Traditional Vs Western Medicine

Ying-Ying Ma Unit 1: What is Health? Lesson 2: Cultural Differences in Defining Health Objectives: Students will be able to - Describe differences between Western and Chinese medicine - use proper vocabulary to state an opinion and support it with evidence - understand and practice making an outline of an argument paragraph Lesson Outline: I. Homework check. Go through questions 2 & 3 on the WHO constitution reading. Ask for volunteer answers. Are there universal rules for maintaining health? Universal rights? Talk about universals vs. cultural particulars to lead into lesson. II. Ask students what they know about Zhongyao (Chinese medicine). Ask how that differs from Western medicine and build a comparison chart on the board. What does health mean to a Chinese doctor versus a Western one? How would they each recommend achieving it? When would medical treatment be given? What type of treatment would it be? III. Grammar Practice: Ask questions containing target vocabulary and grammatical structures. (In your opinion; Do you believe/think; Do you support; Given the evidence; etc.). Have students answer using the reciprocal vocabulary. IV. Activity: Arguing for Chinese/Western medicine a. Divide the class into four groups. Have the first group come up with three ideas on why Chinese medicine is good (more holistic, cheaper, etc), the second on why Western medicine is bad. Have the third group come up with ideas on why Western medicine is good, the fourth on why Chinese medicine is bad. b. Write the ideas on the board and ask class for more ideas, then have the groups reconvene and come up with three pieces of supporting evidence for each of the three best ideas in the group (treats the whole body not just disease, uses herbs not drugs, etc). c. Come back as a class and outline one essay arguing for Chinese medicine (and against Western) using the bullet points from groups one and two (Chinese medicine is good because: 1…2…3…and Western medicine is bad because…). Then outline another essay arguing for Western medicine using the arguments from groups 3 & 4. d. Explain organization of outline, differences between arguments and supporting facts (a big confusion), and the importance of outlines for good writing.