Página 39 - Teacher’s book - ENGLISH FOR HEALTH-CARE PROVIDERS

37
Teacher’s book
5.2.
a) The main advantage of the WPCC is that it is local.
b) What does it mean for the WPCC to be a walk-in center? It means that patients can just
walk in, so they don’t need to phone up and arrange an appointment (which is difficult
for some patients).
c) Yes, it does. In fact, patients find it very useful being able to pull in until eight o’clock in
the evening.
d) Yes. They integrate their services with others such as renal dialysis and chemotherapy
services.
e) An average sessions for Patient 2 last for four hours.
f) Patient 2 fills in his time reading a book and watching the telly.
8.5. Speaking
Speaking activities, by their very nature, contain exercises with multiple outcomes. How-
ever, teachers could prepare these activities by making bullet-point lists of things students
could mention.
For example, exercise 6.2. in Unit 10, asks students to discuss why people and patients
often wait for so long in emergency departments. In this respect, teachers could make a
list of possible reasons (e.g. the triage process itself, lack of capacity, boarding of patients,
on-call physician shortages, local crises and disasters, etc.) to help students arrive at if they
get stuck at some point during the exercise.
8.6. Writing
As is the case with listening exercises, writing exercises cannot have model “answers”, as
their very nature implies that there will be endless possible outputs in students’ work.
Despite this, teachers could make a list of possible points students should make or exam-
ples they could give in an attempt to help students with feedback.
By way of example, in Unit 5, writing option “a” asks students to write about the qualities
students think good health professionals should have to approach and treat patients –as well
as comparing those qualities with those of bad health professionals–. In preparation for these
exercises, teachers could make a list of qualities (e.g. excellent communication and interper-
sonal skills, emotional stability, empathy for the pain and suffering of patients, flexibility with
regards to working hours and responsibilities, strong physical endurance, etc.). Another ex-
ample is option “b” in Unit 11, which asks students to write a letter to a hospital’s authorities.
Two of the options students can choose from are A job application letter and CV and a com-
mercial letter offering products to a hospital. Teachers would do well to explain the structure
of commercial letters to students, with their parts (heading, date, inside address, greeting,
subject line, body paragraphs, complimentary close, signature and writer’s identification). In
addition, the parts of a CV should also be outlined by teachers to help students practice writ-
ing a CV in English. These parts include the student’s name, address, profile/personal state-
ment, employment, education, skills, and personal details as well as references.