1

The Minnesota Literacy Council created this curriculum with funding from the MN Department of Education. We invite you to adapt it for

your own classrooms.

MASTER

Going to the Pharmacy: Week 1 of 3

Unit Overview:

This is a three week unit during which students will learn and practice key information, vocabulary and

phrases that will help them use English more successfully when talking and reading about health concerns

and using medications.

The first week will focus on vocabulary for the body, illness and injuries. Students will also learn

vocabulary for common chronic diseases (e.g. asthma, diabetes and high blood pressure). In addition,

basic remedies for minor illnesses and injuries will be reviewed.

The second week will focus on reading and understanding labels of over the counter and prescription

medications, especially instructions for how much, how often and how long to take a particular

medication. Students will also practice dialogs for asking questions about medications.

The third week will focus on warnings and side effects, and will include a review of the entire unit.

Unit Objectives:

After this unit students will...

be able to name in English many parts of the human body.

be able to describe symptoms, illnesses, and injuries using "I have a ___________ "and "My

________ hurts".

be able to talk about and request remedies for minor health concerns.

know the names and general information about several common chronic illnesses.

feel more comfortable talking to a pharmacist.

be able to interpret information on both over-the-counter and prescription medication labels.

feel more comfortable asking questions about medication.

understand common warning labels on medications.

know what "side effects" are and how to ask about them.

2

Unit Outline:

Week 1 - Bodies and illnesses

Monday: Body parts and "hurts"

Tuesday: Body parts and "hurts"/"_____ache"

Wednesday: Illness, injury and simple remedies (day 1 of 2)

Thursday: Illness, injury and simple remedies (day 2 of 2)

Week 2 - Reading and understanding medication labels

Monday: OTC medications and reading labels (day 1 of 2)

Tuesday: OTC medications and reading labels (day 2 of 2)

Wednesday: Prescription medications and reading labels (day 1 of 2)

Thursday: Prescription medications and reading labels (day 2 of 2)

Week 3 - Warnings, side effects and unit review

Monday: Warnings and side effects (day 1 of 2)

Tuesday: Warnings and side effects (day 2 of 2)

Wednesday: Unit review (day 1 of 2)

Thursday: Unit review (day 2 of 2)

_______________________

MATERIALS

GIAB - Grammar in Action Basic

SE1 - Survival English 1

SE2 - Survival English 2

LPL - LifePrints Literacy

LP1 - LifePrints 1

LP1 (WB) - LifePrints 1 Workbook

SOB - Stand Out Basic

SOB RWC - Stand Out Basic Reading Writing Challenge

SOB GC - Stand Out Basic Grammar Challenge

RLE1 - Real Life English 1

HSI - Health Stories Introductory

HSLB - Health Stories Low Beginning

Online materials about medical literacy:

http://www.mcedservices.com/medex/medex.htm

Chronic Disease Packet (Included in curriculum)

_________________________________________________

3

Going to the pharmacy: Monday, Week 1 of 3 Body parts and "hurts"

Lesson Objectives: Materials

Students will:

Be introduced to and practice body part vocabulary

Be introduced to and practice: My ______ hurts. His/her

______ hurts. Does your ______ hurt? Be introduced to and practice questions: What’s the

matter? What’s the problem? What’s wrong?

Body part vocab:

SE1: 90-91

GIAB: 186,188

What hurts? LP1: 102-103

Activity Ideas:

Body part vocab Find out which body parts students already know using a chain drill. As a group, practice touching

different body parts and saying the name. Then turn to the first student and say “touch your nose.” The

student touches their nose and then turns to the next student and tells them to touch something else.

Continue the chain around the room.

To practice writing body parts, give students Post-It notes. You can pre-write the words on the notes or

have them write or copy the words on their own. Then have students place the Post-It notes on their

bodies to correspond with the body part vocabulary. *Remind students to only place Post-Its on their

own bodies! NOT on other classmates!

Play a game like "Simon Says" where you instruct students to touch different parts of their bodies. After

you lead several rounds, have student volunteers lead rounds.

What hurts? To practice "Does your ________ hurt?" play charades. Before class prepare slips of paper with names

of body parts. In small groups, students take turns drawing slips and then acting like that part of their

body hurts. The other students ask, "Does your __________ hurt?" to guess which body part was on the

paper.

Create dialogs with the question "What hurts?". Be sure to switch subjects so that students get practice

using both "My _____ hurts" and "His/Her ______ hurts".

What's the matter? Create simple dialogs using the phrases "What's the matter?", "What's the problem?" and "What's

wrong?" Do several together and then have students create their own.

