Project B: Speaking

Project B Speaking: Gum disease

You are going to talk about dental care.

First read the text.
Form groups of three or four pupils.
Do the three exercises.

Read the text.

A new study shows that people today have more gum disease than people living 2,000 years ago. The study is from the university King's College in London and is published in the 'British Dental Journal'. Researchers looked at the teeth in the skulls of 303 people who lived between 1,600-1,800 years ago.

The skulls were found at an old burial site in the west of England. The researchers found that only 5 per cent of the skulls showed signs of gum disease. Up to 30 per cent of people in England today have gum disease.
Professor Francis Hughes was surprised by what he found. He said people did not have toothbrushes or toothpaste back then and did not visit dentists, like we do today.

The main reason why modern people have more gum disease is smoking. Theya Molleson, co-author of the report, said the study shows that people's oral health has become much worse over the past 2,000 years. She added that she thinks gum disease could start going down from now as more people stop smoking. She said: "As smoking declines in the population, we should see a decline in the [numbers of people with] the disease."
Gum disease happens when bacteria build up in your mouth. The bacteria eat away at your gums and can make your teeth fall out. People can reduce the risk of gum disease by regular brushing, using mouthwash and not smoking.

Exercise 1

CHAT: In pairs / groups, talk about these topics or words from the article.

What will the article say about them?
What can you say about these words and your life?

Topics or words:
study / gum disease / university / researchers / teeth / surprised / toothbrush / dentist / main reason / smoking / oral health / population / bacteria / regular brushing / risk

Exercise 2

ORAL HYGIENE: Rank these with your partner.
Put the most important for oral hygiene at the top.

regular brushing	rinsing after eating
no sweets	visits to the dentist
flossing	using mouthwash
no smoking	chewing gum

Exercise 3

DENTIST
Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word "dentist".
Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories.

Evaluation

You have discussed five questions. How did it go?
Please answer these evaluation questions with your group:

Did everyone in the group participate? Did everyone have a similar contribution?
If not, why do you think this is so? Does unequal participation matter? Why/ why not?
Did every member of the group made three or more thoughtful comments and at least one relevant argument?
Did everyone speak loudly, clearly (and with excellent grammar)?
How about listening. Did only one person talks at a time? Was everybody listening?

Evaluation

Hoe vond jij deze opdracht gaan?
Geef bij elk onderdeel aan hoe jij vond dat het ging.

	Goed	Voldoende	Onvoldoende
De juiste woorden kennen en gebruiken	Ik kan alle eenvoudige woorden gebruiken om me voor te stellen en de informatie te vragen.	Ik kan de meest noodzakelijke woorden gebruiken om me voor te stellen en de informatie te vragen.	Ik kan de meest eenvoudige woorden nog niet gebruiken om me voor te stellen en de informatie te vragen.
Grammatica – zinnen maken	Ik kan alle geleerde grammatica gebruiken in eenvoudige zinnetjes.	Ik kan de meeste, maar nog niet alle grammatica gebruiken in eenvoudige zinnetjes.	Ik kan de geleerde zinnen niet formuleren, maar gebruik losse woorden zonder zinsverband.
Duidelijk - vloeiend spreken	Ik praat bijna zonder aarzelingen vlot door.	Ik praat redelijk vlot door, met af en toe een aarzeling.	Ik praat met te veel pauzes en aarzelingen en zonder intonatie.
Uitspraak	De uitspraak van wat ik geleerd heb klinkt met wat moeite verstaanbaar voor mijn klasgenoot.	De uitspraak van wat ik geleerd heb klinkt redelijk verstaanbaar voor mijn klasgenoot.	De uitspraak van wat ik geleerd heb klinkt niet verstaanbaar genoeg voor mijn klasgenoot.
Overbrengen van de boodschap	Ik kan anderen zonder veel moeite duidelijk maken wat ik bedoel en wat ik wil.	Ik kan anderen met wat moeite duidelijk maken wat ik bedoel.	Ik kan anderen niet duidelijk maken wat ik bedoel.