Breaking News English ESL Lesson Plan on Bed Bugs

Scientists in England believe that not tidying your bed after you wake up may be healthier for you. Their research suggests that the dust mites that live in our mattresses do not like messy and unmade beds. This could be good news for people with asthma. The research team, from Kingston University, said the tiny bugs could only survive in sheets and mattresses that were slightly damp – they live off the moisture and sweat from our bodies. If a bed is unmade, air circulates between the sheets and dries them out. Dry sheets means the creatures will die from dehydration – a lack of water. The researchers said that the average bed contained around 1.5 million mites. They are less than a millimetre long and they feed on the flakes of skin that fall from your body.

Lead researcher Dr Stephen Pretlove said his research could cut amount of money spent on treating illnesses that are caused by mites. We breathe in the waste produced by bed bugs or get bitten by them. These can lead to asthma and other health problems. The British health service currently spends over $1 billion a year treating illnesses caused by mites. Dr Pretlove believes his research could change the way our houses are designed. “Our findings could help building designers create healthy homes and healthcare workers point out environments most at risk from mites, he said. Allergy expert Professor Andrew Wardlaw agreed, saying: “It would be good if ways were found to modify the home so that mite [numbers] were reduced.

WARM-UPS

1. BEDS: Walk around the class and talk to other students about beds. Change partners often. Sit with your first partner(s) and share your findings.

2. CHAT: In pairs / groups, decide which of these topics or words from the article are most interesting and which are most boring.

scientists / making beds / mattresses / bugs / asthma / sweat / lack of water / skin / research / illnesses / getting bitten / health problems / house design / allergies

Have a chat about the topics you liked. Change topics and partners frequently.

3. HEALTHY UNTIDINESS: How might these things be healthy? Complete this table with your partner(s). Change partners and share your ideas. Change and share again.

	Why it’s healthy	Do you do this?
Not making the bed
Not showering
Not tidying your desk
Not ironing
Not brushing your hair
Not being on time

4. BUGS: Students A strongly believe there’ll be no bugs in our homes in the future; Students B strongly believe the opposite. Change partners again and talk about your conversations.

5. HOUSE MATES: Are you happy sharing your home with other living things? Rate these and share your ratings with your partner: 10 = Can’t live without them; 1 = Hate! Hate! Hate! Change partners and share your ratings again.

bed bugs
little brothers and sisters
spiders
pets

mice and rats
old relatives
flies
friends

6. BED: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word ‘bed’. Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories.

BEFORE READING / LISTENING

1. TRUE / FALSE: Read the headline. Guess if a-h below are true (T) or false (F).

a.	Bed bugs hate beds that are not made after someone sleeps in them.	T / F
b.	Bed bugs need very dry conditions to survive.	T / F
c.	Around one and a half million bed bugs live in our bed.	T / F
d.	Bed bugs eat our sheets and mattresses.	T / F
e.	Not making our beds could reduce money spent on health problems.	T / F
f.	Health services spend $1 billion a year treating mites.	T / F
g.	New research into bed making could change future house design.	T / F
h.	An allergy specialist thought the research findings were all wrong.	T / F

2. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article.

1.	suggests	a.	insects
2	messy	b.	cause
3.	bugs	c.	moves around
4.	slightly	d.	indicates
5.	circulates	e.	change
6.	cut	f.	presently
7.	lead to	g.	a little bit
8.	currently	h.	conclusions
9.	findings	i.	untidy
10.	modify	j.	reduce

3. PHRASE MATCH: (Sometimes more than one choice is possible.)

1.	tidying your bed	a.	and unmade beds
2	dust mites that live in	b.	risk from mites
3.	messy	c.	slightly damp
4.	mattresses that were	d.	of water
5.	a lack	e.	by them
6.	the amount of money spent	f.	caused by mites
7.	get bitten	g.	after you wake up
8.	treating illnesses	h.	home
9.	environments most at	i.	our mattresses
10.	modify the	j.	on treating illnesses

WHILE READING / LISTENING

GAP FILL: Put the words into the gaps in the text.

Scientists in England believe that not ____________ your bed after you wake up may be healthier for you. Their research suggests that the dust mites that live in our mattresses do not like ____________ and unmade beds. This could be good ____________ for people with asthma. The research team, from Kingston University, said the ____________ bugs could only survive in sheets and mattresses that were ____________ damp – they live off the moisture and sweat from our bodies. If a bed is unmade, air circulates between the sheets and ____________ them out. Dry sheets means the creatures will die from dehydration – a ____________ of water. The researchers said that the average bed contained around 1.5 million mites. They are less than a millimetre long and they feed on the flakes of ____________ that fall from your body.

