts of the video.
9. At the end of class, invite students to think about and discuss the following question.
If you were designing a video for a different group of women (African American women, white women, Latina women, Chinese women, Vietnamese women, etc.) or for women in general, would you change anything in the video? What would you change and why?
Complete the Pap Test Vocabulary and Facts Review Journal Pages. This is a good way to review key vocabulary and facts about Pap tests and cervical cancer. Ask students to write a review of the video. Students can use A Video Review Journal Page to organize their ideas. They can use this information to write a first and then final draft. Reviews can be posted on the Community Health Wall, published in your Center newsletter, or sent to a local community newspaper. Students can read the Passport to Health "For Women - Cervical Cancer Screening" on page 16.
For additional reading with comprehension questions, ask students to read the Cervical Cancer by Sylvia Greene Journal Page.
It is very important that learners clearly understand the health facts being presented. You may want to stop the video at key intervals to check for comprehension and ask students if they have any questions.
Students can use the Internet to read My Life Story With Cancer by Mary Walker, which is about an adult learner's experience with cervical cancer. As a Web-based material, it allows students to click on highlighted words in the story to go directly to a list of vocabulary words and definitions. Each page contains an illustration. The site also includes a reading for teachers on how an ESOL teacher used Mary's story in the classroom. Go to the HEAL:BCC Web site and click on Classroom Materials, then My Life Story With Cancer.
Available at: http://www.worlded.org/us/health/heal/docs/mary/introduction.html
Available at: http://www.worlded.org/us/health/docs/mary/introduction.html