Project-Based LearningContextualized ESL for Health Care

Marcela Hebbard, MA’sSouth Texas CollegeMcAllen, Texas

Contents

This project as part of the Pathway ESL for Health Care program

Project Overview

Description of the students

Sample of a Lesson a) The use of collaborative instruction to build oral

skills b) The use of technology to strengthen second

language acquisition skills

Purpose of the Health Care Pathway program

To serve as a bridge course for low-literacy students interested in pursing a career in the medical field by providing them with English language instruction, academic support and technology practice.

Project Overview

Objective: Be able to produce and present a coherent explanation of the function of one of the six body systems covered in class, starting from its parts, how it works and its most common diseases.

Method: Study one body system a week. After six weeks, form groups, groups choose a body system, review materials from class, do more research if needed, choose vocabulary, prepare visual aids, rehearse presentations and present.

My Students

11 Women, 1 man

Education level range from 5th grade to 10th grade in Mexico. 1 university graduate.

Common traits. – All from Mexico, and all of them have expressed a desire to work in the health care system.

Sample of Lesson

A lesson was not seen as a daily event of 3 hours, but instead as a weekly event.

Technology was incorporated in the classroom everyday. (See next four slides)

Sample of a week’s Lesson

English Class Focus on Communication Skills (Speaking/Listening)Day One – Activate background knowledge, introduce vocabulary and learn the function of each of the parts of the specific body system. Day Two – Review vocabulary and learn how the system works. Focus on Academic Skills (Reading/Writing)Day Three – Review and read about the conditions or illnesses that can affect that body system.Day Four – Review orally everything covered in previous days, then write a page explaining in their own works how the body system works.

Focus on TechnologyDay Five – Students have a quiz and then complete a worksheet using specific websites. (See examples)

Day 1 Topic: The digestive system

Show Ss pictures of food. Discuss what their favorite food is. Ask Ss, what happens to the food we eat? A: It goes into our stomachs!

Introduce new vocabulary using the page titled “The Digestive System”. Practice the order of the organs listed (stomach, pancreas, small intestine, rectum, appendix, large intestine, gall bladder, liver and esophagus.) Add these words: chew, break down, stuff and waste. Repeat the words several times. Ask Ss to cover one word at a time until all words are covered and they know them by heart.

Then make copies of the blank page. Ask Ss to write the correct name of each organ.

Then, instructor explains orally how the digestive system works. “Your digestive system starts working even before you put food in your mouth. When you look at, smell or think about delicious food, your mouth starts producing saliva. Once the food is in your mouth, you chew it and then you swallow it. The food travels down in slow motions through your esophagus into the stomach. The stomach stores the food and begins breaking it down with the help of the gastric juices that come from the stomach’s walls. From the stomach, the food goes into the small intestine where the food breaks down even more so your body can absorb all the nutrients with the help of the juices from the liver, pancreas and gall bladder. After that, the food has become a watery mixture and travels to the large intestine. Here the nutrients are removed and waste is left over – stuff your body can’t use. The waste turns into stool and then the large intestine pushes the poop into the rectum and the feces exit the body through the anus.”

Repeat the process several times first using a visual picture of the digestive system.

After Ss have practice explaining how the digestive system works, ask them to write it down. Make copies of the languageguide.org page. Encourage Ss to use their dictionaries to find the meaning of unfamiliar words. Then, proceed to work on pronunciation. Point out to Ss that “to pass gas” is the most polite way instead of saying “to fart” which a person can say among close friends. The same happens to “feces” which is more appropriate than using the word “crap”.

WEEK FIVEObjective: Students will learn about how the digestive system works.

The Digestive System

Page used to

Introduce parts of

the digestive system.

http://www.languageguide.org/english/vocabulary/digestive-system/

THE DIGESTIVE SYSTEM

Page used toReview

and practice parts of

the digestive system.

Let’s look at how our digestive system works (Function)

http://kidshealth.org/kid/htbw/digestive_system.html

http://kidshealth.org/kid/htbw/_bfs_DSquizsource.html - Quiz

Websites used to explain the function of each organ in the

digestive system.

Fridays were test and technology days.

Written test containing week’s content

While students take test instructor emails them the worksheet for the day (email-accounts created first week of classes)

Ss click on the link and work individually

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/tutorials/fracturesandsprains/htm/_no_50_no_0.htm

Question asking/question answering

Preparing visuals for presentations

The Eye

Practicing their oral presentations in pairs

Results All 12 students willingly participated in the project.

Presentations were videotaped. After, students watched and analyzed their own presentations.

Most students were satisfied with their performance as presenters and mentioned they had learned a lot .

All students enjoyed listening to their classmates’ presentations.

One student shared that this course taught her the importance of asking questions because during a doctor’s visit she found out a serious health condition by pressing for answers to her questions. (Thanks to her inquiries, she was able to receive proper treatment) .

Two students that were fearful to use the computer, felt that they could now at least check their emails and access those health websites to find information in the future.

Evaluation and Reflection This project was considered a great accomplishment by the students and the instructor.

Even though I did not hand out an evaluation form after this project, I did provide students with opportunities to link their experience on this project to their future academic goals by:

1) Having several professors from the Nursing program as guest speakers. Students were able to interact and asked question. Also, students said they understood many technical terms guest speakers’ used in their presentations.

2) Taking the class to visit a nursing home.

A limitation of this project was not to have a rubric students could use as guide while watching and analyzing their presentations.