LIVING WITH DISEASE
I. Brief statements Based on the Unit
This unit mainly talks about deadly diseases and attitudes towards AIDS, cancers, etc. All the activities, including Warming up, Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing, focus on this topic. Through this topic, the students not only get more information about diseases, but also learn how to keep a right and positive attitude towards disease and people with disease.
In addition, the students can learn some useful language points through the materials provided in each part, especially a lot of words and phrases, which are very helpful for the students to build up vocabulary about diseases. The Grammar-the Subjunctive Mood is also important. The given materials and exercises give the students an opportunity to learn grammar by using it. It helps the students learn to talk about things that are not certain to happen as well as imaginary or unreal events and situations.
All of the activities are helpful for the students to improve their knowledge about language and their skills to use language.
II. Teaching Goals
1. Talk about deadly diseases and attitudes towards AIDS, cancers, etc.
2. Practise talking about imaginary situations.
3. Practise supporting and challenging an opinion.
4. Learn to use the Subjunctive Mood (1): If I were you, … I wish I could …
5. Write a personal narrative.
III. Teaching Plan: (Six Periods)
1st period: Warming-up, Listening (WB) & Talking (Optional)
2nd period: Speaking
3rd period: Reading-Born Dying
4th period: Integrating Skills (SB)
5th period: Language Study-Word Study
6th period: Language Study-Grammar
The First Period
GOALS:
To focus on talking about deadly diseases (esp. AIDS) as warming up and listening practice.
To learn some basic knowledge about AIDS.
To help students build the right attitudes towards AIDS.
TEACHING PROCEDURES
I. Warming up
1. Lead-in
1) Show a picture of AIDS logo to lead in the subject-AIDS
Are you familiar with this red ribbon?
What’s it related to?
What doesn’t it mean? Do you know?
(Possible answer: Red ribbon is related to AIDS. It means that we should give AIDS patients love and care, understand and support.)
2) Show a picture of Pu Cunxin and other stars to show that AIDS is a worldwide problem.
Do you know them?
What is their job besides acting?
Is it just the problem in China?
(Possible answer: It’s not just the problem in China. It’s a worldwide problem. And besides some famous stars, some ordinary people also work very hard to tell others the harm of this disease.)
2. Brainstorming
Q1: While talking about AIDS, what other diseases can you think of?
Individual work: Let students brainstorm the names of diseases, such as cold, headache, toothache, diarrhoea, cut, coughing, scald, insomnia, heart attack, cancer, AIDS, etc.
(With the development of science and hi-tech, many diseases can be cured. But for now, AIDS is still incurable, so it’s a deadly disease.)
3. How much do you know about AIDS?
1) Pair work-questions for discussion
What’s the full name of AIDS?
Can AIDS be transmitted?
In what ways can it be transmitted?
What kinds of people are likely to get AIDS?
Do people with AIDS look healthy at first?
Is it safe or dangerous to stay or to be friends with them? Why?
(Students don’t have to give the exact answers. These questions will help them think about this disease-AIDS.)
2) AIDS QUIZ (individual work)
1) AIDS quiz (p.49)-check students’ knowledge about AIDS.
2) Picture quiz -Can the AIDS virus transmitted via the following routes?
Summary: Medical studies show that the AIDS virus cannot be transmitted via the following routes: cups, glasses, toilet seats, swimming pools, mosquitoes, other insects or giving blood. So it’s safe to be friends with AIDS patients.
II. Listening (WB)
1. Pre-listening: Go through EX1&2 in Part1 and guess “What do the letters HIV and AIDS stand for?”
2. While-listening: Listen to the tape and finish exercises in Part1&2.
(Make good use of some pictures and a flash “HIV-cycle” in the PowerPoint)
3. Post-listening: Suppose you are a publicist of AIDS, please give an oral report about it to the whole class.
III. Talking (Optional)
Role play: Work in groups. Imagine that the headmaster of a school has found out that one of the students has HIV. The student’s family has kept it a secret until now and the headmaster only learnt the truth last week. He had called a meeting to decide what to do.
(Opinions can be based on their knowledge of AIDS and also the characteristics of the roles.)
IV. Homework
1. Preview Speaking (p. 50) and find some information about AIDS, drugs, smoking or drinking to support your idea.
2. Learn the new words of this unit by heart.
The Second Period
GOALS:
To practise supporting and challenging an opinion.
To practise listening comprehension.
TEACHING PROCEDURES
I. Revision
Do you still remember this logo? What can you learn from it?
Q1: Do you remember what it means?
Q2: In what ways is AIDS transmitted?
