Comprehension: Where There Is No Doctor – JSS1 English Lesson Note (Third Term)

A comprehension lesson teaches students to read a passage carefully and answer questions to show that they understand it. In this lesson the passage is an account of home remedies, which are simple ways of caring for small health problems at home. Students also learn new words from the passage and find out when a health worker is needed.

Behavioural objectives

By the end of the lesson, students should be able to:

• read a passage about home remedies and say what it is about;
• explain the meaning of new words from the passage;
• answer questions on the passage in full sentences;
• say when a home remedy is not enough and a health worker is needed.

What is the lesson about?

The aim is to understand an account of home remedies. The topic title, Where There Is No Doctor, is also the title of a health handbook written to help people care for their health when a doctor is not close by. Teachers should first read the class textbook passage on this topic with the students. The short passage below can be used as a warm-up or as extra practice.

Teaching steps

1. Ask: “What do you do at home when someone has a small cut or a stomach upset?” Take a few answers.
2. Write the new words on the board and explain them using the table below.
3. Read the passage aloud once. Students then read silently.
4. Ask the evaluation questions and let students answer in full sentences.

Reading passage: Hajiya Binta’s remedies

Amina lives in a small village near Zaria. One afternoon, her little brother Musa, who is four years old, had a fever and diarrhoea. Their grandmother, Hajiya Binta, did not panic. She knew that a person with diarrhoea loses a lot of water from the body. She mixed oral rehydration salts (ORS) with clean water, exactly as shown on the packet, and gave Musa small sips often. She also let him rest in a cool room.

Because Musa was young and had both fever and diarrhoea, Hajiya Binta took him to the clinic the same day. The nurse told her to keep giving him ORS.

The next day, Amina cut her foot on a piece of broken glass. Hajiya Binta washed the wound with clean water and soap and covered it with a clean cloth. “Dirt causes infection, so a wound must be kept clean,” she said.

Hajiya Binta also told Amina that home remedies help with small problems, but they cannot cure every illness. “If a child has blood in the stool, keeps vomiting, is very sleepy, or cannot drink, we must take the child to the clinic at once,” she said. Amina learnt that a good remedy is simple, safe and clean, and that knowing when to ask a health worker for help is just as important.

Vocabulary from the passage

Evaluation

Answer these questions on the passage above. Choose the correct option.

1. Where does Amina live?
   1. Near Zaria
   2. Near Lagos
   3. Near Enugu
   4. Near Ibadan
2. What was wrong with Musa?
   1. A cut foot
   2. A fever and diarrhoea
   3. A headache
   4. A sore eye
3. Why did Hajiya Binta give Musa ORS mixed with clean water?
   1. Because he was hungry
   2. Because he disliked plain water
   3. Because his body was losing a lot of water
   4. Because the water was dirty
4. What did Hajiya Binta use to wash Amina’s wound?
   1. Clean water and soap
   2. Hot oil
   3. Sugar
   4. Dry cloth only
5. When must a child be taken to the clinic at once?
   1. Every morning
   2. Only when the child is well
   3. When the child keeps vomiting or cannot drink
   4. Never

Answer key

1. A. 2. B. 3. C. 4. A. 5. C.

Assignment

Answer in one sentence each, using the passage.

1. Why must a wound be kept clean?
2. Write the word from the passage that means “a very small drink”.
3. Write the word from the passage that means “an illness caused by germs entering the body”.

Answer key

1. Because dirt causes infection. 2. Sip. 3. Infection.