Monday, May 6, 2013

New Resource from KQED: Living in the US - Is it Good for our Health?



Living in the United States: Is It Good for Our Health?

By Maxine Einhorn, KQED Education

KQED Education offers a wealth of media- rich resources for ESL educators at www.kqed.org/esl. Among these resources, we offer a health education curriculum based on a documentary called Unnatural Causes.

The modules in the health curriculum (www.kqed.org/healtheducation) are designed for ESL teachers in colleges and adult schools and target intermediate to high-level ESL students, but can be adapted for beginners by using transcripts and replaying the clips.

 

(Note from Cyn:  Please go to the kqed links for active links for everything else!)


Two sample lessons draw on what is called the Latino Paradox - immigrants arriving in the United States tend to be healthier than the average American, but as they remain in the country, their health declines. In the documentary the narrator introduces this clip from Arriving Healthy:

 “Give me your poor, your tired, your huddled masses…,” the poem goes. Today, many new immigrants to the U.S. are still poor, and tired. But they’re certainly not sick. In fact, they may be healthier than the rest of us.

It seems immigrant Latinos on arrival have the best health in the country. They have the lowest death rates, incidence of heart disease, psychiatric illness, and other serious conditions, despite lower income and social marginalization, their health is actually better than the wealthiest segments of America.  Living in the US is not good for their health. Why is this?
The two lesson plans use short video clips to explore these issues drawing upon students’ experiences.
Lesson Plans

Video clips

 
    

Click on transcripts tab for English and Spanish transcripts.
Resources

  • Download the whole Language 911 — A Health Literacy Curriculum
ESL/Post Secondary Educator ResourcesHealth Education

No comments: