2. English Teacher Support Unit 13
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Health, Hygiene and Fitness
Before we start………….
Having taken your students through the activities in twelve TSUs, you must have
noticed a number of changes in your students? Aren't they more comfortable using
English now? They must also be participating with more confidence in class and you
must be happy with their progress. Well, there are more interesting sessions for
you to do with them in this TSU. But before that, let's look at what your students
have achieved so far.
The Thirteenth TSU
The focus of this TSU, health, hygiene and fitness, is important for your students.
Adolescence is a time when the ground is laid for building up one's health, immunity
and endurance. Young people need to be aware that a healthy lifestyle at this age will
stand them in good stead when they are older. We will also discuss issues dealing
with mental health, such as anxiety and stress, an area where adolescents are
particularly vulnerable.
Activity - 1: Antakshari
Play the word building game, antakshari with words related to health. You have done
this activity in earlier TSUs and you can follow the same pattern here. Tell the
students that the words must be related to health. You can also include parts of the
body, minerals, vitamins, etc. Students may have learnt some of these words in their
science classes. Start with the word, 'pain'. The next one can be 'nutrient', etc.
The students can now:
• gather information from newspapers, TV news, etc.
• draft simple letters and applications
• respond to questions about poetry from their textbooks and
relate the themes to their lives
• use full sentences in speech and writing
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Write the words on the board as the students say them. Then ask them to choose any
two words and make a sentence.
Did it work?
interesting difficult boring
Activity - 2: Dealing with Emotions
Ask students to come up with feelings and emotions they go through. They may not
come up with their innermost thoughts in front of the class but that is all right. If
they are reluctant to speak or are unable to come up with words to describe their
feelings, write a few emotions on the board, like the ones below. Then ask them to
give you more emotions. Write them on the board.
Ask them to write down what triggers each of the emotions. They can use
sentences like, 'I feel angry when...'. Students can tell you what they feel in Odia and
you could help them with the English equivalent. Walk around the class while they
are doing this exercise.
They can then work in pairs and share their feelings with each other. If students are
comfortable with this, they can take on the role of advisors. Each student gives the
other advice on how to deal with their problem.
Alternatively, you can ask each student to write a few lines on how they will handle
each of their problems.
• anxiety during exams
• anger
• feeling of boredom
• nervousness or fear
What is the focus of this activity?...................................................
Did you make any modifications or try out
variations?..............................................................................................
.................................................................................................................
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Did it work?
interesting difficult boring
Activity 3: Health Proverbs
Write the proverbs below on the board. Ask students if they agree with these
proverbs? Encourage them to discuss their views.
• health is wealth
• laughter is the best medicine
• early to bed, early to rise, makes you healthy, wealthy and wise
• an apple a day, keeps the doctor away
Once they have spoken about the proverbs, you can ask them to write a few lines
saying why they agree or disagree.
You can ask students to find proverbs related to health in their own language and again
discuss and write a few sentences on whether they agree with them or not.
Did it work?
interesting difficult boring
What is the focus of this activity?...................................................
Did you make any modifications or try out
variations?..............................................................................................
.................................................................................................................
What is the focus of this activity?...................................................
Did you make any modifications or try out
variations?..............................................................................................
.................................................................................................................
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Activity - 4: Drinking Clean Water
Discuss with students, the health hazards of drinking impure water. Ask them what
they have learnt in science regarding this.
Ask them at which time of year drinking water is of the poorest quality.
Ask them if they do anything to purify water in their homes - use a cloth to filter
water, boil water, etc.
You can tell them about an interesting method which people use to treat water. It is
called SODIS stands for Solar Water Disinfection. It is a simple and low cost water
treatment method to provide safe drinking water. The WHO (World Health
Organization) recommends this as a water disinfection method.
SODIS uses solar radiation to destroy organic pollutants in water. Fill transparent
plastic bottles with contaminated water and expose them to the full sunlight for 6
hours. If the water is brown with suspended dirt, filter the water through a clean
cloth before filling the bottles. The UV-A radiation together with a raised water
temperature of about 50° C kills the micro-organisms and makes the bottled water
consumable.
Ask students if they can think of simple ways to purify water.
Here are some other questions they can think about.
• How can they purify drinking water in school?
• What can they do to make sure that the water source in their village
provides them with clean water?
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Did it work?
interesting difficult boring
Activity - 5: The Importance of Hand Washing
Explain the importance of washing hands and how poor hand hygiene can result in a
number of diseases including typhoid and cholera.
You can show them these pictures of simple 'taps' for children to wash their hands
when there is no running water.
What is the focus of this activity?...................................................
Did you make any modifications or try out
variations?..............................................................................................
.................................................................................................................
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Ask the students if they can think of using things in their environment to create hand
washing facilities which can be used in school and at home. This can be done as group
work. After they brainstorm their 'invention', you can do a writing activity with the
students and ask them to write the steps involved in making their 'taps' in a proper
sequence.
Did it work?
interesting difficult boring
What is the focus of this activity?...................................................
Did you make any modifications or try out
variations?..............................................................................................
.................................................................................................................
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Activity - 6: Moderation is the Key to Good Health
Anything in excess is bad for health.
Ask students to find out how an excess of each of the following can harm them. They
may refer to their science books, talk to their science teachers, maybe even talk to a
doctor who is friendly.
salt, water, iodine, sleep, sunlight, sugar, Vitamin C, protein, oxygen
Did it work?
interesting difficult boring
Textbook activity: Writing
1. Character sketch
Ask students to work in groups and go through the story ‘The first step’ and discuss the
character of Ammu. You can give them some describing words about Ammu. For example:
punctual, curious, obedient, fearful etc. Ask the students to write a small paragraph about
her.
You can follow up by asking them to work on their own and describe another child they
know well, e.g. a brother or sister.
2. Guided writing - i
Ask students to work in groups and write about a school annual day. You can use these
hints to help them write.
What is the focus of this activity?...................................................
Did you make any modifications or try out
variations?..............................................................................................
.................................................................................................................
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Write these words, related to an annual day celebration, on the board. Ask students to
make sentences using these words. Once they have made the sentences you go from group
to group and help them sequence the sentences to form a paragraph.
chief guest bouquet prize dance speech
drama music sweet games competition
parents
You can give them more guided writing activities like this to help them write paragraphs on
topics in the textbook.
3. Guided paragraph writing - ii
Ask students to complete this short paragraph on 'My best friend'.
My best friend is .....................................
She is kind ................................, ..................................., .................................... (use adjectives)
We do many things together. We ................................. (use verbs)
4. Guided writing - iii
Give your students some words about a wedding. You can write them on the board. Ask
them to use the words to write a small paragraph on a wedding.
people jewellery food music children laughing lights
bridegroom shouting crying bride horse riding dancing
I went to wedding on Saturday.
...........................................................................................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................................................................................
The bridegroom came riding on a horse.
...........................................................................................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................................................................................
I enjoyed myself at the wedding.