II. Speaking
1. Pre-speaking
1) Do you agree that getting AIDS is a personal problem? Why or why not?
(Through these questions-
Raise the idea of social problem and come to Speaking part.
Introduce the useful expressions of supporting and challenging an opinion on p.50. And throughout the whole class, teachers should try to use these expressions as many as possible to raise students’ awareness.
2) As has just been talked about, AIDS is not only a personal problem, but also a social one. Because when we talk about social problems, we mean crimes such as drug use, murder, theft or robbery and broken families. These social problems cause sadness, unhappiness, harm, fear and even wars in the world or in society. Besides, there are quite a few other social problems. Can you tell some? Can you use your own sentence to describe one of these social problems?
(Possible answer: crime, health, homelessness, poverty, gambling, family violence, divorce, unemployment)
3) Information input
Give students some information about how serious these problems are and ask them to take notes. Then they can decide what is the most serious.
(Refer to the PowerPoint Proper explanation is needed).
About AIDS
1. How many AIDS patients all over the world? Where are they? And are they young or old?
2. What kinds of social problems can AIDS cause?
3. How about the situation in China?
About drugs
1. Is the use of drugs such as heroin, serious? Why do you think so?
2. What should we do with it?
About Smoking
1. Nearly everyone knows that smoking is harmful to our health. But why do people smoke?
2. What kinds of danger can it cause to our body?
3. Can you think of the other dangers of smoking?
About drinking
1. Do your parents drink? Do you think drinking is good or not, or it depends? Give your reasons.
2. Can drinking cause some problem to our body? What are they?
3. Will drinking cause some social problems? Give some example.
T: These four are all social problems, as they all will cause sadness, unhappiness, harm, fear and even wars in the world or in society.
2. While-speaking
If you were an expert on social problems, what is the most serious problem today, AIDS, drugs, smoking or drinking?
Role play
Group of four
Each acts as the expert on AIDS, drug, smoking and drinking.
Use the expressions to support your opinion or challenging other’s opinions. (p.50)
Language input (Useful expressions)
--Repeat it to strengthen students’ ability of use it.
Supporting an opinion Challenging an opinion
I think that …, because … Perhaps, but what if / about …?
First, … Have you thought about …?
One reason is that … What makes you think that …?
For example, … Could you please explain …?
If we / they were to …, we / they could … If I were you, I would …
3. Post-speaking
Conclusion-Class discussion
Q: Could these social problems be avoided? Or could we get rid of social problems in modern times? What can we do to deal with them?
(Social problems are around us. They can’t disappear in modern society. But we can do something optimistic or positive to reduce the harm they cause. That’s why we youth are asked to get away from AIDS, drugs, etc. That’s why we youth should develop good habits. That’s why many people including famous stars are busy with telling others the harm. In this way, we can stay healthy both physically and mentally.)
IV. Homework
1. Finish Listening (P.50) exercises
2. Read the passage “FIGHTING THE VIRUS: HIV/AIDS IN AFRICA” (P127) and finish the Pre-reading exercises (p. 51).
The Third Period
GOALS:
To learn more knowledge about AIDS.
To help students understand the attitudes and spirits of living with disease
To learn some useful language point
TEACHING PROCEDURES
I. Pre-reading
1) Q1: What do they look?
Show the picture of a father and his son.
(The father looks caring, gentle and energetic and the son gives us an impression of being lovely and cute. They appear so healthy that you would never guess that they are living and dying with AIDS.)
2) Q2: Have you ever seen an AIDS patient? How do they look?
Show the students some pictures of AIDS patients.
(If nothing is done, there is no doubt that all the people infected with AIDS will be like them, no matter how healthy they are now.)
3) Q3: Are they bad people? Do they deserve it?
Show more pictures of people infected with HIV or AIDS.
(I’m afraid not. Like any father, “Jeremy is my whole life. Every dad dreams of watching his kid grow up and graduate from high school. I never thought that would happen for us because Jeremy and I are both HIV positive. But thanks to our new family clinic, we both have access to the treatments we need. Now maybe I will see Jeremy walk down the aisle with the class of 2017”.[Here give the students several minutes to chew and digest these words.] Like any 12-year-old child, Xiaohua is a happy girl who smiles a lot and likes to talk to her friends after school. However, she has lost her mother and will lose her father and she herself was born dying with AIDS.)
4) Q4: Do you want to know more about their life?
Our text is about Xiaohua’s life.
What questions do you think will be answered in the text?
1._______________
2._______________
3._______________
4._______________
II. While-reading
1) Skimming:
Q: What’s Xiaohua’s attitude towards her disease?
2) Scanning:
Q1: In what ways does AIDS spread?
