LESSON 2: Helping
Objective: Students will learn about how they can help people who have cancer.
Time Required: One 40-minute class period
Materials: Helping worksheet, Internet access
LESSON STEPS1. Remind students that they have been learning about cancer. In order to review Lesson 1, have students go to different sides of the room based on their answers to this question:
Do you think that you can catch cancer from someone?
Reemphasize that cancer is not something that you can catch, that most people who get cancer are older, and that many people can live a long time with and after cancer.
2. Distribute Helping worksheet. Ask students, “How many of you have ever been sick enough to be lying in bed?” If you can, offer one of your own experiences. Ask students to think about what their family and friends did to help them feel better. Direct them to focus on the list of questions on the worksheet in order to help them get started on the activity. When the students have finished, review the answers as a class and discuss why they completed the worksheet the way that they did.
3. Ask students if they have ever done anything to make someone feel better or if they can think of things that they could do for someone who is sick. Highlight the topics discussed on the worksheet:
- Talk to them
- Give them special foods
- Make them comfortable
- Make them smile or laugh
- Take their mind off feeling sick
- Do something for them that they need help with or cannot do themselves
4. Have students role-play in pairs or small groups. One person should pretend that they are sick, and the other person can offer to do something to help the person feel better. The illness can be something that you can catch or something that you cannot catch.