February 8th is our first meeting. As always, we will spend this session with getting to know each other and looking at the course description that has a page of its own.
Food image 1 (fruit and vegetables)
Food image 2 (meat and dairy)
Food Pictogram (Sporcle)
Foods and Drinks in Movies (good fun if you know your way around some ‘classics’ – we will try this on in our third meeting)
Can you name the ingredients in a full English breakfast?
Link to my Sporcle post where you find more quizzes further down the list under Health and Health, Body parts etc.
Examples of TED Ed videos:
Myths you learned in health class This one refers to an American context. Did you have health education in school?
And below a text on a generally recommendable approach to learning languages:
After class comments:
We spoke about your English learning background and the English speaking places you visited. Some also told us what they watch on Netflix. I will show you more short things you can watch like TED talks, here especially TED Ed videos that are only around five minutes long.
I would suggest going in loops: looking at basic vocabulary first, then going to more advanced topics and back to basics – circling around the issues of food and health, and diets and disease. By these two complexes I mean, on the one hand, food in general in its relation to health: what is generally considered to be healthy eating, and how have ideas and concepts of what is considered healthy/unhelthy changed over time. This issue includes the history of different food cultures and traditions, e.g. different cuisines.
The other topic complex – diets and disease – relates to specific concepts regarding what kind of foods are recommended (by ???) to treat different health conditions. Recipes and cooking are related to both themes.
We had a tiny little discussion (that could become a wider one) on low-fat dairy. If I understood Frau Nothacker correctly, low-fat dairy is used when cooking for cardio-patients – maybe you can try to explain that in more detail some time. For this we will need to prepare and practice more vocabulary.
I found a study connected to this topic, or actually ABOUT it. It is a genuine research study summarized by Dr. Jason Fung in a 13 minute video in which he makes sure to speak quite slowly and comprehensibly. I would not want to deal with the whole text, but write out some passages from the summary and conclusion before listening to the video.
(You find books and resources by Jason Fung under the respective page on further resources and literature.)
Second meeting
We summarized what we had talked about in our last meeting and then continued with food vocabulary. Next week I will start with some body vocabulary and give you a few tasks for the four weeks break. In addition, I will post some things here for you to look at.
So come here preferably at least once a week and try out some of the things you find here. For example, do some of the sporcle quizzes if the ads don’t bother you too much and basically, enjoy and have some fun.
Third meeting and further activities for four week break
We started with body parts/anatomy vocabulary. As a review or additional exercise please answer the quiz questions on the extra copy I gave you.
We watched the TED ED video How the Digestive System works. This one is very short, but good practice for those of you whose English level is not so advanced. Please go there again, watch and listen. (The additional exercises you can only do if you register as this service is not for free. I’ve done that now, so we can look at them together.)
There are more videos that you can look at. During our break, try to do at least one a week, more if possible.
You find quite a selection on HEALTH on the TED Ed site, go there and choose anything you like. And if you find something interesting, you can tell us when we meet again.
In our third meeting, we also spoke briefly about obesity and diabetes and we tried to clarify what is meant by the obesity epidemic. Those interested: try to find out if the upward curve is still climbing in countries like the US, UK or Germany. And what doctors and nutritionists say the reasons are for the development of the last 50+ years.
You pointed out that diabetes is not only a disease of the obese, though the correlation is strong. However, people of ‘normal’ body weight can also become diabetic. A TED TALK tip for those of you who are more advanced: Dr Peter Attia’s Ted talk on this topic. He get’s a little sentimentally sad at the end, still what he says is interesting and important. In addition, if you want to check out more TED talks, look at the resources page.
I gave you an exercise sheet for reviewing food vocabulary, this and the other copy mentioned above is your ‘official’ homework.
All else are tips and ideas for further practice. For example what you find under the link below.
Alternative sources for practice (of the things/vocabulary we have done so far):
5 Most Important Organs in the Human Body – Kenhub
From here you might see a link to Sam Webster’s 20 minute demonstration of human anatomy (interesting British accent, not sure where he comes from).
Things for later meetings
Diabetes and the Body This video is recommendable for developing your language skills. The visualization is quite amazing. However, there is a marked difference between the videos and/or information provided here and those by Dr Eric Berg, Dr Jason Fung and similar professionals.
Sporcle quiz on Dietician terms (Challenging; we will do this in our fourth meeting, feel free to check before. See how much you already now, we will do the quiz again at end of our course.)
My notes for further later activities: Take a look at TED ED ‘Myths you learned in health class’ after or before text exercise on Common Body Myths
Text work based on Newsweek article Five Healthy Habits
It could also be interesting to take a closer look at the work of Dr Marion Nestle, Professor Emeritus and expert on nutrition and food politics. Listen to her talk where she explains the contradictions between the food recommendations made in dietary guidelines and the politics of subsidies: agricultural produce not recommended, but highly subsidized by the government and overproduced by industrial farming. These products are mainly used by the food industry for highly processed products, aggressively advertized to the American public; products that are considered responsible for the increase in obesity, diabetes and other deceases that have been on the rise in the last decades.
Some additional Sporcles
Body related quizzes
Name parts of digestive system
Match the body parts to the right category
Body parts starting with L (advanced)
Some additional things to watch
The truth behind your favourite flavours
Meeting June, 7th
We will do a Guardian lesson on 10 Health beliefs and as a warm-up describe the image above
If time allows, we will listen to the BBC Reel video on our favorite flavours. If not, next week.
Or a TED ED lesson (dieticians46)