Unit 23: Epidemics, Viruses, and Pandemics

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Smaller than bacteria, viruses are microscopic organisms that need another living thing - a host - to live and multiply. This unit teaches the most important vocabulary to discuss viruses as well as the dramatic spread of illnesses to cause epidemics and even pandemics.

Did you know? The following activities can be customized as desired by the teacher or school pedagogue.

Basic activities (computer-graded)

Vocabulary Builder Activity

Students will learn the following key terms and phrases:

Reading Activity: Viruses, Epidemics, and Pandemics

Students will be able to correctly answer true/false questions after reading and listening to topical short articles and dialogs featuring topical vocabulary.

Viruses are strange microscopic organisms that behave unlike most other organisms we know. First, they are much smaller than even bacteria and they are not self-sufficient. Viruses need another living thing, called a host, in order to live and multiply. A virus manipulates its host’s cells into creating more viruses. Thus they are thought to be mostly parasitic in nature.When certain viruses… Continue

Multiple Choice Activity

Students will be able to select the best match between unit terms and their definitions.

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Listening Comprehension Activity

Students will be able to listen to short audio clips in English and then spell them correctly.

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Spelling and Recognition

Students will be able to identify and spell a vocabulary term correctly given only the definition.

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Advanced activities (optionally teacher-graded)

Speaking Practice Activity

Students will be able to speak and record 5 example sentences from the unit vocabulary and then submit them for grading by the classroom teacher. If no teacher is available or desired, then the students will be shown good examples of other students' work.

Protozoa are microscopic, amoeba-like organisms that live in liquid.

The study found that crawfish, frogs, and other organisms had been destroyed over a large area of the estuary.

A living cell is the host in which a virus multiplies.

Mammals multiply by means of sexual reproduction.

The traveler really dodged a bullet when he missed the train that ended up crashing.

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Writing Practice Activity

Students will write a short essay to be graded by the teacher. If no teacher is available or desired, then the student is shown previous examples of other writings by students.

Has there been any serious viral outbreaks since the 2009 H1N1 pandemic? What was it? How did the medical community, press, and public at large respond?

If you were a virus, what effect would you have on children, middle-aged people, and the elderly? Would you be a good virus or a bad virus? Is there even such a thing as a good virus? Explain.

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