Category Archives: Social Issues

How To Help Kids Cope With Anger…How to help Parents Cope with Angry Kids

“Anger has a bad reputation, but it is a basic human emotion like any other. Here’s how to help children cope.” C.Pearson,The New York Times, June 28, 2022

ESL Voices Lesson Plan for this post with Answer Key

Credit: Tim Lahan

Excerpt: How to Raise Kids Who Are Good at Getting Angry, By Catherine Pearson, The New York Times, June 28, 2022

How to soothe crying babies

“I never really witnessed pure rage up close until I became a parent of toddlers. My children, who are a bit older now, weren’t big tantrum throwers. But when they went for it, they really went for it: screaming, sobbing, full-body shaking —the works…Fortunately, their respective meltdown phases were brief. I say “fortunately,” because I didn’t do much to help tame their outbursts. I was flummoxed by their fits of anger, and sometimes worried about who I was raising.

How to calm your babies. Credit-.Medium

How to soothe crying babies

Parents don’t have to yell. Credit; Healthline

Learning to manage anger is a lifelong skill that allows children to function at home, in school and out in the world without losing control. And it’s a skill that parents can help their kids cultivate, even starting when they are babies and toddlers, by encouraging them to develop outlets and modeling strong coping skills yourself.”

Additional Reading [Excellent article ~ ESL-Voices]:

How Inuit Parents Teach Kids To Control Their Anger, By Michaeleen Doucleff and Jane Greenhalgh, NPR, March 13, 2019

This story is part of a series from NPR’s Science desk called ‘The Other Side of Anger’.

Anthropologist Jean L. Briggs (1929–2016)

“For more than 30 years, the Inuit welcomed anthropologist Jean Briggs into their lives so she could study how they raise their children…Back in the 1960s, a Harvard graduate student made a landmark discovery about the nature of human anger.”

“…Across the board, all the moms mention one golden rule: Don’t shout or yell at small children…Traditionally, the Inuit saw yelling at a small child as demeaning. It’s as if the adult is having a tantrum; it’s basically stooping to the level of the child, Briggs documented.”

Inuit parenting is gentle and tender. They even have a special kiss for kids called kunik. (Above) Maata Jaw gives her daughter the nose-to-cheek Inuit sniff. Johan Hallberg-Campbell for NPR

Maata Jaw and daughter. Credit NPR

ESL Voices Lesson Plan for this post

NOTE: Lessons can also be used with native English speakers.

Level: Intermediate – Advanced

Language Skills: Reading, writing, and speaking. Vocabulary and grammar activities are included.

Time: Approximately 60 minutes. 

Materials: Student handout (from this lesson) and access to news article.


Objective: Students will read and discuss the article with a focus on improving reading comprehension and improving oral skills. At the end of the lesson students will express their personal views on the topic through group work and writing. 

I. Pre-Reading Activities

 Predictions: Analyzing headings and photos

Directions: Examine the titles of the post and of the actual article.  Examine any photos, then create a list of  words and  ideas  that you  and your group members think might be related to this article.  

II. While Reading Activities

Word Inference

Directions: Try  to infer the meanings of the words in bold taken from the article. You use a dictionary, thesaurus, and Word Chart for assistance. 

  1. I never really witnessed pure rage up close until I became a parent of toddlers.
  2. My children, who are a bit older now, weren’t big tantrum throwers.
  3. But when they went for it, they really went for it.
  4. Fortunately, their respective meltdown phases were brief.
  5. “Fortunately,” because I didn’t do much to help tame their outbursts.
  6. I was flummoxed by their fits of anger.
  7. Anger isn’t bad nor is expressing it inherently dangerous.
  8. Learning to manage anger is a lifelong skill.
  9. It’s a skill that parents can help their kids cultivate.
  10. Anger is a basic human emotion.