Q2: How many children were infected in 2002?
3) Summary：
1. Xiaohua is a 12 -year-old girl living and dying with AIDS. (para1)
2. What is AIDS? (para2)
3. How was Xiaohua infected? (para3)
4. Thousands of children become infected with HIV every day. (para4)
5. Xiaohua devotes much of her left time to helping others. (para5, 6, 7)
III. Post-reading
1) Questions
(Much of the answers to these questions can be referred to the reading material on P127.)
Q1: Why is AIDS a deadly disease?
(Break down/ defenceless/treatment/not available/incurable)
Q2: Why do the young suffer the most?
(As with many diseases, children seem to suffer the most from AIDS, mainly because of a lack of proper health care, prevention and education. Even if they themselves are not infected, the disease can ruin their lives. They may have to care for sick relatives and are often unable to go to school. Living with a parent or parents who have AIDS is painful and difficult. Because the parents cannot work, the children may not have enough food and must help take care of the family.)
Q3: What do they suffer from?
(Not only the disease itself and inevitable death, but also people’s not knowing, misunderstanding and fear of the disease.)
Q4: What can be done to improve the situation?
(By the government:
By specialist and doctors:
By other people:
By the patients themselves: )
Q5: As an AIDS patient, what does Xiaohua do?
(not discouraged/ encourage/ visit, support, cheer up/create a network, persuade/talk to people)
Q6: What are her wishes?
(I wish I could remember
If I were to live long …
I wish people could…
If I were you …
Q7: How do you find her?
Q8: Next time if you meet an AIDS patient, will you regard him or her as a bad and dangerous person? What would you do?
2) Creation
AIDS Day is approaching, our school is planning some theme activities and it is collecting ideas from the students.
Is it a good idea to invite Xiaohua to give us a lecture? If you were Xiaohua, what would you say to us? Please prepare a speech.
IV. Homework
1. Preview Integrating Skills-DIAGNOSED WITH CANCER: THE DAY MY LIFE ENDED … AND BEGAN! (p. 54)
2. Learn the whole text by heart.
The Forth Period
GOALS:
To learn some information of cancer and the attitude towards it.
To write a personal narrative.
TEACHING PROCEDURES
I. Pre-reading
Life is not always smooth, but with submerged rocks here and there, now and then. When faced with unexpected diseases or disasters or even death, what attitude to choose is a question.
Q: For example, if you found out that you had an incurable disease, how do you think your life would change? And how would you act towards the change?
-- Born dying with AIDS, Xiaohua says, “My life may have to be short, but there’s no reason why it can’t be beautiful.”
-- Diagnosed with cancer, ‘I’ also have something to say to you. Now let’s see what ‘I’ will say to you.
II. While-reading
Questions:
Q1: How did cancer change the writer’s life?
Q2: Compare the writer’s situation with that of Xiaohua. In what way are their experiences similar or different?
Q3: Do their experiences strike you?
Q4: What have you learnt from them?
(Get the students to put emphasis on some language points, especially how the writer expresses what he thinks. e.g.
I remember having an empty feeling in my stomach and thinking that my life was going to end.
There were days when I wished that I were dead so that I would not have to feel so sick.)
III. Writing
Life is like a moon, sometimes round, sometimes not. We have happy times and also sad moments. If we draw a timeline, we will find it is not always straight. Take myself for instance…
Steps to follow
Step one: think about your past days: what were some events that made you very happy? What made you very sad?
Step two: draw a timeline of your life and mark the best times (the highs) and the worst times (the lows).
Step three: talk about the happy and sad things to your partner, with reference to the timeline.
Step four: choose one event, either happy or sad, which impresses you most. Try to remember all the details of it, especially how it made you feel, what it made you think and why it is important in your life. Prepare for writing it down.
Step five: work out an outline of what you are going to write.
Step six: read an example.
Step seven: begin to write.
IV. Homework
1. Write an essay about an important event in your life.
The Fifth Period
GOALS:
To learn about some antonyms
To practice using some useful words and phrases in the text
TEACHING PROCEDURES
I. Lead-in
Ask students some questions about Xiaohua. On one hand, they can review what they have learned. On the other hand, teacher can lead them to the learning of the useful words and phrases in this way
Q1. Do you still remember Xiaohua?
Q2. What has happened to her?
Q3. What is her attitude towards the disease?
(She is a brave girl. She is not discouraged by AIDS, instead, she tries her best to encourage and help other AIDS patients.)
II. Learn and practice using some antonyms
1) Ask students to pay attention to the two words in bold and explain to them their meanings, pointing out that they have opposite meanings and this kind of words are called antonyms.
