A Health Literacy Curriculum for Beginning ESOL learners
This is the curriculum of the Queens Library Adult Learner Program. It is used as a standalone class at the library, but designed so that you can pick individual lessons appropriate to your class, or follow the full curriculum.
Notes about the curriculum.
The objectives of this curriculum are to increase Beginning English Language Learners’ English, and to improve their knowledge of health. You may notice that there are some differences in approach from a typical ESOL curriculum. There is minimal emphasis on grammatical functions, except as they relate to the health topic. Additionally, in order to properly address the health aspects of the curriculum, certain vocabulary is needed that normally would not be introduced at the beginning level. To facilitate this, there are times when the plan will suggest that you allow learners to work with native language dictionaries, or work with other students who speak the same language.
Tips for working with materials.
- Encourage learners to bring a three ring binder to keep all their handouts, as you may want to have them refer to information from previous lessons’ materials.
- Try to recycle vocabulary — and concepts — frequently. Some of this recycling is built into the curriculum, but you may discover that your learners need more reviewing than is built into the lesson plans.
- If your class is very low level, you may need to supplement the materials with additional beginning activities.
- Some of the lesson plans also include background information on a health topic. These plans are marked with
Below is the list of lesson plans, accompanying student worksheets and audio files. You can download the audio files, or play them directly from your computer. Some lessons also have online activities for students. They are listed here as a reference for teachers; students can access them directly from the Student Activities page as well.
Items accompanied by this symbol require the free Adobe Acrobat Reader.
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Topics
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Lesson Plan
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Student Worksheets
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Listening
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Online Activites
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| Body Parts Bingo Cards |
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| 1. Parts of the Body |
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| 2. Describing Ailments and Symptoms |
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| 3. Colds and Flu |
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| 4. Taking Temperature/ |
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| 5. Making a Doctor’s Appointment |
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| 6. More Practice Making Doctors’ Appointments |
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| 7. Filling out a Health History |
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8. Medical Screenings and Tests/Talking to the Doctor/Health care Worker
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| 9. Following Directions in the Hospital (part 1) |
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| 10. Following Directions in the Hospital (part 2) |
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| 11. Taking Medicine/Reading Medical Labels(part 1) |
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12. Taking Medicine/Reading Medical Labels (part 2)
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| 13. Health Goals |
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14. Maintaining a healthy weight
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| 15. Healthy foods |
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16. Eating Healthy and the Food Pyramid
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| 17. Reading food labels |
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| 18. Medical emergencies |
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19. Health Care Access (New York City)
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20. Health Plans
(Computer based session) |
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21. Risk Assessment (online surveys)
(Computer based session) |
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22. Internet Search For Health Information
(Computer based session) |
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Adult Learner Program Manager: Susan Dalmas, sdalmas@queenslibrary.org
Health Literacy Curriculum Developer: Judy Trupin, jtrupin@queenslibrary.org
Production Design: David Ford
Illustrations: Maryam Shabaaz
Pilot Teachers: Geremias De La Cruz, Stephanie Chellapen, MaryAnn Gottlieb, Sandra McElvey, Beatrice Osterer, Jennifer Wieland
Background information for teachers developed with the assistance of Kate Goheen, Health Literacy Fellow 2007, and Leslie Short, Health Literacy Intern 2006, New York City Mayor’s Office of Adult Education.
Special thanks to all of the Queens Library Adult Learner Program staff who lent their voices and images for our audio recordings and visuals.
Funding for the Queens Library Adult Learner Program health literacy webpages provided by the Jacob and Valeria Langeloth Foundation.