My
1,000 Ideas e-Book |
Breaking News EnglishHOME | HELP MY SITE | 000s MORE FREE LESSONS |
|
Date: March 26, 2005 THE ARTICLEAn outbreak of the deadly Marburg virus has reached the Angolan capital, Luanda, and has so far killed 114 people. It has taken the lives of at least 109 people along the Angola-Congo border and a further five in Luanda. The death toll is expected to rise despite World Health Organization (WHO) attempts to contain the spread of the virus. Among the dead are a UN Italian doctor, who had been treating a Marburg patient, and a 15-year-old boy, who had traveled to the capital city from the border region. Three-quarters of the fatalities are children under the age of five. Portugal, which has a large Angolan community, has put its airports on alert fearing the virus may spread beyond Angola’s borders. Angola is an ex-Portuguese colony. The Marburg virus is related to Ebola and originated in a similar area. It is transmitted through close contact with animals, the bodily fluids of infected people, or through unprotected sex. The WHO says the disease “can be rapidly fatal” and that there is no vaccine or cure for it. The first symptoms include fever, headaches, vomiting and diarrhea. Within a week other symptoms occur, such as stomach aches and severe bleeding through the skin and eyes. The fatality rate is around 25 per cent. The virus was first identified in 1967 among laboratory workers in the German city of Marburg who had been working with green monkeys. It has struck in African countries before in the 1970s and ‘80’s. WARM UPS1. CHAT: Talk in pairs or groups about viruses/ Angola / the WHO / Ebola / outbreak / diarrhea / fever / headaches / vomiting / monkeys … 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 increase conversation. 2. VIRUS BRAINSTORM: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word ‘virus’. Share your words with your partner / group and talk about them. 3. VIRUSES: How safe is the world from a major outbreak? Is your country prepared? Can it handle a sudden pandemic? Are you worried? Talk about this with your partner / group. Use the following prompts to help you:
4. OPINIONS: Talk about these with your partner.
PRE-READING IDEAS1. WORD SEARCH: Students look in their dictionaries / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … of the words ‘deadly’ and ‘virus’. 2. TRUE / FALSE: Look at the headline and guess whether these sentences are true or false:
3. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article:
4. PHRASE MATCH: Match the following phrases from the article (sometimes more than one combination is possible):
WHILE READING ACTIVITIES1. GAP-FILL: Put the words on the right into the gaps. Marburg virus death toll up to 114
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 IDEAS1. 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. ‘DEADLY’ / ‘VIRUS’: Students make questions based on their findings from pre-reading activity #1. 6. DISCUSSION:
HOMEWORK1. VOCABULARY EXTENSION: Choose several of the words from the text. Use a dictionary or Google’s search field (or another search engine) to build up more associations / collocations of each word. 2. INTERNET: Search the Internet and find information on the Ebola and Marburg viruses. Share your findings with your class next lesson. 3. MARBURG: Create an information poster about Marburg virus. Compare it with your classmates in your next class. 4. PANDEMIC PLAN: You are the head of your town’s government. Write an emergency plan on what the citizens should do if Marburg virus hits your region. ANSWERSTRUE / FALSE:
SYNONYM MATCH:
PHRASE MATCH:
GAP FILL: Marburg virus death toll up to 114An outbreak of the deadly Marburg virus has reached the Angolan capital, Luanda, and has so far killed 114 people. It has taken the lives of at least 109 people along the Angola-Congo border and a further five in Luanda. The death toll is expected to rise despite World Health Organization (WHO) attempts to contain the spread of the virus. Among the dead are a UN Italian doctor, who had been treating a Marburg patient, and a 15-year-old boy, who had traveled to the capital city from the border region. Three-quarters of the fatalities are children under the age of five. Portugal, which has a large Angolan community, has put its airports on alert fearing the virus may spread beyond Angola’s borders. Angola is an ex-Portuguese colony. The Marburg virus is related to Ebola and originated in a similar area. It is transmitted through close contact with animals, the bodily fluids of infected people, or through unprotected sex. The WHO says the disease “can be rapidly fatal” and that there is no vaccine or cure for it. The first symptoms include fever, headaches, vomiting and diarrhea. Within a week other symptoms occur, such as stomach aches and severe bleeding through the skin and eyes. The fatality rate is around 25 per cent. The virus was first identified in 1967 among laboratory workers in the German city of Marburg who had been working with green monkeys. It has struck in African countries before in the 1970s and ‘80’s. Help Support This Web Site
Sean Banville's Book
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Copyright © 2004-2019 by Sean Banville | Links | About | Privacy Policy
|