 

Whimsical Vocabulary Organizer by Danielle Mays

 

Grammar Focus: Structure and Usage

Directions: The following groups of sentences are from the article. One of the sentences in each group contains a grammatical  error.  Identify the sentence (1, 2, or 3 ) from each group that contains the grammatical error.

I

  1. How to Raise Kids Who Are Good at Getting Angry.
  2. Anger have a bad reputation.
  3. Anger is a basic human emotion like any other.

II

  1. I never really witnessed pure rage.
  2. I was flummoxed by there fits of anger.
  3. Many of us were taught that anger is bad.

III

  1. Learning to manage anger is a lifelong skill.
  2. Don’t be afraid for tantrums.
  3. Some emotions are really stressful.

 

Reading Comprehension: Identify The Speakers

Directions: Read the following quotes from the speakers in the article. Then identify the speakers. 

  1. “Many of us were taught that anger is bad, and that to show we’re angry and express our feelings is bad…But anger isn’t bad, Dr. McCoy said, nor is expressing it inherently dangerous or disrespectful.”
  2.  “When it comes to kids and anger, it can help to remember a few simple facts: First, anger is a basic human emotion. And second, emotions exist to tell us about ourselves and our relationships.”
  3. “It’s not uncommon for toddlers or preschoolers to have tantrums several times a week…The average length of toddler tantrums is around three minutes but there is a wide range in how long they can go on — anywhere between 1 and 20 minutes.”

III. Post Reading Activities

WH-How Questions

Directions: Have students use the  WH-question format to discuss or to write the main points from the article. 

Who or What is the article about?

Where does the action/event take place?

When does the action/event take place?

Why did the action/event occur?

How did the action/event occur?

Questions for  Discussion and Comprehension

Directions: In groups answer the following questions:

*[ Please Note: Questions 1 and 2  are from NPR website]

  1. How do you get your kids to do things without yelling or shouting? 
  2. How did your parents get you to do things without yelling or scolding? 
  3. List three new ideas  that you’ve learned about the topic from the reading,  two things that you did not understand in the reading, and one thing you  would like to know that the article did not mention.  Share your responses with your class.
  4. List 3  questions  that you would like to ask any person mentioned in the article. Groups share questions as a class.

ANSWER KEY

Category: Children/Teens, Education, Mental Health Issues, Psychology, Social Issues | Tags: ,

It’s OK to be Grumpy!

“Need permission to be a grump — or just a normal human being who isn’t smiling all the time? Read these books.” J.  Newman, The New York Times, July 26, 2022

ESL Voices Lesson Plan for this post with Answer Key

Image Credit- Nishant Choksi, The New York Times

 

Excerpt: The Power of Negative Thinking, By Judith Newman, The New York Times, July 26, 2022

“Recently a friend posted on Facebook that, after years of struggle against two different kinds of cancer, she was going into hospice care. She is smart, funny and unafraid. Her heartbreaking news generated the expected outpouring of love and support, including a number of messages repeating the popular current You got this.

She got what? I wondered. Is she supposed to feel reassured by that? Congratulations, you’re gonna rock death! “You got this” is the popular rallying cry to any number of painful scenarios, from ‘My flight was delayed’ to ‘I’m getting a divorce’ to, well, this. Sometimes, we don’t got this. Which may be why several new books on happiness are also addressing the negative side of positivity — making the point that, while the pursuit of happiness is a worthy goal, relentless positivity doesn’t really lead us to that goal, and can actually end up damaging us.”

 

ESL Voices Lesson Plan for this post

LESSON PLAN

NOTE: Lessons can also be used with native English speakers.

 

Level: Intermediate – Advanced

Language Skills: Reading, writing, and speaking. Vocabulary and grammar activities are included.

Time: Approximately 60 minutes. 

Materials: Student handout (from this lesson) and access to news article.


Objective: Students will read and discuss the article with a focus on improving reading comprehension and improving oral skills. At the end of the lesson students will express their personal views on the topic through group work and writing. 

