PRESENTATION/GUIDED PRACTICE (10 Minutes)

Day 4 – Old Age

WARM-UP (5 minutes) Show pictures of old people—including the one of Mother at 98! Ask what these pictures have in common. (Old age) Say: “The oldest person we know about is Jeanne Calmet, from France, who lived alone at age 110. At age 115, she was still riding her bicycle. When she died in 1997 at the age of 122, she had lived longer than any person on record.”

Hold up an enlarged picture of the man on p. 2 of Beyond True Stories and say: “The man in the photo likes to ride his bright blue moped up and down the mountainous roads near his town. Can you guess how old he is?” (94) “This man lives in Campodimele, a village in Italy where people live to be very old.”

PRESENTATION/GUIDED PRACTICE (10 minutes) Prepare a listening tape for this activity, using a voice other than your own. Distribute a laminated copy of the cloze activity for each student. Use the first sentence to demonstrate what you want students to do. Announce a prize to be given to the person who is first to get all the correct answers. Play a second time, if necessary. Ask the first to get all the answers to read the answers to the class.

Answer Key: 1-75, 2-trees, 3-its, 4-is, 5-meet, 6-a, 7-the, 8-It, 9-die, 10-and, 11- cows, 12-sent, 13-why, 14-that, 15-as, 16-less, 17-were, 18-Or

COMMUNICATIVE PRACTICE (25 minutes) #1 “Dr. Zorba Paster is a medical doctor and a professor at the U. of Wisconsin Medical School in the U.S. He gives medical advice on a weekly radio show and has written a book called The Longevity Code. He tells how to live a long, healthy life. His advice is based on scientific research, his own experience as a doctor, and common sense. Dr. Paster says that, in order to live the ‘sweet life’—one that is not only long but happy, satisfied, and fulfilling, we must have good health in five spheres.” 2

For a jigsaw activity have students quickly get in groups of five and number off 1- 2-3-4-5. Ask students to remember the group they are now in; than ask all 1’s to gather in one corner, all 2’s in another, all 3’s,etc. (nos. 1-4 in corners, no. 5 in the middle of the room). Provide laminated copies of needed information for each group. After they discuss and become “experts” in their subject, ask everyone to leave the laminated sheets behind and return to their original group of five. Each person is to share his/her information about physical, mental, etc. Through this cooperative learning experience, each group gets all the information they need and everyone has equal opportunity to practice listening and speaking.

#2 In the same groups, discuss the following question: What are ways medical students in China can improve the chances for people in China to live long and healthy lives? Ask that each group appoint a scribe to take notes and a reporter to share the main points of your discussion with the whole class.

COOL-DOWN (10 minutes) “In the same small groups, write your group’s prescription for a long and healthy, happy, satisfied, and fulfilling life.” Each group is to appoint a scribe (who writes down the suggestions from the group) and a reporter (who shares the group’s prescription with the class). Prescriptions will likely include mention of the following that affect length and quality of life: low cholesterol, control weight, exercise, stop smoking, control blood pressure, good relationships (living at peace with) people around you, and avoiding negative emotions.

“Dr. Pastur says: ‘Longevity is a two-sided coin, with quantity on one side and quality on the other. Just as no one wants a great life that’s cut short prematurely, no one wants a life that’s long but not satisfying. We want it both ways—long and great! We can have both when we balance the five spheres of wellness.’ It is my hope that each of you enjoys a long, healthy, and most wonderful life! ”

Discussion points for English Corners: 1. As a man thinks in his heart, so is he. (Proverbs 23:7) 2. I will govern my life and my thought, as if the whole world were to see the one and to read the other. (Seneca) 3. There are so many beautiful things in the world—so much goodness to learn— that there is not room in the human heart to hold all of the loveliness. Every time a destructive or ugly thought enters the mind, it crowds out a good thought. (Dorothea S. Kopplin in Something to Live By)