ESL Health Unit Five:
Taking Medications

Content Overview
Advanced Beginning Level

Health Focus

• Learn ways to remember and stay on your medications

• Discuss important questions to ask your doctor and pharmacist

• Identify ways to cut costs when purchasing medications

• Understand prescription and over-the-counter medication labels

• Know the risk factors and prevention tips for falling

• Learn how to prevent dangerous drug interactions

• Learn about different types of alternative medicines and practices

• Discuss effective strategies for talking to your doctor about alternative medicine

Language Focus

• Vocabulary for describing medications, side effects, household hazards, alternative medical practice
• Verbs and verb phrases (subject-verb agreement and verb tense—past and present)
• Adverbs of frequency (often, frequently, never…)
• Prepositions to describe place and movement
• Gambits for agreeing/disagreeing appropriately

Cultural Focus

• How medical practices differ from culture to culture and the level of acceptance of alternative medical practices
• Agreeing and disagreeing appropriately when arguing in English