I. Pre-Reading Activities

 Predictions: Using a Pre-reading Organizer

Directions: Examine the title of the post and of the actual article. Next examine  any photos. Write a paragraph describing what you think this article will discuss. A pre-reading organizer may be used.

Pre-reading Organizer By Scholastic

 

II. While Reading Activities

Word Inference

Directions: Try to infer the meanings of the words in bold taken from the article. You use a dictionary, thesaurus, and Word Chart for assistance. 

  1. She had to struggle against two different kinds of cancer for years.
  2. She was now going into hospice care.
  3. There was a number of messages repeating the popular current You got this.
  4. Is she supposed to feel reassured by that?
  5. While the pursuit of happiness is a worthy goal, relentless positivity doesn’t really lead us to that goal,
  6. Tal Ben-Shahar is known as the happiness scholar.
  7. The sun is vital for life on earth, but if you stare directly at it, you can go blind.
  8. Positivity lingo lacks nuance, compassion and curiosity.
  9. In other words, if it’s bad to harsh someone’s mellow, it’s sometimes worse to mellow someone’s harsh.
  10. She also contradicts herself. At one point, in decrying victimhood.

 

Grammar Focus: Structure and Usage

Directions: The following groups of sentences are from the article. One of the sentences in each group contains a grammatical  error.  Identify the sentence (1, 2, or 3 ) from each group that contains the grammatical error.

I

  1. Recently a friend posted on Facebook details of her struggle against two different kinds of cancer.
  2. She are smart, funny and unafraid.
  3. Positivity lingo lacks nuance, compassion and curiosity.

II

  1. Several new books on happiness are also addressing the negative side of positivity.
  2. Relentless positivity can actually end up damaging us.
  3. In other words, if it’s bad too harsh someone’s mellow, it’s sometimes worse to mellow someone’s harsh.

III

  1. Positivity can end up being a Band-Aid on a bullet wound.
  2. Sometimes all we want is for someone to acknowledge how awful a situation is and just sit with us.
  3. She also contradict herself.

 

Reading Comprehension: Identify The  Speakers

Directions: Read the following quotes from the speakers in the article. Then identify the speakers. 

  1. “Positivity lingo lacks nuance, compassion and curiosity. It comes in the form of blanket statements that tell someone how to feel and that the feeling they’re currently having is wrong.”
  2. “He spent years filling that void with food, drugs and alcohol. That pursuit of happiness resulted first in obesity and then, deftly subbing one substance for another, years of drug addiction.”
  3. “Anything but gratitude is just a tantrum.”
  4. “Stress and suffering don’t come from reality, they come from the stories we make up about reality.”
  5. “In other words, if it’s bad to harsh someone’s mellow, it’s sometimes worse to mellow someone’s harsh.”
  6.  ” The sun is vital for life on earth.”
  7. “When he stopped chasing the pretense of happiness and started spending time in A.A., he began to reclaim his life.”
  8. Positivity ends up being, “a Band-Aid on a bullet wound.”

 

III. Post Reading Activities

WH-How Questions

Directions: Have students use the  WH-question format to discuss or to write the main points from the article. 

Who or What is the article about?

Where does the action/event take place?

When does the action/event take place?

Why did the action/event occur?

How did the action/event occur?

Discussion Questions for Comprehension /Writing

Directions: Answer the following questions.

  1. Have you ever been in a grumpy mood and wanted to remain in that mood?  Why?
  2. Has anyone ever told you to “smile” and be happy? How did you feel toward that person?
  3. Do you think that being grumpy, sad or angry is healthy?
  4. Why or why not?
  5. Explain the expression, “In other words, if it’s bad to harsh someone’s mellow, it’s sometimes worse to mellow someone’s harsh.”
  6. List three new ideas  that you’ve learned about the topic from the reading,  two things that you did not understand in the reading, and one thing you  would like to know that the article did not mention.  Share your responses with your class.
  7. With your group, write 3  questions that you  would like to ask any person mentioned in the article.  Share your questions with the other groups.

