Talking about health matters

Introduction

The situation

Jenny is a 27-year-old school teacher. She's been very busy; she has to grade students' exams, prepare projects and lessons. She spends her free time reading and doing paper work. Recently she's been feeling very sick; weak and tired all the time. Her friends advise her to go to the doctor. The doctor tells her it is a serious case of chronic stress. She decides to start an anti stress campaign for the other teachers at her school. To do so, she must create a brochure with all the information related to stress problems. Be as imaginative as possible, remember mental health is very important!

Task

Jenny is a very dedicated teacher but she understands the importance of being mentally healthy. So she must give her message to her colleagues in a creative but serious way; after all they are all academic people. To achieve this, she must demonstrate her knowledge about the topic. 

These are the things you have to do:

1. Become an expert about stress; causes, symptoms and how to reduce stress levels. 

2. Make a brochure with all the necessary information related to stress.

3. Develop a workshop for teachers; teach them some techniques to reduce their stress levels so they can be mentally and physically healthy.


You are going to work in pairs and you have to work together for each task by following the guidelines.

Process

Step 1:Conduct research on stress by visiting the following sites. 

1. http://www.helpguide.org/articles/stress/stress-symptoms-causes-and-effects.htm

2. http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/stress/index.shtml

3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVk02DiUUPo

Step 2: Come together and decide which facts from the collected information can be used to elaborate your brochure about stress. Answer the following questions to help you decide what information to use.

1. What's stress?

2. What common situations can cause stress?

3. What are the most important symptoms?

4. What can you do yo manage stress?

5. Are there any information you think need to be added to your research?

Step 3: Get together and decide on the software you are going to use to design the brochure; it can be any word processor or software such publisher, photoshop or any other online tool you prefer. Then, collect images related to stress from the internet by using search engines such Google. 

Step 4: Prepare a workshop for teachers to learn how to deal with stress. To do so, you can gather information from:

1. The websites proposed from step 1.

2. http://www.helpguide.org/articles/stress/stress-management.htm

3. http://www.studygs.net/stress.htm

4. http://www.wikihow.com/Deal-With-Stress

Select only 5 exercises you think are the most helpful and make a picture of each one in the 1/8 of carton paper. Later, you'll present them.

Finally, show teachers a video related to the topic; remember to select one that is interesting and suitable for the population. Choose your video from:

-https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=stress

Evaluation

To evaluate the development of your activity, the following rubric will be used. Be aware that your vocabulary, grammar and the way you follow the instructions during the activity will be taken into account. 

Dimension

The student: 4

3

2

1

Use of English

Eagerly uses English. Easily asks questions and speaks spontaneously in English

Is willing to speak in English. Asks questions and speaks in English evenly

Sometimes speaks in English. Sometimes asks questions and speaks in English hesitantly

Is reluctant to speak in English and struggles to asks questions

Vocabulary

Uses new and old vocabulary learned inside and outside the classroom

Uses a variety of old and limited new vocabulary learned inside and outside the classroom

Relies on basic vocabulary

Uses very limited vocabulary

Grammar

Makes few errors in grammar structures learned in the classroom

Makes several errors in structure that do not affect overall comprehensibility

Makes several errors that may affect overall comprehensibility

Makes so brief utterances that there is little evidence of structure and comprehensibility is impeded.

Pronunciation

Speaks clearly and imitates accurate pronunciation

Speaks clearly and attempts accurate pronunciation

Speech in comprehensible in spite of mispronunciations

Mispronunciations impede comprehensibility

Cooperative work

Works cooperatively in all the activities

Works cooperatively in most of the activities

Works cooperatively in some the activities

works individually or doesn't evidence any work whatsoever

Use of online resources

Shows evidence of researching most of the websites proposed

Shows evidence of researching some of the websites proposed

Shows evidence of researching a few of the websites proposed

Doesn’t show evidence of researching a few of the websites proposed
Conclusion

Let's remember that the success of this activity depends on your attitude and the way you follow instructions. Also, your speaking performance in English will be assessed.

-Read carefully the contextualization in the task section.

-Follow the instructions in each of the 3 steps.

-Work cooperatively with your partner.

The handing of your brochure and your presentation will be held in class according to the schedule. 

Credits

The following websites were proposed for the development of this activity.