4

Going to the pharmacy: Tuesday, Week 1 of 3 Body parts and "hurts"/"ache"

Lesson Objectives: Materials

Students will:

Continue practicing body part vocabulary

Continue practicing questions: What’s the matter? What’s

the problem? What’s wrong? Continue practicing: My ______ hurts. His/her ______

hurts. Does your ______ hurt? Be introduced to and practice: I have a ______ ache.

She/he has a _____ ache. Do you have a ___________

ache?

Body parts: LPL: 47

Hurts/ache:

GIAB: 189

SOB (RWC): 64

Activity Ideas:

Body parts Spend the first 20 - 30 minutes of class reviewing body vocabulary. Look at yesterday's curriculum to

get ideas for activities. Try to incorporate review/practice with all the language skills - in other words,

be sure students get practice hearing, saying, reading and writing the body words.

"What's the matter?" and hurts/ache Give each student a slip with a phrase like "My head hurts" or "I have a backache." IMPORTANT:

have them memorize it and give it back to you. Then, have students walk around the room and ask each

other “You look sick. What’s the matter?” They answer with what was on their slip. Each student

should write down each other's answer, and at the end as a class you can review by asking, "What's the

matter with ________?" and see how many students have the answer written down.

Create a simple dialog using several of the phrases from today's objectives. Practice it lots of times, in

lots of ways, such as:

o T models the entire dialog, by switching places to indicate different speakers

o T reads the dialog line by line, students repeat each line

o T models the dialog with a couple different student volunteers

o T is one person from the dialog, the entire class is the other person (then switch)

o Half the class is one person, the other half is the other (then switch)

o Ss practice several times with several different partners

After practicing the dialog many times, have students put away their papers and try to remember the

dialog.

Have students create their own dialogs and perform them for the class. Use this as a listening activity by

asking the students who are listening to write down the health problem in each created dialog.

5

Going to the pharmacy: Wednesday, Week 1 of 3 Illnesses, injuries and simple remedies (Day 1 of 2)

Lesson Objectives: Materials

Students will:

Continue practicing body vocabulary and other key

phrases from Mon. and Tues. (at least 30 min.)

Be introduced to illness and injury vocabulary (fever,

runny nose, broken arm, cut, etc).

Be introduced to a few simple remedies (aspirin,

ibuprofen, ice pack, heating pad, bandaid, etc).

Read about common chronic diseases (asthma, diabetes,

high blood pressure, etc).

Illness and injury vocab: GIAB: 187, 190

SE1: 93, 95

Simple remedies: GIAB: 187, 191

Chronic diseases: Chronic disease packet, pages 1 - 3

ONLY!

Activity Ideas:

Illness and injury vocab:

When introducing illnesses and injuries, start with the list on GIAB p187 and expand the list based on words that

students know or want to know. Tell students that they are at the hospital and there is no translator, they are sick,

they must show the doctor what is wrong with actions. Give some examples of pantomiming illnesses and have

the students try pantomiming other health problems. Write a list of health problems based on the students’ actions

and suggestions.

Many students suffer from the following illnesses that may be worth introducing: high blood pressure, diabetes,

asthma, arthritis.

Simple remedies: Put health problems on slips of paper, and remedies on other slips, and have students match them. Include

different subjects (I, she, Jose, etc.) and make sure students know that they need to match the correct subject as

well as the problem and remedy. Here are some example phrases:

o I have a headache. I need some aspirin.

o She has a headache. She needs some aspirin.

o I have a cut. I need a bandaid.

o She has a broken arm. She needs an ambulance.

Have the students use the phrases to create short dialogs, such as:

o What’s the matter? /I have a headache. I need some aspirin./ Ok, here you go.

o What's the problem?/ I have a cut. I need a bandaid./Ok, I'll get one.

o What's wrong?/ She has a broken arm. Please call 911./Ok, I'll do it right now.

Chronic disease: Make a transparency of page one from the Chronic disease packet. Ask students what the woman is doing.

Hand out page two of the Chronic disease packet. Talk about the meanings of the words "chronic" and

"disease" (Note - check page 3 for definitions!). Have them talk to a partner about the diseases listed and ask each

other if they know anyone who has that disease.

Hand out page three of the Chronic disease packet. Read the paragraph through several times - e.g. first you

read out loud, then give students time to read silently, then have them read with a partner.

As a follow-up, have students write sentences about people they know who have chronic diseases. Give them

some examples, such as:

o My friend Jeff has cancer.

o My mother has diabetes. She takes insulin.

6

o I don't know anyone who has asthma.

Chronic Disease Packet, p. 1-3

What is the woman doing? Why?

7

Chronic Diseases

What is a “disease”?

What is “chronic”?

Do you know about these diseases?