ANSWER KEY

Category: Health Issues, Mental Health Issues, Social Issues | Tags:

Why We See Faces in Everything

“Your brain is super attuned to see faces everywhere,” says Susan Wardle, a scientist who studies how and why people see illusory faces in objects, a phenomenon known as “face pareidolia.” M. Wollan, The New York Times  March 29, 2022

ESL Voices Lesson Plan for this post with Answer Key

Photograph by George Etheredge, The New York Times

Excerpt: How to See Faces Everywhere By Malia Wollan, The New York Times  March 29, 2022

“Humans are hypersocial animals. We’re constantly looking for one another out in the world — to find love, avoid danger, connect — so much so that we often see a face where there isn’t one. ‘You only need this minimal information to see a face because it’s more adaptive to make a mistake and see a funny face in a cloud than to miss a real human face,’ says Wardle, who works at the Laboratory of Brain and Cognition at the National Institute of Mental Health… In one study, Wardle asked subjects to look at 256 photographs of illusory faces. ‘Bizarrely, a lot of our examples came from bell peppers cut in half,’ Wardle says… Unlike human faces though, illusory faces, even the scariest-looking ones, don’t pose any real or potential threat.”

ESL Voices Lesson Plan for this post

NOTE: Lessons can also be used with native English speakers.

Level: Intermediate – Advanced

Language Skills: Reading, writing, and speaking. Vocabulary and grammar activities are included.

Time: Approximately 60 minutes. 

Materials: Student handout (from this lesson) and access to news article.


Objective: Students will read and discuss the article with a focus on improving reading comprehension and improving oral skills. At the end of the lesson students will express their personal views on the topic through group work and writing. 

 Predictions: Using a Pre-reading Organizer

Directions: Examine the title of the post and of the actual article. Next examine  any photos. Write a paragraph describing what you think this article will discuss. A pre-reading organizer may be used.

Pre-reading chart by J. Swann

 

II. While Reading Activities

Word Inference

Directions: Try  to infer the meanings of the words in bold taken from the article. You use a dictionary, thesaurus, and Word Chart for assistance. 

  1. Our brains are super attuned to see faces everywhere.
  2. Susan Wardle is a scientist who studies how and why people see illusory faces in objects.
  3. As humans we want to find love, avoid danger and connect.
  4. You only need this minimal information to see a face.
  5. It’s more adaptive to make a mistake and see a funny face in a cloud than to miss a real human face.
  6. Wardle has colleagues who begin spotting faces in sandwiches.
  7. Growing up, she [Wardle] and her sister gave them their own moniker: “beezups.”
  8. Some saw faces in storm-drain covers.
  9. Wardle says “just stare out, not looking at anything in particular, and allow yourself to see patterns.”
  10. “Bizarrely, a lot of our examples came from bell peppers cut in half.”

Grammar Focus: Word -Recognition

Directions: Students choose the correct word to complete the sentences taken from the article. They are to choose from the options presented.

I

  1. Wardle worry her human subjects would laugh.
  2. M.R.I.s require absolute stillness.
  3. In one study, Wardle asked subjects to look at 256 photographs of illusory faces

II

  1. If you’re not seeing them, try to give yourself the time and space to look.
  2. Just stared out, not looking at anything in particular.
  3. Humans are hypersocial animals.

 

III

  1. You only need this minimal information to sea a face.
  2. We’re constantly looking for one another out in the world.
  3. To see more illusory faces, spend time thinking about them.

 

Reading ComprehensionFill-ins

Directions: Place students in groups and after they have read the entire article, have them complete the following sentences taken from the article. They can use the words and terms from the list provided, or provide their own terms. They are to find the meanings of any new vocabulary.

Brain-imaging ___show that___faces ___up a part of the ___called the “fusiform face area” that is central to all ___recognition. Unlike___ faces though, illusory___, even the ___ones, don’t ___any real or potential threat.