dries
tiny
messy
lack
tidying
slightly
skin
news

Lead researcher Dr Stephen Pretlove said his research could cut the ____________ of money spent on treating illnesses that are caused by mites. We breathe in the ____________ produced by bed bugs or get bitten by them. These can ____________ to asthma and other health problems. The British health service currently ____________ over $1 billion a year treating illnesses caused by mites. Dr Pretlove believes his research could change the ____________ our houses are designed. “Our findings could help building designers create healthy homes and healthcare workers ____________ out environments most at risk from mites, he said. Allergy ____________ Professor Andrew Wardlaw agreed, saying: “It would be good if ways were found to modify the home so that mite [numbers] were ____________.

spends
lead
reduced
amount
expert
waste
point
way

LISTENING – Listen and fill in the gaps

Scientists in England believe ___________________ bed after you wake up may be healthier for you. Their research suggests that the dust mites that live in our mattresses ___________________ unmade beds. This _____________________ people with asthma. The research team, from Kingston University, said the tiny bugs could only survive in sheets and mattresses that ___________________ – they live off the moisture and sweat from our bodies. If a bed is unmade, air circulates between the sheets and dries them out. Dry sheets means the creatures will die from dehydration – ___________________. The researchers said that the average bed contained around 1.5 million mites. They are less than a millimetre long and they ___________________ of skin that fall from your body.

Lead researcher Dr Stephen Pretlove said his research ___________________ of money spent on treating illnesses that are caused by mites. We breathe ___________________ by bed bugs or get bitten by them. These can lead to asthma and other health problems. The British health service ___________________ $1 billion a year treating illnesses caused by mites. Dr Pretlove believes his research ___________________ our houses are designed. “Our findings could help building designers create healthy homes and healthcare workers point out environments ___________________ mites, he said. Allergy expert Professor Andrew Wardlaw agreed, saying: “It would ___________________ were found to modify the home so that mite [numbers] were reduced.

AFTER READING / LISTENING

1. WORD SEARCH: Look in your dictionary / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … for the words ‘bed’ and ‘bugs’.

bed

bugs

Share your findings with your partners.

Make questions using the words you found.
Ask your partner / group your questions.

2. ARTICLE QUESTIONS: Look back at the article and write down some questions you would like to ask the class about the text.

Share your questions with other classmates / groups.
Ask your partner / group your questions.

3. GAP FILL: In pairs / groups, compare your answers to this exercise. Check your answers. Talk about the words from the activity. Were they new, interesting, worth learning…?

4. VOCABULARY: Circle any words you do not understand. In groups, pool unknown words and use dictionaries to find their meanings.

5. TEST EACH OTHER: Look at the words below. With your partner, try to recall how they were used in the text:

wake up
news
survive
sweat
dry
average

cut
waste
designed
risk
agreed
reduced

STUDENT BED SURVEY

From http://www.BreakingNewsEnglish.com/1001/100126-bed-bugs.html

Write five GOOD questions about beds in the table. Do this in pairs. Each student must write the questions on his / her own paper.

When you have finished, interview other students. Write down their answers.

	STUDENT 1 _____________	STUDENT 2 _____________	STUDENT 3 _____________
Q.1.
Q.2.
Q.3.
Q.4.
Q.5.

Now return to your original partner and share and talk about what you found out. Change partners often.
Make mini-presentations to other groups on your findings.

BED BUGS DISCUSSION

STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)

a)	What did you think when you read the headline?
b)	What springs to mind when you hear the word ‘bed’?
c)	Does your bed have bed bugs? How do you know?
d)	What do you think of possibility there might be 1.5 million bed bugs in your bed?
e)	What is your bed-making routine?
f)	Will you change your routine after reading this article?
g)	Would you like to be a researcher on this project?
h)	What would happen to all the flakes of skin if there weren’t bed bugs?
i)	Would you prefer there to be no insects of any kind in your house?
j)	Why does our skin fall off?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)

a)	Did you like reading this article?
b)	Do you think there should be more research into the link between bed making and illnesses?
c)	When was the last time you were bitten by an insect?
d)	Have you ever been ill from an insect bite?
e)	What do you think of bed bugs causing $1 billion of health problems?
f)	Do you think your house was designed with health in mind?
g)	Are there things in your house that could make you ill?
h)	How important is a good bed to you?
i)	What would you do if you could see the bed bugs in your bed?
j)	What questions would you like to ask Dr Stephen Pretlove?

LANGUAGE – MULTIPLE CHOICE

Scientists in England believe that (1) ____ tidying your bed after you wake up may be healthier for you. Their research suggests that the dust mites that live in our mattresses do not like messy and (2) ____ beds. This could be good news for people with asthma. The research team, from Kingston University, said the tiny bugs could only survive in sheets and mattresses that were (3) ____ damp – they live off the moisture and sweat from our bodies. If a bed is unmade, air circulates between the sheets and (4) ____ them out. Dry sheets means the creatures will die from dehydration – a lack (5) ____ water. The researchers said that the average bed contained around 1.5 million mites. They are less than a millimetre long and they feed (6) ____ the flakes of skin that fall from your body.