2) Let students have a competition. Try to find the antonyms of the following words. Let's see who can do it correctly and quickly.
defenceless -- defensive
infect with -- immune to
protected -- unprotected
incurable -- curable
discourage -- encourage
visible -- invisible
3) Practice using these antonyms through exercises.
(Complete the sentences using the antonyms)
1. In February 2003 some people got ____ a strange disease and died within a month.
2. Although she met many difficulties, Helen was not _____. She continued struggling with the disease.
3. People think it a serious crime to attack _______ children.
4. AIDS can be transmitted by having ______ sex.
5. Having found out that the girl has got a disease which is ______ and will die soon, the boy decide to help her to make the last days of her life beautiful and meaningful.
III. Practice using some useful words and phrases in the text.
(Translate the following sentences with the help of Chinese or italic words.)
1. The doctor ______ (診斷)my illness as a rare skin disease.
2. He has _______ （恢復）from his bad cold and can go out tomorrow.
3. The disease makes her realize how _______ （寶貴）life is.
4. The doctor told him that the wound had been infected, and that the ___________ （受感染的傷口）become deadly if it is not properly treated.
5. They are certain taht this virus has been transmitted through the air, yet they have not been able to identify the ___________（傳播的病毒）
6. Bad news may discourage a patient, so it is very important that doctors try to cheer up the _______________（灰心喪氣的病人）
7. First the doctor takes a blood sample and has it tested. Then he will use the ________ （經過測試的血樣）to find out if it is a serious disease.
8. You cannot delay the treatment any longer. You must stop working unless you want to deal with the risks of ______________.（延誤的治療）
IV. Complete the short summary of the text with the proper forms of the following words and phrases.
break down the immune system leave defenceless
infect with live with
live life to the fullest die of
available deadly
a lack of on the contrary
AIDS is a disease that breaks down the body's immune system and leaves a person defenceless against infections and illnesses. People get AIDS after having been infected with HIV, the virus that causes the disease. There are millions of people who die of AIDS every year.
So far, there is no treatment available for the disease and AIDS patients have to deal with the fact that they might die young. Unfortunately, a deadly disease such as AIDS also frightens others. Because of a lack of knowledge about how it gets transmitted, people often treat AIDS patients as if they were bad or dangerous.
Xiaohua is a 12-year-old girl. Though she has been living with AIDS for 12 years, she is not discouraged by the disease. On the contrary, it makes her realize how precious life is and how important it is to live life to the fullest.
V. Set a new situation, asking students to write down a short dialogue. In this way, they can review and use the words and phrases gagin.
Situation: Two women are talking with an AIDS patient. Write a dialogue, using your imagination as well as the useful words and expressions taht have been mentioned above.
VI. Homework
1. Preview grammar
2. Finish word study exercises on SB and WB
The Sixth Period
GOALS:
To learn the Subjunctive Mood
To make students get familiar with the Subjunctive Mood and master it by using it in different situations
TEACHING PROCEDURES
I. Lead-in
1) Show students the picture of Xiaohua and ask them two questions:
Q1. You must be quite familiar with this girl now, right?
(Right. She is a Xiaohua, a girl who has been infected with AIDS.)
Q2. How was she infected with AIDS?
(She was infected by birth.)
2) Xiaohua was born dying and she has no choices. But many people who really have many choices don’t realize how precious life is and do a lot of harms to themselves.
1. Show students some pictures of people who smoke a lot, drink a lot or even have drugs, pointing out all these can lead to deadly disease.
2. Based on the above talking, teacher raise the following questions:
If they go on doing this, what would happen?
If you were Xiaohua, what would you like to tell them?
If you were a doctor, what would you do?
If you were one of them, what would you do?
3. Some people do not take Xiaohua or doctor's advices. Finally, they die.
If they had not drunk so much wine, he would not have died at such an early age.
If he had (not)..., he would (not) have...
Ask students to make more similar sentences, using the Subjunctive Mood.
II. More Situations
1. The woman in the picture is Helen, who has been living with AIDS for many years. Now she is celebrating her birthday with her dog. If you were Helen, what kind of wishes would you make?
2. It is said that a falling star can let your dream come true. If you saw a falling star, what kind of wishes would you make?
3. Besides a falling star, a magic lamp can also let your dream com true. If you had a magic lamp, what would you ask it to do for you ?
III. Homework
1. Finish all the grammar exercises on SB and WB
2. Review the whole unit
IV. Background Information
What is AIDS?
--http://www.aids.org/factSheets/index.html#Preventing
WHAT DO "AIDS" MEAN?
AIDS stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome:
Acquired means you can get infected with it;
Immune Deficiency means a weakness in the body's system that fights diseases.