WORD LIST: scariest-looking, faces, human, facial, brain, scans, illusory, light, pose,

III Post Reading

Discussion Questions for Comprehension /Writing

Directions: Have  students discuss the following questions/statements. Afterwards,  students share their thoughts as a class. To reinforce the ideas, students can write an essay on one of the topics mentioned.

  1. Have you ever seen faces in clouds?  If not clouds, have you seen faces in any inanimate objects? 
  2. Seeing faces in objects is known as what phenomenon?
  3. According to Ms. Wardle, what does it mean to be hypersocial?
  4. How do we see more illusory faces?
  5. What directions does Wardle give on how to see faces in objects?
  6. After reading this article, do you think that you’ll begin seeing faces in objects? Why ot why not?
  7. List three new ideas  that you’ve learned about the topic from the reading,  two things that you did not understand in the reading, and one thing you  would like to know that the article did not mention.  Share your responses with your class.

IV Extra Activity

The following photos are from the New York Times article: 

Faces, Faces Everywhere, by Benedict Carey. All photographs are by George Etheredge May 5, 2020

Directions: In groups view all 7 pictures and answer the following questions:

Which pictures are easiest to see a face?

Which pictures are more difficult to see a face?

Why do you think that some pictures are easier than others? 

Go outside and take pictures of your own and share them with the class. 

 

ANSWER KEY

Category: People, Psychology, Social Issues | Tags:

Brookline Student Starts an ESL Global Community

“Anna Lin started teaching English in the fifth grade. Now she has a student-run nonprofit dedicated to the practice.” By J. Osterheldt, Globe Columnist,Updated June 7, 2022,

ESL Voices Lesson Plan for this post with Answer Key

Brookline High School students Luchenzhi “Sunny” Wang, Anna Lin, and Bezawit O’Neill are part of Language Virtual, a tutoring program started by Anna to teach students how to learn and speak English. Jonathan Wiggs/globe Staff

Excerpt: How one Brookline student turned teaching English into a young, global community By Jennee Osterheldt,Globe Columnist,Updated June 7, 2022,

“As a fifth-grader Anna Lin became a teacher.

Her family would travel from Brookline to Thailand to see relatives in the summer and she was asked to help students learn English.

‘I stepped in a classroom of 30 students, all wearing their green and khaki uniforms, and I was younger than them,’ she recalls. ‘I felt like there was a wall between me and them and I thought we couldn’t connect.’

She started by using something she loved — math — to teach the language. PEMDAS: parentheses, exponents, multiplication, and division from left to right, and addition and subtraction from left to right…Summer after summer, she returned and taught. Until the pandemic gripped the world in 2020. She was a freshman at Brookline High School and she wasn’t thinking about what COVID meant for summer fun. She was thinking about teaching in Thailand. ‘I promised I would come back,’ she says. ‘I was sitting at my dinner table with my mom and thinking we don’t have to go to the country to connect with them. We can do it virtually.’ Lin began to reach out to friends at school and friends around the world who moved away, too. They could be teachers to their peers wanting to learn English.

She created a website, Language Virtual, and put out a sign-up sheet. That first year, there would be three students and three teachers.

Now, Anna Lin is finishing her junior year in high school. And she has 100 teachers her age, largely sophomores and juniors, teaching the English language. It also counts as community service hours that some students need to graduate. A lot of them are in Brookline but there are also teachers nearby in Concord, Belmont, and Revere, and as far away as Turkey…Language Virtual does not adhere to a specific teaching style. They have lesson plans around storybooks like “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” and “The Boy Who Cried Wolf.” There are exercises around family, food, and animals. And there is room for teachers to cater curriculums to students.”

Free, Online, Quality English Lessons Please Visit Language Virtual 

ESL Voices Lesson Plan for this post

NOTE: Lessons can also be used with native English speakers.

