METHODOLOGICAL RESOURCE FOR LEARNING N°1

UNIT N° 1: “HUMAN INGENUITY”

SESSION N° 1: “WELCOME BACK!!”

SUBJECT GRADE AND HOURS PER WEEK NUMBER

SECTION WEEK

ENGLISH AULA 1 7 Hrs. 1

Welcome back to a new year full of exciting, new learning experiences. We hope you make
the most of all of them!!

Purpose: To create a personal idea or point of view regarding complex written texts read through
a reflexive analysis highlighting their knowledge about the vocabulary and English structure.

Learning evidence: Write an argument based on information from the text provided.

1. LET’S MAKE CONTACT AND REMEMBER

Activity 1: Look at the images and describe what you can see. There are words in the box
below you can use to describe the images.

VACCINE - LABORATORY / LAB - SCIENTIST - EXPERIMENT PATIENT - DISEASE – INJECT

- CURE - CELL
 In the laboratory, scientists experiment with
vaccines and injections in an experimental patient to cure
diseases in the cell.

How does technology help people have a

better life? help in development to solve many
problems such as health, mind,
economy, etc.

In what ways can technology help

people fight diseases? helps many to spread and solve a series
of disease problems, it also helps to
spread information to prevent, help and
fight any diseasefor the benefit of all
people

2. LET’S ENQUIRE AND CONTRAST

Activity 2: Read this article explaining the process of vaccine development.

 How Scientists Developed COVID-19 Vaccines in Record Time

Vaccine development

Vaccine development is a long and complex process. It

took 18 years for scientists to successfully develop a
vaccine against polio, a disease that paralyzed many
children. But COVID-19 is a bigger problem than polio.
Actually, it is more dangerous than previous similar
viruses. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared
the new coronavirus a pandemic on March 11. Around
the world, scientists immediately went to work to develop
a vaccine based on the genetic structure of the new
coronavirus published on virological.com.

In December 2020, the United States, Britain and the European Union approved the first two vaccines,
developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, for emergency use against the new coronavirus. The
approval came earlier than most people predicted.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) found the two vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna
to be safe and 95 percent effective against COVID-19.

mRNA technology

American drug-maker Pfizer is one of the largest companies in the world. Moderna is a small biotech
company that has not brought any product to the market. But the two drug-makers have one thing in
common. They both used a technology called messenger RNA, or mRNA, to develop the vaccines faster
than ever before. Traditional vaccines usually inject an inactive or weakened virus into the body to force
the production of antibodies to fight the virus. The vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna do not contain the
coronavirus itself. They use only instructions to “teach” the cell to protect against the virus.

Research behind the technology

No mRNA vaccine has been approved to treat people until now. But research on the technology started
nearly 30 years ago. In 1990, University of Pennsylvania scientist Katalin Karikó proposed using mRNA
technology in gene therapy. At the time, the technology was difficult to work with. When she injected lab
mice with the genetic material, some died. Kariko worked with colleague Drew Weissman. They made an
important discovery in 2005. This was the birth of therapeutic RNA.

Adapted from VOA Learning English article. Retrieved from https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/how-covid-19-vaccines-

developed-in-record-time/5703115.html
 3. LET’S CONSTRUCT

Activity 3: Complete the chart about the comparative adjectives using the underlined words in the
text in activity 2. There is one example.

Nº OF SYLLABLES ADJECTIVE COMPARATIVE (Example from the text)

ONE syllable Fast Add -ER

Example:

faster than ever before

ONE syllable Big Double the last consonant and add -ER

Consonant + Example:COVID-19 is a bigger problem than polio.

Vowel +

Consonant

TWO syllables ending in Early Remove the -Y and add -IER

–y
Example:

The approval came earlier than most people predicted.

TWO or more syllables Dangerous Add more + adjective

Example:

it is more dangerous than previous similar viruses

Activity 4: Complete the final part of the article about vaccine development using the appropriate
comparative adjective. Use the adjectives in the chart:

● busy ● small ● successful ● happy

● specialized ● hard ● hot ● wet

Karikó and Weissman worked (1) harder than ever, but they didn’t receive much attention until
2010. That year, Harvard University scientist Derrick Rossi used the mRNA technology Karikó
helped to create.This time the results of Dr. Rossi´s investigations were (2) more successful than
previous results. So the scientific community started to pay more attention to mRNA technology.

