6. CONCLUSIONES
1.3 EPIDEMIAS DE MALARIA
1.3.3 Clasificación de las epidemias de malaria. Elementos determinantes
HA! HA!
Are you feeling run-down? Stressed? Do you get sick easily? The solution to your problems may be surprisingly simple: Try laughing. Countless research studies have shown the amazing number of ways that laughter positively impacts both our mind and body.
Laughter has an immediate benefi cial eff ect on our mood and sense of well-being. Generally speaking, the harder you laugh, the better you feel. But why is this? Research has found that laughter off ers some of the same benefi ts as exercise. When you laugh, that laughter stretches, tones, and strengthens muscles in your face and body. It increases your heart rate and causes you to breathe faster, which increases oxygen levels in your body. According to William F. Fry, M.D., Associate Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at Stanford University, “Laughing 100–200 times per day is the cardiovascular equivalent of rowing for 10 minutes.”
One study even found that laughter can help people lose weight. Researchers discovered that laughing out loud for 10–15 minutes a day can burn up to 50 calories. However, this certainly doesn’t mean you should give up a visit to the gym for a hearty laugh. At the rate of 200 calories per hour, it would take over 17 hours of non-stop laughter to lose a single pound (450 grams)!
People who laugh often have other physical advantages as well. They tend to have lower blood pressure and lower stress levels. They tend to get sick less often because laughter has been shown to increase infection-fi ghting antibodies. Laughter has also been found to help fi ght disease and to help people recover from illness. This has led many hospitals to create programs designed to make patients laugh. For example, it is quite common to see a red-nosed clown joking with young patients in the pediatric ward. Hundreds of hospitals also provide patients with “humor carts,” loaded
with humorous cartoons, DVDs, comic books, and funny props.
Laughter has also been found to make people alert, stimulate the brain, and enhance learning. It also helps people to be more productive, to communicate more eff ectively, to sleep more soundly, and to form friendships more easily. In the mid-1990s, a doctor from India was struck by these benefi ts and brainstormed a way to bring more laughter into his patients’ lives. The doctor, Madan Kataria, gathered a group of people together in a local park to practice laughing as part of a “laughter club.” During the club meetings, Kataria would prompt members to laugh in
HA HA!
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Teacher’s Guide
3 Laugh Out Loud
32
8 Reading
zWith books closed, discuss the following question with the class: Think of a time you had a good long laugh. How did the laughter make you feel, mentally and physically?
READING STRATEGY Predicting
zExplain that good readers often ask questions mentally as they read and try to predict what the writer will say next.
zHave students cover the article Laughter Really is the Best Medicine with a piece of paper. Then have them slide the paper down so that only the title is visible.
Ask: What do yo think the main idea of this article will be? Elicit several responses from students, but here and for all the questions in this exercise, don’t confirm or deny answers. (Try not to react in a way that will let students know what you think.)
zHave students slide the paper down to reveal only the first paragraph. Have students read the paragraph. Ask if this confirms their answers to the question about the main idea. Ask: Which sentence summarizes the main points the article will make? (The last sentence in the paragraph, beginning Countless research studies…) Ask a volunteer to read the sentence aloud.
zAsk: What do you think the article might say about how laughter impacts the body? Elicit ideas without confirming or denying. Then have students move the paper down to reveal the next three paragraphs.
zHave students read these paragraphs and underline important details about laughing. Ask: What information surprised you?
zAsk: What do you think the article will say about the impact of laughter on the mind? Elicit ideas as before. Then have students read to the bottom of page 32.
zFinally ask: Have you ever heard of a laughter club?
What do you think that people do there? Elicit ideas and have students read the rest of the article on page 33.
zWhen students have finished the article, ask for feedback on the activity. Ask: Is this something you do automatically when you read in your first language? How did it impact your ability to read and understand this article? Elicit students’ ideas.
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Play the audio. Have students listen and read along in their books.zFor additional vocabulary practice, you may choose to do the following activity. Have students work with a partner to complete these tasks with vocabulary from the reading. You can write these activities on the board, make a copy for each pair, or read them aloud.
Find a word in paragraph 2 that means to make the muscles longer. (stretch)
Find a word in paragraph 4 that means to get better after an illness. (recover)
Find a word in paragraph 5 that describes how a person sleeps when they sleep well. (soundly) Look up soundly in a dictionary. What does it mean? What other examples does it give you?
Find a word on page 33 that means the opposite of genuine. (fake)
Find a word that is a synonym for genuine. (real) Find a word that means that something can be easily passed to another person, such as a disease. (infectious)
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Teacher’s Guide
3 Laugh Out Loud
33
After Reading
zHave students work individually to answer true or false, referring back to the reading as necessary.
zThen have them compare answers with a partner. If they disagree, they refer back to the reading to decide on the correct answer.
zRead aloud the answers quickly for a fi nal check.
Answers
1. true 4. true 2. false 5. false 3. false 6. false
9 Speaking
zPut students in small groups to talk about the fi rst speaking point.
zHave students copy and complete the chart in the notebook with their ideas.
zHave one person from each group report to the class.
Workbook
Assign pages 22-23 for additional writing practice at word and sentence level.
Teaching Tip
From time to time, ask students for feedback on an activity.
Was the activity helpful? Fun? How could it be improved?
Students will usually appreciate the opportunity to give input on class activities.
Additional Activity
Riddles are closely related to jokes. Give the class a few riddles and see if they can fi gure them out. For example:
What’s black and white and “read” all over? (a newspaper) What has one eye, but can’t see? (a needle)
What is as big as you are, but doesn’t weigh anything?
(your shadow)
What is always the end of everything? (the letter g) What can you hold without using your hands or your arms? (your breath)
Becoming a real clown isn’t easy. Students at the Clown Conservatory in San Francisco study for one year to get a basic degree in clowning. Courses can include acrobatics, dance, mime, circus skills, and hospital clowning. The program admits only 15–20 students each year. Graduates usually go into performance clowning, as in circuses and theaters, or social clowning, as in private parties or hospital work.
f acts
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HA!
After Reading
Answer true or false.
1. _____ Laughter increases oxygen levels in your body.
2. _____ People with lower stress levels tend to get sick more often.
3. _____ Clowns are a common sight in hospital emergency rooms.
4. _____ The first laughter club was started by an Indian doctor.
5. _____ Fake laughter does not produce the same health benefits as genuine laughter.
6. _____ There are about 800 laughter clubs in the world today.
a variety of ways. For example, he would tell them to greet one another with a laugh, or to laugh like a lion. Although Kataria discovered that fake laughter produces the same health benefits as genuine laughter, he was gratified to find that it usually didn’t take long for fake laughter to turn into real laughter.
This idea of laughter clubs has been extremely successful. There are now more than 8,000 laughter clubs in 60 different countries. It seems laughter is indeed infectious! Now that you know the health benefits of laughter, think about ways you could bring more laughter into your life. Whether you go to comedy clubs, joke with a friend, or watch more comedies, your mind and body will soon be enjoying the many benefits of a good laugh.
33
9 Speaking
1. Work in pairs or groups. Brainstorm ways of bringing more laughter into your life.
2. Complete the chart with your notes and use it to help you talk about your ideas in class.
People and things that make me laugh
Things, jokes, stories, and events that I find funny Things that make my friends laugh
Things that prevent me from laughing
The way I feel when I laugh
What scientists say about laughter