Week 1 Materials
Hi everyone. I teach adult newcomers to Ireland (mainly refugees, A1/A2).
At the moment we are focusing on health care in Ireland. We have just compared Middle Eastern Health care and Irish Health care. While many need interpreters going to the doctor, they all have enough English to deal with the pharmacy. However, there can be confusion with taking medicine and the dosages.
It also gives us a chance to review affirmative imperatives and why they are used here.
I have used my son's prescription!
I've added some comments in Google, Margaret. I love your idea of using a real prescription. The activities are spot on too - useful for the learners and just the right amount of support. Your student care lucky to have you as their teacher.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting - thanks for sharing. It really demonstrates how much learning can come from a short text!
ReplyDeleteWow. I've never had to teach content like this before. I really like the flow of the worksheet you've put together, and it looks like it will be really helpful for your students. Do you follow up by showing more examples of prescriptions and letting them do the same activities again?
ReplyDeleteReally interesting, I'd never think of using a prescription! :)
ReplyDeleteThis would definitely be a really useful lesson for your learners. Great stuff.
ReplyDeleteAnne Hendler Hi Anne. Thank you for your kind comments. Actually, I hadn't thought to do it again, but of course I must! Thanks Anne.
ReplyDeleteMaria Theologidou Neither did I Maria until I happened to be in the same pharmacy as one of the learners and realised that the chemist spoke so fast the learner hadn't a clue what they were saying! They had to rely on google translate, or work out what the prescription was for at home.
ReplyDeleteGeraldine McIlwaine Thanks Geraldine.
ReplyDeleteHi Margaret! I love this! I also work with a lot of immigrants who need to overcome these hurdles and I love using authentic resources like this.
ReplyDeleteI would add a role-play scenario of picking up a prescription at the end of this task. Your pair work questions are good but it would also be helpful to model the exact situation. It can be quite intimidating when the pharmacist is rattling off the instructions and you are just nodding silently thinking you might accidentally overdose (!) if you misunderstand anything. Thus, I often teach my students "confirmation strategies" for a variety of situations.
For example, if the pharmacist says, "take one three times a day for seven days" The patient can confirm that they understand by rephrasing it. "So I should take this for seven days and I take three pills a day? Is that right?" You could add some examples of confirmation as speaking prompts, like: "Let me just make sure I understand..." or "Did you say....three times a day?" I try to show them ways that they can politely slow down a native speaker's conversation so that they can get the information they need with going into a mental block.
Ashley, I love your "confirmation strategies". They round off the lesson beautifully. The strategies are so polite and yet so useful. I will definitely be trying them out! They are exactly what's needed when the learners (and I) are in a pharmacy. I don't think I've ever fully understood what the chemist has said until I've gone home. Thank you so much for your wonderful advice.
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