Apr 23 2009
The Best Resources For Learning About World Malaria Day
As I was driving back home from school today, I heard on National Public Radio that April 25th is World Malaria Day.
To quote from The Financial Times:
“More than 40 per cent of the world’s population is at risk from malaria with about 500 million cases every year and more than 1 million deaths in sub-Saharan Africa.”
Since I’m taking my Intermediate English class to the computer lab on Friday, and all of them come from countries where malaria is quite active, I thought I’d put together a quick list of sites for them to visit.
I’ve divided this “The Best…” list into two sections — one with sites that are accessible to English Language Learners, and the other sharing teacher resources that include materials that could be modified for ELL’s.
Here are my choices for The Best Resources For Learning About World Malaria Day:
FOR STUDENTS:
The Financial TImes — just today — published a very accessible map with information in simple English showing malaria throughout the world. It’s a great interactive graphic.
The Centers For Disease Control also has a good map, but it’s not nearly as accessible as the one from The Financial Times.
Here’s a simple slideshow on Fighting Malaria in Africa.
UNICEF also has a short online video with the same title — Fighting Malaria in Africa.
You can see a World Malaria Day 2008 Photo Gallery.
Here are three short videos from ABC News:
A Success Story In Fighting Malaria
The CBBC Newsround has two short and accessible articles on malaria:
ESL Holiday Lessons has an activity on Malaria Awareness that provides audio support for the text.
That same lesson includes online exercises.
Breaking News English also has an online lesson for ELL’s on Malaria in Africa.
It, too, has a follow-up online exercise.
The Voice of America has two online videos worth watching:
Malaria Parasite Becoming Resistant to Most Effective Medicine
Malaria Jeopardizes Children’s Performance in School
The Deliver The Net online video game has players…delivering virtual mosquito nets to African villagers. It’s sponsored by the United Nations Foundation There’s little benefit in the game for English language development. However, if you finish the game and sign-up for an email newsletter, business supporters will donate $10 to provide nets.
FOR TEACHERS:
Malaria No More has quite a few resources for teachers.
ESL Printables has some good resources for ELL’s on malaria.
The Seattle Times has a huge amount of resources on the disease and efforts to fight it.
As always, feedback is welcome.
If you found this post useful, you might want to look at previous “The Best…” lists and also consider subscribing to this blog for free.
One response so far
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The campaign to provide bed nets is tantamount to telling families in Africa to stay in bed. Take a few minutes to watch this video by WORLDwrite volunteers
http://www.worldbytes.org/programmes/006/006_002.html
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