Lead researcher Dr Stephen Pretlove said his research could cut the amount of money spent on (7) ____ illnesses that are caused by mites. We breathe in the waste produced by bed bugs or get (8) ____ by them. These can lead to asthma and other health problems. The British health service currently spends over $1 billion a year treating illnesses caused (9) ____ mites. Dr Pretlove believes his research could change the way our houses are designed. “Our findings could help building designers (10) ____ healthy homes and healthcare workers point out environments most (11) ____ risk from mites, he said. Allergy expert Professor Andrew Wardlaw agreed, saying: “It would be good if ways were found to modify the home so that mite [(1) ____] were reduced.

Put the correct words from the table below in the above article.

1.	(a)	no	(b)	none	(c)	nor	(d)	not
2.	(a)	unmade	(b)	mad	(c)	maiden	(d)	unmanned
3.	(a)	slight	(b)	slightly	(c)	unsightly	(d)	sighted
4.	(a)	drizzles	(b)	drily	(c)	dries	(d)	sundries
5.	(a)	for	(b)	by	(c)	of	(d)	to
6.	(a)	in	(b)	on	(c)	by	(d)	at
7.	(a)	treated	(b)	treatment	(c)	treats	(d)	treating
8.	(a)	bitten	(b)	biting	(c)	bite	(d)	bit
9.	(a)	at	(b)	by	(c)	to	(d)	so
10.	(a)	creation	(b)	creativity	(c)	created	(d)	create
11.	(a)	by	(b)	on	(c)	at	(d)	up
12.	(a)	numbers	(b)	numeral	(c)	numbered	(d)	numbering

WRITING

Write about bed bugs for 10 minutes. Correct your partner’s paper.

_____________________________________________________________________________

HOMEWORK

1. VOCABULARY EXTENSION: Choose several of the words from the text. Use a dictionary or Google’s search field (or another search engine) to build up more associations / collocations of each word.

2. INTERNET: Search the Internet and find out more about bed bugs. Share what you discover with your partner(s) in the next lesson.

3. BUGS AT HOME: Make a poster about the different bugs that live in our homes. Show your work to your classmates in the next lesson. Did you all have similar things?

4. BED CHAT: Write a magazine article about the use of bed bugs. Include imaginary interviews with a bed bug and the owner of the bed it lives in.

Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Write down any new words and expressions you hear from your partner(s).

5. LETTER: Write a letter to a bed bug researcher. Ask him/her three questions about bed bugs. Give him/her three opinions on these small creatures. Read your letter to your partner(s) in your next lesson. Your partner(s) will answer your questions.

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

SYNONYM MATCH:

1.	suggests	a.	indicates
2	messy	b.	untidy
3.	bugs	c.	insects
4.	slightly	d.	a little bit
5.	circulates	e.	moves around
6.	cut	f.	reduce
7.	lead to	g.	cause
8.	currently	h.	presently
9.	findings	i.	conclusions
10.	modify	j.	change

PHRASE MATCH:

1.	tidying your bed	a.	after you wake up
2	dust mites that live in	b.	our mattresses
3.	messy	c.	and unmade beds
4.	mattresses that were	d.	slightly damp
5.	a lack	e.	of water
6.	the amount of money spent	f.	on treating illnesses
7.	get bitten	g.	by them
8.	treating illnesses	h.	caused by mites
9.	environments most at	i.	risk from mites
10.	modify the	j.	home

GAP FILL:

Not making your bed may be healthier

Scientists in England believe that not tidying your bed after you wake up may be healthier for you. Their research suggests that the dust mites that live in our mattresses do not like messy and unmade beds. This could be good news for people with asthma. The research team, from Kingston University, said the tiny bugs could only survive in sheets and mattresses that were slightly damp – they live off the moisture and sweat from our bodies. If a bed is unmade, air circulates between the sheets and dries them out. Dry sheets means the creatures will die from dehydration – a lack of water. The researchers said that the average bed contained around 1.5 million mites. They are less than a millimetre long and they feed on the flakes of skin that fall from your body.

Lead researcher Dr Stephen Pretlove said his research could cut the amount of money spent on treating illnesses that are caused by mites. We breathe in the waste produced by bed bugs or get bitten by them. These can lead to asthma and other health problems. The British health service currently spends over $1 billion a year treating illnesses caused by mites. Dr Pretlove believes his research could change the way our houses are designed. “Our findings could help building designers create healthy homes and healthcare workers point out environments most at risk from mites, he said. Allergy expert Professor Andrew Wardlaw agreed, saying: “It would be good if ways were found to modify the home so that mite [numbers] were reduced.

LANGUAGE WORK

1 - d

2 - a

3 - b

4 - c

5 - c

6 - b

7 - d

8 - a

9 - b

10 - d

11 - c

12 - a

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Breaking News English

January 26, 2010

Not Making Your Bed May Be Healthier