Heart disease Cancer

Asthma Diabetes

High blood pressure

8

Chronic Diseases A disease is something that makes you sick. Chronic diseases are diseases that last a long time. Examples of chronic diseases are heart disease, cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, and asthma. When you have a chronic disease, you will have it for months or years. Maybe you will have it for the rest of your life. Not all diseases are chronic diseases. Some diseases will go away with time or medicine. For example, if you have the flu you will be sick for a few days and then get better. This is NOT a chronic disease. If you have a chronic disease you will have to see the doctor often. You will have to make some changes in your life, like only eating healthy food, exercising more or not smoking. Maybe you will need to take medication. You need to be careful to take your medication correctly so it can help you. Questions:

1. What are two examples of chronic diseases?

2. Is the flu a chronic disease? 3. You have a chronic disease. What are some things you need to do?

9

Going to the pharmacy: Thursday, Week 1 of 3 Illnesses, injuries and simple remedies (Day 2 of 2)

Lesson Objectives: Materials

Students will:

Continue practicing body vocabulary and other key

phrases from Mon. and Tues. (at least 30 min.)

Continue practicing illness and injury vocabulary (fever,

runny nose, broken arm, cut, etc).

Continue practicing common disease vocabulary (asthma,

diabetes, high blood pressure, etc).

Continue practicing simple remedies (aspirin, ibuprofen,

ice pack, heating pad, bandaid, etc).

Illness and injury: RLE1: 100-101, 103-104, 107

Simple remedies: SOB (GC): 75-76

LP1 (WB): 34

LP1 Teacher's Resource File

Handout 9.1

Chronic diseases: Chronic disease packet, pages 1, 4-

6

Body and illness/injury vocab:

Review body parts and illness/injury vocab by using some of the vocab review ideas below. Keep in

mind as you plan your review that students should practice hearing, saying, reading and writing the

words.

o Play hangman (you lead a few times, then students do together in small groups).

o Scramble some words and have students work together to unscramble them.

o Play charades with illnesses/injuries/aches/hurts.

o Spell some of the more difficult words out loud and have students write them down as you spell

them (without refering to their notes).

Simple remedies:

Review simple remedies by creating simple mind maps as a class on the board

Ex. write COLD in the center of the board and ask students for possible simple remedies that may help a cold,

write them around the center word.

Now, use the LP1 9.1 Handout. Look at pictures of people with various minor illnesses/injuries and

have students suggest simple remedies by writing sentences using need. ex. (show a picture of some

with a headache) Students write: He needs aspirin.

Chronic disease: Make a transparency of page one from the Chronic disease packet. Ask students what the woman is

doing (they saw this yesterday so this should be review/refresher).

Ask students to tell you what they learned yesterday about "Chronic diseases". (See page three of

the Chronic disease packet for definitions.)

Hand out pages 4-5 of the packet. Read each section through several times - e.g. first you read out loud,

then give students time to read silently, then have them read with a partner. Create some basic

comprehension questions for students to find answers to. Discuss answers together.

Hand out page 6 of the packet. Read together and discuss the questions.

10

Chronic Disease Packet, p. 1, 4-6

What is the woman doing? Why?

11

What Are Some Common Chronic Diseases? Asthma Asthma is a problem with the tubes that take air to your lungs. Sometimes the air tubes get too small or close and then it is difficult to breathe. When you have an asthma attack, you feel like you cannot get enough air. Many people who have asthma use an inhaler.

Inhaler

Air tubes Lungs

Diabetes Diabetes is when it is difficult for your body to use the sugar in your blood. If you have diabetes, your blood sugar level can get too high or too low. This can be very dangerous for your body.

Many people who have diabetes use a blood sugar monitor to check their blood sugar. Blood sugar monitor

12

Heart Disease The tubes that take blood from your heart to your body are arteries. Sometimes arteries can become smaller or blocked. Eating unhealthy food, not exercising and smoking are things that can cause arteries to get blocked. This is called heart disease. If arteries are too small, this can cause high blood pressure. This means that your heart has to work hard to move blood around your body. When an artery gets too blocked and the blood cannot get to the different parts of your body, this is very dangerous and will cause serious problems and bad pain. If blood cannot go to the heart because an artery is blocked, the heart cannot pump anymore. This is called a heart attack. If blood cannot go to the brain because an artery is blocked, this is called a stroke. People can die if they have a heart attack or a stroke. More people in the U.S. die from heart disease than from any other disease.

Heart Brain

Artery Blocked artery

13

Family Health History

Sometimes if your mother, father, or grandparent had a disease, it is more possible you will have it, too. If someone in your family had heart disease, then you have a family history of heart disease. If someone in your family had diabetes, then you have a family history of diabetes. Know your family health history and tell your doctor about it!

I don’t want to have a chronic disease!

or I have a chronic disease but I want to stay healthy!

What can I do?

Eat healthy food Exercise Don’t smoke Get a regular checkup from a doctor