Focus on activity: Massive Diseases vocabulary
Target audience (age): Ensino Médio
Lesson link: Upgrade, Unit 22, ENEM practice
Aim: reading comprehension strategies with focus on epidemics
Duration: 30-40 minutes
Organization: individual work, group work
Material: text worksheets, internet access to watch the video about Ebola
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_itlEamvBo BBC News (accessed on 8/19/2014) 1’04’’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGanrV7LzTY (accessed on 8/19/2014) 4’37’’ (use only the
first 0’90’’)
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/15/opinion/disease-the-next-big-one.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
(accessed on 8/19/2014)
Preparation: have worksheet copies ready, watch the videos
Procedure:
• Divide students into pairs and have them list the worst massive diseases/epidemics in the world
they are aware of. Possible answers: AIDS (1980), SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-flu-like 2002), Ebola (1976), Smallpox (1633), The Black Death (1656),Typhos (1618), Yellow Fever (1793),Cholera
Pandemic (1830), Spanish Flue (1918), Polio Epidemic (1952), Asian Flu (1957), Mexican Botulism (1977).
Based on http://www.healthline.com/health-slideshow/10-worst-disease-outbreaks#12;
http://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/curiosity/topics/10-worst-epidemics.htm (accessed on
8/19/2014)
• Tell students to exchange information.
• Ask them what’s the worst epidemics nowadays and what they know about it (Ebola).
• Hand them the worksheets and ask students to discuss activities 1 and 2. Check the answers.
• Play the video and ask students to check the correct answers about Ebola.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_itlEamvBo BBC News (accessed on 8/19/2014) 1’04’’
• Ask students to read individually the text and answer the questions.
• Play the next video for only 0’90’’. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGanrV7LzTY (accessed on
8/19/2014) and ask students to number the sentences according to what they listen. Repeat it for
correction.
• Ask students to choose one of the massive diseases and research more details about it to report to
class, including how they were controlled.
Wrap up: Divide students into small groups and ask them to discuss how the world can help Africa face
the epidemics. Have them present the solutions to the groups.
Photocopiable – Teacher’s copy
Answer key
1. Talk to your partner and check the diseases you guess are transmitted by animals:
( x ) rabies ( ) measles ( x ) leptospirosis ( ) diabetes ( ) chicken pox ( x ) ebola ( x ) SARS
( ) aids ( x ) salmonellosis ( ) migrane ( x ) swine flu ( x ) polio
2. Check the type of diseases that can be transferred between people and animals.
( x ) Zoonotic disease ( ) Injury ( ) Environmentally-Acquired Disease ( ) Asthma ( x ) Malaria
3. Watch the video and choose the correct alternative. BBC News:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_itlEamvBo (accessed on 8/19/2014) 1’04’’
a) The symptoms of Ebola are:
( x ) diarrhea ( ) perspiration ( x ) vomiting ( x ) weakness ( ) fever ( ) earache ( x ) bleeding
b) How is ebola spread?
( ) By bat bites
( ) By contact with fluids
c) It was first discovered in
( ) 1796
( x ) 1976
( x ) By contact with bodily fluids
( ) 1967
d) According to the video ____ were killed in West Africa.
( x ) 500
( ) 600
( ) 700
e) Patients ____ fluids to prevent dehydration.
( x ) are given
( ) are exposed to
( ) are watered
f ) Nine out of ten victims are:
( ) saved
( ) infected
( x ) killed
4. Read the text.
Brussels, 24 June 2014 – With Ebola continuing to spread in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia,
bringing the epidemic under control will require a massive deployment of resources by governments
in West Africa and aid organisations, according to the international medical organisation Médecins
Sans Frontières (MSF), while warning that it has reached the limits of what its teams can do. The latest
numbers, more than 1700 infected, more than 960 people dead and in the US there are new worries over
whether they’re prepared for future viral threats.
“The epidemic is out of control,” says Dr Bart Janssens, MSF director of operations. “We have reached our
limits”. “Despite the human resources and equipment deployed by MSF in the three affected countries,
we are no longer able to send teams to the new outbreak sites.”
AIDS, SARS (a viral respiratory disease), Ebola virus and many other new diseases have one thing in
common: they are zoonotic. This means they came from nonhuman animals and made the leap to
humans. The infectious agent might be a virus, or a bacterium, or another sort of parasitic microbe, or a
worm; the animal in which it resides inconspicuously, before spilling over into humans, is known as its
reservoir host.
Based on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severe_acute_respiratory_syndrome and http://www.msf.org/article/ebola-west-africa-epidemic-requires-massivedeployment-resources (accessed on 8/19/2014)
Photocopiable – Teacher’s copy
4.1. Escolha a resposta correta:
( ) A epidemia de Ebola será controlada pelo governo da África.
( x ) A epidemia de Ebola está fora de controle.