 

Level: Intermediate – Advanced

Language Skills: Reading, writing, and speaking. Vocabulary and grammar activities are included.

Time: Approximately 60 minutes. 

Materials: Student handout (from this lesson) and access to news article.


Objective: Students will read and discuss the article with a focus on improving reading comprehension and improving oral skills. At the end of the lesson students will express their personal views on the topic through group work and writing. 

 Predictions: Using a Pre-reading Organizer

Directions: Examine the title of the post and of the actual article. Next examine  any photos. Write a paragraph describing what you think this article will discuss. A pre-reading organizer may be used.

Pre-reading chart by J. Swann

 

II. While Reading Activities

Word Inference

Directions: Try  to infer the meanings of the words in bold taken from the article. You use a dictionary, thesaurus, and Word Chart for assistance. 

  1. All 30 students were wearing their green and khaki uniforms.
  2. Math is universal  Lin says.
  3. The beginning was very nerve-racking.
  4. After that month I began to look at them as friends.
  5. She was a freshman at Brookline High School.
  6. She was thinking about teaching in Thailand.
  7. Now, Anna Lin is finishing her junior year in high school. 
  8. They have students in America who have immigrated to the United States from many countries.
  9. Sometimes students come by word of mouth, other times they are referred by ESL teachers.
  10. She and her four siblings were adopted from Ethiopia. 

 

Grammar Focus: Word -Recognition

Directions: Students choose the correct word to complete the sentences taken from the article. They are to choose from the options presented.

Language Virtualdoes/donot/knotadhere too/to a specific teaching/teach style. They has/have lesson plans around storybooks like “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” and “The Boy Who Cried Wolf.” Their/There are exercises/exercise around family, food, and animals. And their/there is room for teachers to/two cater curriculums too/to students.

Reading ComprehensionFill-ins

Directions: Place students in groups and after they have read the entire article, have them complete the following sentencestaken from the article. They can use the words and terms from the list provided, or provide their own terms. They are to find the meanings of any new vocabulary.

Lin began to ___out to ___at school and ___around the ___who moved away, too. They could be ___to their ___wanting to ___English.

She created a___, Language Virtual, and put out a sign-up sheet. That first year, there would be three ___and three teachers.

WORD LIST:website,learn, peers,teachers, world, reach, friends, students, friends,

III. Post Reading Activities

WH-How Questions

Directions: Have students use the  WH-question format to discuss or to write the main points from the article. 

Who or What is the article about?

Where does the action/event take place?

When does the action/event take place?

Why did the action/event occur?

How did the action/event occur?

Discussion Questions for Comprehension /Writing

3,2,1, Questions

Directions:Discuss three new ideas  that you’ve learned about the topic from the reading,  two things that you did not understand in the reading, and one thing you would like to know that the article did not mention.

Ask/Answer Questions

 Directions:  Place students in groups and have each group list 3  questions they would like to pursue in relation to  the article. Have groups exchange questions. Each group tries to answer the questions listed. All responses are shared as a class.

Group Activity

Directions: With your group members think of ways you might start a global ESL learning community in your school. Write a letter to Anna Lin (in care of Language Virtual) asking for information.

ANSWER KEY

 

Category: Education, Language, People, Social Issues | Tags: ,

The End of Roe Affects Us All!

“Friday’s Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade will usher in a United States not seen in half a century, in which the legal status of abortion is entirely up to the states. Now that the law has changed, reproductive rights will be rewritten almost immediately.” C. C. Miller and M. S. Katz, The New York Times, June 24, 2022

ESL Voices Lesson Plan for this post with Answer Key

Abortion rights activists clad in green and carrying green signs protest outside the Supreme Court on Saturday.Brandon Bell:Getty Images

Excerpt: What Does the End of Roe Mean? Key Questions and Answers.By Claire Cain Miller and Margot Sanger-Katz, The New York Times, June 24, 202

“Abortion will remain legal in about half of states, but the rest will probably ban it. The number of abortions will probably fall, particularly among poor women in the South and Midwest…Individual states will decide whether and when abortions will be legal. Many states will continue to allow them, and some have even begun making provisions to help serve women who live in states that are likely to restrict abortion… Some women seeking abortions could obtain them in other ways, including traveling to a state where abortion is legal or ordering pills online from outside the country… Without Roe, abortion will probably decline more because women will have to travel farther to reach a state where it’s legal.”

