Conversation Class: Natural Remedies and Traditional Plants

I love the intersection of quality images, good discussion questions, and technology. These slides on natural remedies and traditional plants will get your students engaged and talking about this topic. So, pull up a chair, pour yourself some chamomile tea, and enjoy this lesson.

>>Discussion Slides<< 

1. Types of plants: To introduce the topic, there are a few slides that show various plants used in natural remedies. With each slide, students are invited to share what they know about the plant and how they use it in their own lives and traditions. Download and distribute the notetaker handout where students jot down their classmates’ ideas about each of the plants. 
2. Next, as a class, you’ll review some vocabulary related to ailments and cures.
3. Then, students will engage in discussion questions on the topic. You can decide which discussion format – pairs, small groups, whole class, discussion lines, or concentric circles – is best for your particular class.
4. Finally, the lesson will end with an Apples to Apples type game where students will suggest natural remedies or plants for a particular ailment.
   1. Visit this post to download and print the symptoms, ailment, and remedies cards.
   2. Put students into groups of 4-5.
   3. Mix up the symptoms and ailments cards and give each group a stack of them as well as a stack of remedies cards.
   4. Give each person in the group 4 remedies cards. Alternatively, you could not use the remedies cards, but instead, let each person say a remedy based on what they know and also using the notetaker from the first activity in this lesson.
   5. Each round, one person will draw a symptom or ailment card and place it face up on the table. This person will also express to the group what’s wrong with him/her based on the card to practice speaking. Emphasize this part because you’ll get some students who simply draw the card and put it down but don’t say anything.
   6. Next, each group member will make a suggestion. They will either choose the best of their four remedies cards and put it down and explain the how best to use that remedy, or they will create a remedy based on their own knowledge and experience and explain it to the group. For a higher-level class, going solo and creating their own suggestion may be a great option. For a lower-level class, having the remedy card to help guide what they say can be helpful. You’ll choose what is best for your students.
   7. The person who put down the ailment/symptom card will then select the best remedy, giving the person who gave the suggestion a point. In Apples to Apples, the person who gets selected as the winner gets to keep the original card (in this case the ailment/symptom cards) as a point.
   8. The next round, a new person will draw the ailment/symptom card.

I hope you and your class enjoy this lesson and have a great time talking about natural remedies and traditional plants. If you found this resource useful, subscribe to TESOL Planner to get notified when new ideas get launched.

Happy planning!

Example Slide

Example Discussion Question: