Tuesday January 25, 2005
Pre-Intermediate +

THE ARTICLE

The threat of a lethal bird flu pandemic may be closer than we think, warned scientists today. In a worse case scenario tens of millions could die around the world, as it is now believed the virus could be transmitted from human to human. Most of the cases of avian flu deaths have so far been the result of direct contact with infected chickens, however, scientists believe a new strain has mutated and has jumped species, enabling it to spread from person to person. The New England Journal of Medicine reports the case of a Thai woman who was infected with the virus from her daughter. The mother had never been in direct contact with chickens. Although so far an isolated case, researchers have warned of “the urgent need to prepare for a future influenza pandemic”.

This news has put governments around the world on alert in preparing for a possible outbreak. The advent of international travel means any virus might spread like wildfire between the world’s major cities. A sobering reminder of just how deadly and global a bird flu virus can be is the 1918 pandemic which killed 40 million people worldwide. Thailand's deputy prime minister Chaturon Chaisaeng said yesterday, "We are deeply concerned about human-to-human transmissions, which would be very dangerous, and it is close.” Neighbouring Vietnam, where nine people have died from bird flu this month, is bracing itself for a major outbreak, with all hospitals on alert. Farther afield, it is reported British politicians are devising plans to close down London in the event of a pandemic.

Lesson & plan in Word.doc     Example Class Handout in .pdf

POSSIBLE WARM UPS / COOL DOWNS

1. CHAT:  Talk in pairs or groups about chicken (the meat) / chickens (the birds) / flu / bird flu / pandemics / SARS / scare stories / capital city shutdowns …
To make things more dynamic, try telling your students they only have one minute (or 2) on each chat topic before changing topics / partners. Change topic / partner frequently to energize the class.

2. CHICKEN BRAINSTORM: Ask students to tell you any words they associate with chickens. Put these words on the board and leave as a springboard for student conversation / chat.

3. MY HEALTH: Students talk about their health, especially in relation to colds. In groups find out which person is the most / least susceptible to colds or flu, based on their previous history of contraction.

4. REMEDIES: Students play doctor for 10 minutes and discuss ways of preventing or curing colds in their families / countries.  Students present these to the class, as each country or person has different remedies, often weird and wild and wonderful. Take a vote (as a class or in groups) to decide which preventative measures are best.

5. BE PREPARED: Students talk about how to prepare for and cope with a sudden government warning that a pandemic is imminent. In groups formulate a plan of action for the city in which students are studying and living. List the dangers, find the solutions, and devise five pieces of advice to be given to the public. Present each plan of action. The audience then ‘picks holes’ in each plan to find flaws. Vote on the best plan.

PRE-READING IDEAS

1. WORD SEARCH: Students look in their dictionaries / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … of the words ‘bird’, and ‘flu’.

2. TRUE / FALSE: Students look at the headline and predict whether they believe the following statements are true or false:
(a)  The threat of a lethal bird flu pandemic is imminent.  T / F
(b)  In a worse case scenario hundreds around the world could die.  T / F
(c)  The virus cannot be transmitted from person to person.  T / F
(d)  Scientists believe a new strain has mutated and has jumped species.  T / F
(e)  Researchers have warned of the urgent need to prepare for a future influenza pandemic.  T / F
(f)  In 1918  a bird flu pandemic killed 40 million people worldwide.  T / F
(g)  In Vietnam 900 people have died from bird flu this month.  T / F
(h)  British politicians are devising plans to close down London. T / F

3. SYNONYM MATCH: Students match the following synonyms from the article:

(a)	threat	passed
(b)	pandemic	creating
(c)	transmitted	psyched up
(d)	mutated	presence
(e)	isolated	menacing
(f)	on alert	possibility
(g)	advent	changed
(h)	like wildfire	rapidly
(i)	sobering	outbreak
(j)	devising	solitary

 

4. PHRASE MATCH: Students match the following phrases based on the article (sometimes more than one combination is possible):

 

(a)	The threat of a	transmissions
(b)	may be closer	the virus
(c)	it is now	than we think
(d)	the result of direct	travel
(e)	infected with	a pandemic
(f)	The advent of international	wildfire
(g)	spread like	concerned about …
(h)	We are deeply	believed
(i)	human-to-human	lethal bird flu pandemic
(j)	in the event of	contact with

  

WHILE READING ACTIVITIES

1. GAP-FILL:  Put the missing words under each paragraph into the gaps.

Bird flu pandemic a possibility

The __________ of a lethal bird flu pandemic may be closer than we think, warned scientists today. In a worse case __________ tens of millions could die around the world, as it is now believ ed the virus could be transmitted from human to human. Most of the cases of avian flu deaths have so far been the __________ of direct contact with infected chickens, however, scientists believe a new strain has mutated and has __________ species, enabling it to spread from person to person. The New England Journal of Medicine reports the case of a Thai woman who was __________ with the virus from her daughter. The mother had never been in direct contact with chickens. Although so far an isolated case, researchers have warned of “the __________ need to prepare for a future influenza pandemic”.		infected         urgent         scenario         jumped         threat         result
This news has put governments around the world on __________ in preparing for a possible outbreak. The __________ of international travel means any virus might spread like wildfire between the world’s major cities. A sobering __________ of just how deadly and global a bird flu virus can be is the 1918 pandemic which killed 40 million people worldwide. Thailand's deputy prime minister Chaturon Chaisaeng said yesterday, "We are deeply __________ about human-to-human transmissions, which would be very dangerous, and it is close.” Neighbouring Vietnam, where nine people have died from bird flu this month, is __________ itself for a major outbreak, with all hospitals on alert. Farther afield, it is reported British politicians are devising plans to close down London in the __________ of a pandemic.		reminder         concerned         event         alert         bracing         advent

2. TRUE/FALSE:  Students check their answers to the T/F exercise.

3. SYNONYMS:  Students check their answers to the synonyms exercise.

4. PHRASE MATCH:  Students check their answers to the phrase match exercise.

5. QUESTIONS: Students make notes for questions they would like to ask the class about the article.

6. VOCABULARY:  Students circle any words they do not understand. In groups pool unknown words and use dictionaries to find the meanings.

POST READING IDEAS

1. GAP-FILL: Check the answers to the gap-fill exercise.

2. QUESTIONS:  Students ask the discussion questions they thought of above to their partner / group / class. Pool the questions for all students to share.

3. VOCABULARY: As a class, go over the vocabulary students circled above.

4. STUDENT-GENERATED SURVEY: Pairs/Groups write down 3 questions based on the article. Conduct their surveys alone. Report back to partners to compare answers. Report to other groups / the whole class.

5. ‘BIRD’/ ‘FLU’: Students make questions based on their findings from pre-reading activity #1.

6. DISCUSSION:  Students ask each other the following questions:
(a)  Are you worried about the new threat of a pandemic?
(b)  If the government issued a serious pandemic alert, what would you do now / tomorrow / next week?
(c)  Do you like eating chicken?
(d)  Would you visit Thailand or Vietnam right now?
(e)  Should the government be educating us on this danger?
(f)  If your city was totally closed down, what would life be like? What would you do every day?
(g)  Is this just another scare story, like SARS?
(h)  Could you kill a chicken?
(i)  Have you seen the movie ‘Outbreak’ or any other movies about pandemics?
(j) Teacher’s / Students’ additional questions.

7. SHUTDOWN:  Students discuss in pairs what life would be like in the event of the government closing down a city for a whole month. Put these topics on the board as prompts:
transport / food / policing / curfew / information / medicine / water supply / boredom / family / fear / panic  …
Students change partners and compare what they talked about.

HOMEWORK

1. VOCAB EXTENSION: Choose several of the words from the text. Use a dictionary or the Google search field to build up more associations / collocations of each word.

2. INTERNET: Search the Internet and find more information on bird flu. Share your findings with your class next lesson.

3. CHICKEN POSTER: Create a poster about chickens.

4. LETTER TO HEALTH DEPARTMENT: Write a letter to the health department about your fears regarding avian bird flu. Five fears and questions.

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:
(a)  The threat of a lethal bird flu pandemic is imminent.  F
(b)  In a worse case scenario hundreds around the world could die.  F
(c)  The virus cannot be transmitted from person to person.  F
(d)  Scientists believe a new strain has mutated and has jumped species.  T
(e)  Researchers have warned of the urgent need to prepare for a future influenza pandemic.  T
(f)  In 1918  a bird flu pandemic killed 40 million people worldwide.  T
(g)  In Vietnam 900 people have died from bird flu this month.  F
(h)  British politicians are devising plans to close down London. T

SYNONYM MATCH:

(a)	threat	possibility
(b)	pandemic	outbreak
(c)	transmitted	passed
(d)	mutated	changed
(e)	isolated	solitary
(f)	on alert	psyched up
(g)	advent	presence
(h)	like wildfire	rapidly
(i)	sobering	menacing
(j)	devising	creating

PHRASE MATCH

(a)	The threat of a	lethal bird flu pandemic
(b)	may be closer	than we think
(c)	it is now	believed
(d)	the result of direct	contact with
(e)	infected with	the virus
(f)	The advent of international	travel
(g)	spread like	wildfire
(h)	We are deeply	concerned about …
(i)	human-to-human	transmissions
(j)	in the event of	a pandemic

 

GAP FILL:

Bird flu pandemic a possibility

The threat of a lethal bird flu pandemic may be closer than we think, warned scientists today. In a worse case scenario tens of millions could die around the world, as it is now believed the virus could be transmitted from human to human. Most of the cases of avian flu deaths have so far been the result of direct contact with infected chickens, however, scientists believe a new strain has mutated and has jumped species, enabling it to spread from person to person. The New England Journal of Medicine reports the case of a Thai woman who was infected with the virus from her daughter. The mother had never been in direct contact with chickens. Although so far an isolated case, researchers have warned of “the urgent need to prepare for a future influenza pandemic”.

This news has put governments around the world on alert in preparing for a possible outbreak. The advent of international travel means any virus might spread like wildfire between the world’s major cities. A sobering reminder of just how deadly and global a bird flu virus can be is the 1918 pandemic which killed 40 million people worldwide. Thailand's deputy prime minister Chaturon Chaisaeng said yesterday, "We are deeply concerned about human-to-human transmissions, which would be very dangerous, and it is close.” Neighbouring Vietnam, where nine people have died from bird flu this month, is bracing itself for a major outbreak, with all hospitals on alert. Farther afield, it is reported British politicians are devising plans to close down London in the event of a pandemic.