ESL Voices Lesson Plan for this post

NOTE: Lessons can also be used with native English speakers.

Level: Intermediate – Advanced

Language Skills: Reading, writing, and speaking. Vocabulary and grammar activities are included.

Time: Approximately 60 minutes. 

Materials: Student handout (from this lesson) and access to news article.


Objective: Students will read and discuss the article with a focus on improving reading comprehension and improving oral skills. At the end of the lesson students will express their personal views on the topic through group work and writing. 

I. Pre-Reading Activities

 Predictions: Analyzing headings and photos

Directions: Examine the titles of the post and of the actual article.  Examine any photos, then create a list of  words and  ideas  that you  and your group members think might be related to this article.  

II. While Reading Activities

Word Inference

Directions: Try  to infer the meanings of the words in bold taken from the article. You use a dictionary, thesaurus, and Word Chart for assistance. 

Friday’s Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade will leave the legal status of abortion entirely up to the states.

Now that the law has changed, reproductive rights will be rewritten almost immediately.

Abortion will probably become illegal in about half of states, although forecasts differ.

The Center for Reproductive Rights, is a group that fights abortion restrictions in court and closely tracks state laws.

Some states have old abortion laws on the books that were invalidated by the Roe decision.

In September, a law went into effect banning abortion after fetal cardiac activity is detected, around six weeks.

Without Roe, abortion will probably decline more because women will have to travel farther to reach a state where it’s legal.

California looks to enshrine abortion rights in state constitution.

Our article from December describes the demographics of the typical abortion patient.

Under Roe, the United States has been unusual in allowing abortion for any reason until around 23 weeks.

Grammar Focus: Word -Recognition

Directions: Students choose the correct word to complete the sentences taken from the article. They are to choose from the options presented.

Without Roe, abortion will/may probably declined/decline more because women/woman will has/have to travel farther to reach a/an state where it’s legal. Many women/woman who get abortions are poor, and long travel distances can be insurmountable. The states likely to ban abortion are/is concentrate/concentrated in the South, Midwest and Great Plains.

Reading Comprehension Fill-ins

Directions: Place students in groups and after they have read the entire article, have them complete the following sentences  taken from the article. They can use the words and terms from the list provided, or provide their own terms. They are to find the meanings of any new vocabulary.

Under___, around one in ___American ___would have been expected to obtain an ____at some point, according to research from the Guttmacher Institute.

That includes___ from all backgrounds. But statistics show women who receive ___ abortions in the United States are more likely to be___; to be in their 20s; to have ___incomes; and to___have a child.

WORD LIST: already, low, unmarried, abortion, abortions, women, Roe, four, women,  

Discussion Questions for Comprehension /Writing

Directions: Have  students discuss the following questions/statements. Afterwards,  students share their thoughts as a class. To reinforce the ideas, students can write an essay on one of the topics mentioned.

  1. Will abortion become illegal everywhere in the U.S.?
  2. Where will abortion access most likely change?
  3. What are trigger laws?
  4. How will the number of U.S. abortions change?
  5. Without Roe, why will women’s rights to decline more?
  6. In South Dakota which group of women will be most affected by the new law?
  7. Who Gets Abortions in America?
  8. List three new ideas  that you’ve learned about the topic from the reading,  two things that you did not understand in the reading, and one thing you  would like to know that the article did not mention.  Share your responses with your class.

ANSWER KEY

Category: Culture, Political Issues, Psychology, Social Issues | Tags:
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