Developing Health Awareness among the Rural-Urban Fringe Students in the ESL Classroom through Language Activities

Abstract

The Rural-Urban Fringe (RUF)students are not just poor in English language skills but also they lack in their awareness about health, when compared to the privileged group. The low economic background, poor hygiene and congested living spaces together pose a great threat to their health. The purpose of this research is to create health awareness through language activities in the ESL classroom, among the RUF students of Chennai through teacher intervention in teaching methodology and materials. A set of five language activities titled, Drugs and dosages, Importance of hygiene, Danger in smoking, An act of first aid and Danger in dogs was designed and conducted to create health awareness along with enhancing English language skills. A preliminary survey on their general health was conducted to measure the awareness of the students before the program and a post survey was conducted to find the health awareness which the activities created. The continuous performance of the students through regular monitoring and an unstructured interview with students clearly proved that health awareness is a must for the RUF students and it can be created successfully through language activities.