Syndrome means a group of health problems that make up a disease.
AIDS is caused by a virus called HIV, the Human Immunodeficiency Virus. If you get infected with HIV, your body will try to fight the infection. It will make "antibodies", special molecules that are supposed to fight HIV.
When you get a blood test for HIV, the test looks for these antibodies. If you have them in your blood, it means that you have HIV infection. People who have the HIV antibodies are called "HIV-Positive". Fact Sheet 102 has more information on HIV testing. Being HIV-positive, or having HIV disease, is not the same as having AIDS. Many people are HIV-positive but don't get sick for many years. As HIV disease continues, it slowly wears down the immune system. Viruses, parasites, fungi and bacteria that usually don't cause any problems can make you very sick if your immune system is damaged. These are called "opportunistic infections" (see Fact Sheet 500).
HOW DO YOU GET AIDS?
You don't actually "get" AIDS. You might get infected with HIV, and later you might develop AIDS.
You can get infected with HIV from anyone who's infected, even if they don't look sick, and even if they haven't tested HIV-positive yet. The blood, vaginal fluid, semen, and breast milk of people infected with HIV has enough of the virus in it to infect other people. Most people get the HIV virus by:
Having sex with an infected person.
Sharing a needle (shooting drugs) with someone who's infected
Being born when the mother is infected, or drinking the breast milk of an infected woman.
Getting a transfusion of infected blood used to be a way people got AIDS, but now the blood supply is screened very carefully and the risk is extremely low.
There are no documented cases of HIV being transmitted by tears or saliva, but it is possible to be infected with HIV through oral sex or in rare cases through deep kissing, especially if you have open sores in your mouth or bleeding gums.
In the United States, there are about 800,000 to 900,000 people who are HIV-positive. Over 300,000 people are living with AIDS. Each year, there are about 40,000 new infections. In the mid-1990s, AIDS was a leading cause of death. However, newer treatments have cut the AIDS death rate significantly.
IS THERE A CURE FOR AIDS?
There is no cure for AIDS. There are drugs that can slow down the HIV virus, and slow down the damage to your immune system. But there is no way to get all the HIV out of your body.
There are other drugs that you can take to prevent or to treat opportunistic infections (OIs). In most cases, these drugs work very well. The newer, stronger anti-HIV drugs have also helped reduce the rates of most OIs. A few OIs, however, are still very difficult to treat.
HOW CAN YOU PROTECT YOURSELF AND OTHERS?
Unless you are 100% sure that you and the people you are with do not have HIV infection, you should take steps to prevent getting infected. This fact sheet provides an overview of HIV prevention, and refers you to other fact sheets for more details on specific topics.
Sexual Activity
You can avoid any risk of HIV if you practice abstinence (not having sex). You also won't get infected if your penis, mouth, vagina or rectum doesn't touch anyone else's penis, mouth, vagina, or rectum. Safe activities include kissing, erotic massage, masturbation or hand jobs (mutual masturbation).
Drug Use
If you're high on drugs, you might forget to use protection during sex. If you use someone else's equipment (needles, syringes, cookers, cotton or rinse water) you can get infected by tiny amounts of blood. The best way to avoid infection is to not use drugs.
Vertical Transmission
With no treatment, about 25% of the babies of HIV-infected women would be born infected. The risk drops to about 4% if a woman takes AZT during pregnancy and delivery, and her newborn is given AZT. The risk is 2% or less if the mother is taking combination antiviral therapy. Caesarean section deliveries probably don't reduce transmission risk if the mother's viral load is below 1000.
Contact with Blood
HIV is one of many diseases that can be transmitted by blood. Be careful if you are helping someone who is bleeding. If your work exposes you to blood, be sure to protect any cuts or open sores on your skin, as well as your eyes and mouth. Your employer should provide gloves, facemasks and other protective equipment, plus training about how to avoid diseases that are spread by blood.
THE BOTTOM LINE
HIV does not spread easily from person to person. To get infected with HIV, infected blood, sexual fluid, or mother's milk has to get into your body. HIV-infected pregnant women can pass the infection to their new babies.
To decrease the risk of spreading HIV:
Use condoms during sexual activity
Do not share drug injection equipment
If you are HIV-infected and pregnant, talk with your doctor about taking anti-HIV drugs
If you are an HIV-infected woman, don't breast feed any baby
Protect cuts, open sores, and your eyes and mouth from contact with blood.
If you think you've been exposed to HIV, get tested and ask your doctor about taking anti-HIV medications.
(浙江省黃巖中學英語組 趙麗紅 洪峰 張衛)