Karikó now works for BioNTech. It is (3) smaller than other drug-makers, but its advantage is that it
is (4) more specilized than other companies that work on many different fields.

Karikó is usually busy, but after the pandemic started she has been (5) busier than ever before in
her whole life. However, she feels so much (6) happier than ever because she knows she is
helping fight the virus. When she is on holidays, Karikó likes travelling with her two kids and
husband. “If the weather is (7) hoter on the west coast we go to the beach in California. But
sometimes, my kids prefer to go to (8) witer regions where it rains a lot”, says Karikó.

Activity 5: Answer these two questions:

A. According to the article in activity 2, what important factors influenced the development of vaccines
in record time?
The most important factors that were taken into account are effort, dedication,
reflection, work and research, which is why they managed to develop bacuanas in record
time In addition, many were put into practice the evaluation of the experiments, so they
had to take adequate time to draw conclusions from said experimentation process.

B. Why do you think vaccines usually take a long time to be developed?

 Because it takes a long time to really verify its function, it allows the vaccines that are

developed to be tested first in experimental subjects and therefore sometimes the

experiments do not have the data or resources necessary to develop them quickly .

Activity 6: According to the article in activity 2, choose the five true statements.

A A. Polio vaccine took 18 years to be developed.

Example:

B. COVID-19 outbreak was first announced on March 11.

C. Scientist used information published on virological.com

c

D. United States approved clinical trials of the vaccines in December

2020.

E. Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna are 95 percent effective.

E

F. Pfizer is one of the oldest companies in the world

G. Pfizer and BioNTech use different technologies to develop their

H vaccines.

H. The vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna do not use the virus itself.

I. No mRNA vaccine was approved before.

I
 J. Research on mRNA technology started in 2005.

K. Katalin Karikó is a pioneer scientist in the use of mRNA technology.

K

4. LET’S TRANSFER

Activity 7: Read the text in Activity 2 again. Write a paragraph to answer the question below. Use
the format of a reasoned argument. Use information from the text and provide examples when
necessary. Include comparative adjectives in your text. Number of words (200-250)

What is the role of technology in fighting new diseases?

The role of technology is very important, it allows us to provide solutions to different and

multiple problems in our environment, it provides solutions to many problems of our daily life in

the response or realization of problems much faster than without the help of technology, one The

way to express the importance and role of technology are virtual and remote classes for academic

development and allows great user satisfaction.

Use the following checklist to assess your work after you finish

YES NO

I included relevant ideas from the text. x

I organised the ideas in a clear way and I used connectors when

necessary x

I paid attention to punctuation when writing my answer x

I included examples based on a text or on my previous x

knowledge
 5. LET’S ASSESS & REFLECT

Activity 8: Reflect on the following questions.

1. Which strategies have I used to better understand the text?

I used the sumillados, specifically I used mostly the annotation of the

unknown words, also I tried to look for additional information such as the
google translators that allowed me to define the words much better

2. Why is it important to use different strategies for understanding a text?

It is important to use many sources of information to be able to understand

much better the topics proposed in the sessions, I also consider that it is
still a bit difficult to assimilate the information of the English course, so the
additional information is needed

GLOSSARY:

● Vaccine : A product that stimulates a person's immune system

● Development : Noun of the verb develop. To create or produce something.
● Complex : Very difficult.
● Scientists : Professional working on science.
● Successfully : The adverb of the noun success.
● Drug-maker : Company that manufactures medicines.
● Biotech : Short form of biotechnology. Technology that uses living
organisms.
● Weakened : With reduced intensity.
● Antibody : Protection our body produces.
 6. BIBLIOGRAPHY AND RESOURCES

- Voice of America (2020). How COVID-19 Vaccines Developed in Record Time. Retrieved
from: https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/how-covid-19-vaccines-developed-in-record-
time/5703115.html

7. AUTHORSHIP

Andrés García - COAR Tumbes

Jean P. Larrain - COAR Lima