4.2. Assinale a alternativa incorreta:
( ) A contaminação do Ebola é igual à de AIDS e SARS, por vírus ou bactéria.
( ) A contaminação se dá através de hospedeiros.
( ) As doenças mencionadas no texto são de origem animal.
( x ) O homem não transmite as doenças.
4.3. Explique por que a Instituição Médicos Sem Fronteiras não pode enviar mais equipes para
outros lugares.
5. Watch the video and number the sentences in the correct order.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGanrV7LzTY (accessed on 8/19/2014)
(1) Dr. Robert Garry is at the Government Hospital in Sierra Leone.
(5) It replicates so fast your immune system can’t combat it.
(6) The virus is originally spread by animals, particularly by monkeys, chimpanzees and bats.
(2) And there’s no cure.
(7) It was first discovered in Congo in 1996.
(3) Mostly the damage is to blood vessels. It basically makes them turn evil.
(8) It’s been in Guinea rainforest for over 100 years.
(4) That’s why you get bleeding from the skin or from the eyes.
Photocopiable – Teacher’s copy
Name________________________________________________________ Date___/___/____
1. Talk to your partner and check the diseases you guess are transmitted by animals:
( ) rabies ( ) measles ( ) leptospirosis ( ) diabetes ( ) chicken pox ( ) ebola ( ) SARS
( ) aids ( ) salmonellosis ( ) migrane ( ) swine flu ( ) polio
2. Check the type of diseases that can be transferred between people and animals.
( ) Zoonotic disease ( ) Injury ( ) Environmentally-Acquired Disease ( ) Asthma ( ) Malaria
3. Watch the video and choose the correct alternative. BBC News:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_itlEamvBo (accessed on 8/19/2014) 1’04’’
a) The symptoms of Ebola are:
( ) diarrhea ( ) perspiration ( ) vomiting ( ) weakness ( ) fever ( ) earache ( ) bleeding
b) How is ebola spread?
( ) By bat bites
( ) By contact with fluids
c) It was first discovered in
( ) 1796
( ) 1976
( ) By contact with bodily fluids
( ) 1967
d) According to the video ____ were killed in West Africa.
( ) 500
( ) 600
( ) 700
e) Patients ____ fluids to prevent dehydration.
( ) are given
( ) are exposed to
( ) are watered
f ) Nine out of ten victims are:
( ) saved
( ) infected
( ) killed
4. Read the text.
Brussels, 24 June 2014 – With Ebola continuing to spread in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia,
bringing the epidemic under control will require a massive deployment of resources by governments
in West Africa and aid organisations, according to the international medical organisation Médecins
Sans Frontières (MSF), while warning that it has reached the limits of what its teams can do. The latest
numbers, more than 1700 infected, more than 960 people dead and in the US there are new worries over
whether they’re prepared for future viral threats.
“The epidemic is out of control,” says Dr Bart Janssens, MSF director of operations. “We have reached our
limits”. “Despite the human resources and equipment deployed by MSF in the three affected countries,
we are no longer able to send teams to the new outbreak sites.”
AIDS, SARS (a viral respiratory disease), Ebola virus and many other new diseases have one thing in
common: they are zoonotic. This means they came from nonhuman animals and made the leap to
humans. The infectious agent might be a virus, or a bacterium, or another sort of parasitic microbe, or a
worm; the animal in which it resides inconspicuously, before spilling over into humans, is known as its
reservoir host.
Based on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severe_acute_respiratory_syndrome and http://www.msf.org/article/ebola-west-africa-epidemic-requires-massivedeployment-resources (accessed on 8/19/2014)
Photocopiable – Student’s copy
4.1. Escolha a resposta correta:
( ) A epidemia de Ebola será controlada pelo governo da África.
( ) A epidemia de Ebola está fora de controle.
4.2. Assinale a alternativa incorreta:
( ) A contaminação do Ebola é igual à de AIDS e SARS, por vírus ou bactéria.
( ) A contaminação se dá através de hospedeiros.
( ) As doenças mencionadas no texto são de origem animal.
( ) O homem não transmite as doenças.
4.3. Explique por que a Instituição Médicos Sem Fronteiras não pode enviar mais equipes para
outros lugares.
5. Watch the video and number the sentences in the correct order.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGanrV7LzTY (accessed on 8/19/2014)
( ) Dr. Robert Garry is at the Government Hospital in Sierra Leone.
( ) It replicates so fast your immune system can’t combat it.
( ) The virus is originally spread by animals, particularly by monkeys, chimpanzees and bats.
( ) And there’s no cure.
( ) It was first discovered in Congo in 1996.
( ) Mostly the damage is to blood vessels. It basically makes them turn evil.
( ) It’s been in Guinea rainforest for over 100 years.
( ) That’s why you get bleeding from the skin or from the eyes.
Photocopiable – Student’s copy