6.4. Writing Enhancement

Assignment. The following test contains 15 spelling mistakes. Edit the text, spell the words correctly.

HEALTH BENEFITS OF LAUGHTER

Is there anything better than a contageous giggle that you absolutely can’t control? (Ok, maybe not so good in school or church.) Laughter works wonderfully well in the moment, but it also has some surprising long-term health benefits. In the book A Better Brain at Any Age: The Holistic Way to Improve Your Memory, Reduce Stres, and Sharpen Your Wits (Conari Press, 2009), author Sondra Kornblatt explores how laughter can truly make you feel better.

She writes that the new field of gelotology is exploring the benefits of laughter. It was brought to the public’s awareness in Norman Cousins’ memoir Anatomy of an Ilness. Cousins found that comedies, like those of the Marx Brothers, helped him feel better and get some pain-free sleep. That’s because laughter helps the pituitary glend release its own pain-suppressing opiates.

What can laughter do?:

• Lower blood pressure.

• Increase vascular blood flou and oxygenation of the blood.

• Give a workout to the diafragm and abdominal, respiratory, facial, leg, and back musles.

• Reduce certain stress hormons such as cortisol and adrenaline.

• Increase the response of tumour- and disaese-killing cells such as Gamma-interferon and T-cells.

• Defend against respiratory infections – even reducing the frequency of colds –by imunoglobulon in saliva.

• Increase memory and learning; in a study at Johns Hopkins University Medical School, humor during instruction led to increased test scores.

• Improve alertness, creativity, and memory.

Humor and creativity work in similar ways, says humor guru William Fry, M.D., of Stanford University – by creating relationships between two disconnected items, you engage the whole braine.

Humour works quickly. Less than a half-second after exposure to something funny, and electrical wave moves through the higher brain functions of the serebral cortex. The left hemisphere analyzes the words and structures of the joke; the right hemisphere “gets” the joke; the visual censory area of the occipital lobe creates images; the limbic (emotional) system makes you happier; and the motor sections make you smile or laugh.

So let’s laugh. What makes you laugh? Tell us your favrite funny movie, or how about a good joke?

6.5. Speaking Reinforcement

Assignment 1. Sort out the following questions and answers into two columns according to who pronounced them – the doctor or the patient. Then order them so that the dialogue makes sense.

Questions:

1. What seems to be the problem today Jake?

2. How long has this been going on?

3. Tell me, have you done anything or eaten anything unusual in the last couple of days?

4. What did you drink and how much?

5. Do you usually drink that much?

6. Do you happen to remember if you fell down or hit your elbow against something?

7. What can I do to feel better?

Statements:

1. I’m not sure Doctor, I just feel lousy all over. I have a splitting headache, my stomach is upset, all I want to do is sleep, and my right elbow is hurting.

2. It just started today. Yesterday I felt great, but when I woke up this morning ...oh.

3. Well let’s take your temperature and blood pressure and see how they are.

4. You don’t have a fever, and your blood pressure and pulse are normal. There is a flu going around, but that wouldn’t explain your elbow hurting.

5. Not really, I did go to a party last night and drank a little.

6. Not much, 7 or 8 cans of beer and a bottle of tequila.

7. No, it was the first time drinking anything. I was celebrating my 21^st birthday.

8. Well, no wonder you feel lousy, you have a major hangover.

9. Now that you mention it, I seem to recall I fell down when I was getting out of my car.

10. Well your elbow seems OK, just a bad bruise. It’ll be OK in a few days.

11. For your elbow, you might want to put on a cold pack. For your hangover, I suggest taking some aspirin, drinking lots of water, eating something light and going back to bed. You’ll feel good as new tomorrow.

12. Thanks doctor. You’re a life saver.

Make up a similar dialogue.

Assignment 2. Tell your partner about your recent visit to the doctor using some of the ideas for discussion below. Your partner should ask questions to get more information.

• when did you go

• why did you go

• where did you go

• what kind of treatment did you receive

• did you have a follow-up visit

 

Assignment 3. 2. Pair work-discussion

Use your imagination and express sympathy to your partner in a number of situations (your partner should tell you about the situations listed below). Continue the conversation by asking questions to get more details.

• getting fired from a job

• parents’ divorce

• being dumped by your girlfriend/ boyfriend

• failing an important test

Assignment 4. Pair work-Role Play.

Working with a partner, role play the situation, using the information below. The roles: A doctor, a patient.

The patient has the following symptoms or problems mentioned in the tabl belowe. The doctor should: 

● ask what the problem is  ● ask how long it has lasted ● ask if the patient has done or eaten anything unusual lately ● make a recommendation for treatment
The patients’ problems and symptoms			The doctor’s treatment
Cold : Runny nose, cough, muscle aches			Bed rest, drink fluids (orange juice),   prescription cold medicine
Fever: Hot forehead, headache, shivering			Bed rest, alcohol rub, aspirin
Upset stomach: Vomiting, stomach pain, nausea			Take antacid
Back pain: Pain in lower lumbar region			Bed rest, massage, heating pad, take   analgesic (pain pill)
Head ache: Pain in head, at temples			Bed rest, aspirin
Skin burn (from hot water): Pain at site of burn, red skin, blisters			Cool site with cold water, apply aloe or other skin burn ointment
Broken finger: Extreme pain, lack of mobility			Set finger in cast,  pain pill
Sore throat : Pain in throat, difficulty swallowing			Gargle with salt water, take throat lozenges
Allergies: Runny noose, sneezing, watery, itchy eyes			Take allergy pills