Assignment Task
Part 2.i
Diabetes is a chronic disease that occurs either when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin or when the body cannot effectively use the insulin it produces. Insulin is a hormone that regulates blood glucose. Hyperglycaemia, also called raised blood glucose or raised blood sugar, is a common effect of uncontrolled diabetes and over time leads to serious damage to many of the body’s systems, especially the nerves and blood vessels.
Symptoms
Symptoms of diabetes may occur suddenly. In type 2 diabetes, the symptoms can be mild and may take many years to be noticed.
Symptoms of diabetes include:
- feeling very thirsty
- needing to urinate more often than usual
- blurred vision
- feeling tired
- losing weight unintentionally
Over time, diabetes can damage blood vessels in the heart, eyes, kidneys and nerves.
People with diabetes have a higher risk of health problems including heart attack, stroke and kidney failure.
Diabetes can cause permanent vision loss by damaging blood vessels in the eyes.
Many people with diabetes develop problems with their feet from nerve damage and poor blood flow. This can cause foot ulcers and may lead to amputation.
Type 1 diabetes
Type 1 diabetes (previously known as insulin-dependent, juvenile or childhood-onset) is characterized by deficient insulin production and requires daily administration of insulin. In 2017 there were 9 million people with type 1 diabetes; the majority of them live in high-income countries. Neither its cause nor the means to prevent it are known.
Type 2 diabetes
Type 2 diabetes affects how your body uses sugar (glucose) for energy. It stops the body from using insulin properly, which can lead to high levels of blood sugar if not treated.
Over time, type 2 diabetes can cause serious damage to the body, especially nerves and blood vessels. Type 2 diabetes is often preventable. Factors that contribute to developing type 2 diabetes include being overweight, not getting enough exercise, and genetics.
Early diagnosis is important to prevent the worst effects of type 2 diabetes. The best way to detect diabetes early is to get regular check-ups and blood tests with a healthcare provider. Symptoms of type 2 diabetes can be mild.
They may take several years to be noticed. Symptoms may be similar to those of type 1 diabetes but are often less marked. As a result, the disease may be diagnosed several years after onset, after complications have already arisen.
More than 95% of people with diabetes have type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes was formerly called non-insulin dependent, or adult-onset. Until recently, this type of diabetes was seen only in adults but it is now also occurring increasingly frequently in children.
Diagnosis and treatment
Early diagnosis can be accomplished through relatively inexpensive testing of blood glucose. People with type 1 diabetes need insulin injections for survival.
One of the most important ways to treat diabetes is to keep a healthy lifestyle.
Some people with type 2 diabetes will need to take medicines to help manage their blood sugar levels. These can include insulin injections or other medicines.
Some examples include:
- metformin
- sulfonylureas
- sodium-glucose co-transporters type 2 (SGLT-2) inhibitors.
Along with medicines to lower blood sugar, people with diabetes often need medications to lower their blood pressure and statins to reduce the risk of complications.
Additional medical care may be needed to treat the effects of diabetes:
- foot care to treat ulcers
- screening and treatment for kidney disease
- eye exams to screen for retinopathy (which causes blindness).
Part 2.ii
First Activity
a. A dictionary activity, for vocabulary and dictionary skills development AFTER the class have read or listened to your selected text.
A follow-on task (not a vocabulary pre-teaching activity) to do further work after the students
have listened to or read the text.
The activity can focus on all or some of your 12 selected items, and/or some of the other
vocabulary in the text, and/or clearly related lexis.
Second Activity
b. An activity which requires students to use online resources
- One of the aims of this task is to encourage your students to improve their English by using the internet.
- The online task should not just be another listening or reading text, as you have already provided a ‘main’ text. So another comprehension lesson using another SINGLE listening or reading article is not a suitable task.
- It needs to be focused on doing some research around the topic or a clearly related topic using a number of particular or suggested websites provided by the teacher.
Example:
If your authentic text topic was ‘travel’, and it was about a particular type of trip or destination,
you might ask the students to:
Plan a trip of that type, or
Research other types of holiday or destinations, etc.
- Check the final sections of Unit 10, starting here, and the Further Reading section of Unit 10, which gives some useful sites. Nik Peachey’s Blog is particularly good.
- We just want you to be creative and design any activity related to the text you have chosen, which involves students using the internet.
- Remember to provide some suitable websites that the students can use.
Third Activity
C) Follow-Up Activity
This can be anything you would use in another lesson linked to the original text in some way, but must not be further comprehension tasks using the original text.
Examples: Suitable activities would be roleplay, debate, discussion, crossword, grammar practice, vocabulary extension, writing activity, etc.
If you used a listening text, you could design an intensive listening or pronunciation task, concentrating on one to three very short sections of the listening text.
Part 3 Essay
- The value of using authentic materials in foreign language teaching:
- Reasons for the selection of this text and the 12 vocabulary items. Rationale for changes to text, if applicable.
- Why my activities are appropriate for this class:
- Advantages and disadvantages of using the internet as a resource for classroom teaching: (You are not required to talk about teaching online)