Top Stories
 English for Healthcare: Some reflections
 5 Qs for EALTHY’s President
 Breaking the Language Barrier: Clinical
sessions in English in a Spanish setting
Issue N°1 January 2016
magazine
Ringing
in an
‘EALTHY
New
Year’
2016
Zytglogge, Bern
Contents
Page:
3 Editorial
Introducing Angela Matthews Siegrist
4 5 Qs for EALTHY’s President
5-6 English for Healthcare: Some reflections
6 Medical English Materials Based on Real-Life
Case Studies
7 The Sound of Music in the EHC Classroom
8 Facilitating Academic Writing in Postgraduate
Medical Education: Tips for instructors
9 Teaching Medical English for Intercultural
Communication Based on a Psycholinguistic
Approach
10 Integrating Content and Language to Enrich
Learning
11 Soft Skills for Medicine: Breaking bad news
12 Poster Presentations: An effective way to
assess scientific and medical English?
13 Breaking the Language Barrier: Clinical sessions
in English in a Spanish setting
14-15 Reviews
16 Events at EALTHY
Page two
EALTHY
Committee Members
2016-2017
President / Communications:
Catherine Richards
General Secretary / Editor:
Ros Wright
Treasurer:
Angela Matthews Siegrist
Official contact details:
Contrada Mondrigo 13
6616 Losone
Switzerland
www.ealthy.com
+41 78 606 7402
admin@ealthy.com
EALTHY is the European Association of
Language Teachers for Healthcare, a members
association for teachers of English for
medicine & healthcare and for other professionals
with an interest in the provision of
language training for the health sector. We
have a global membership.
Photos credits
Pg 1: Ros Wright
Pg 7: xibber, Wikimedia Commons
EALTHY is currently
looking for a:
Membership Coordinator
 Good communication skills
 Proactive
 Organised
 2-3 hours a month to spare
 Good online connection
Recognise yourself?
Please contact
Catherine Richards at
admin@ealthy.com
Editorial
What better way for EALTHY to ring in the New
Year than with its very own magazine? With its
emphasis planted firmly in the teaching and learning
of English in the healthcare sector, we very
much want this to be YOUR magazine.
President, Catherine Richards kicks off this issue
talking about the whys and wherefores of
EALTHY and its goals for 2016. Following the success
of the 2nd
English for Healthcare Conference
recently in Bern, Chris Moore reflects on his experience
both as presenter and delegate. While fellow
speakers offer a flavour of the variety of topics
on offer during the conference, including the
use of real-life case studies and even music in the
healthcare classroom. If you’ve ever considered
using poster presentations as a means of assessment,
then Catherine tells how. One of our top
stories comes from Mallorca-based coach, Jonathan
McFarland. Jonathan describes how his current
project, the development of clinical sessions
in English, has recently
taken on a more European
twist. I review some English
for healthcare-related
resources - old and new,
print and online - that I
hope will inspire you and
your learners. Finally, our events page provides
news of workshops taking place in the coming
months that aim to fulfil EALTHY’s mandate to
keep your CPD current and valid.
As we launch our first issue, we are naturally on
the lookout for contributors. So if you feel the
creative urge, I’d love to hear from you.
Wishing all our members a very EALTHY New
Year 2016!
Page three
Ros Wright
Editor
Introducing … Angela Matthews Siegrist
Angela is one of the original Nursing Studies graduates from London
University and is also trained in Health Education.
She has worked as an English trainer since moving to Switzerland
in 1995, and now specialises in ESP, whenever possible in the medical
field. In addition, she coaches both presentation skills and preparing
medical and scientific papers for publication.
She has recently been working on a teaching training project
supporting tutors teaching Nursing Care Assistants on a bilingual
German-English course.
Angela takes over from Stefano Golini as EALTHY’s Treasurer.
Welcome to the team, Angela!
5 Qs for
EALTHY’s
President
Catherine, what gave
you the idea to set up an
association, given the
plethora of associations for language trainers?
Actually, I don't think there are a plethora of associations
for ESP teachers. TESOL and IATEFL,
each with their national associations ...yes..., but
focus-specific associations? When I first started
teaching English to trainee radiographers I remember
spending hours hunting for material,
ideas, useful websites and lesson plans. I found
very little. There are a fair amount of websites
offering material for nurses and doctors but not
all of it good quality, much very samey and unfortunately
most of limited use for radiographers! Or
medical practice assistants - for they'd soon been
added to the mix. Fast forward to 2013 when Sue
(Gilbert) and I were organising the 1st English for
Healthcare Conference. I was looking for an association
to help spread the word and found nothing.
So clearly there was an absence. As this was the
first conference of its kind it seemed like a good
idea to go the whole hog and set up EALTHY.
Two years on, what does EALTHY have in store
for its members in 2016-2017?
Spring and autumn workshops - in Switzerland
and in the UK for sure - which will be free to
members. We're a European association and
have members in many different countries so it
would be really satisfying to see EALTHY workshops
in a number of different countries ... the
EALTHY road show! Stay tuned. Then there's the
EALTHY magazine - you're reading it now. There's
a lot to be said about WHAT we teachers do and
about the world of teaching English for
healthcare and medicine and yet very little space
in which to say it. We're also looking into offering
webinars - this could be very exciting and of great
interest to members who can't attend our workshops
and conferences in person.
Many people are asking, where is the 'H' in
EALTHY and what does the 'y' stand for?
If you've ever tried to come up with a snappy,
clever acronym for a product or an association ...
well, if you had, you might not be asking this
question. So here is the answer: European Association
for Language Teachers for Healthcare
(yeah?!) There never was an H and there was already
an EALTH.com. Yeah? :-)
What is your English for healthcare specialisation
and how did you get into it?
I currently teach English to trainee radiographers,
medical practice assistants and to lab technicians
- sometimes called biomedical analysts. Having
taught business English on and off for many years
I knew I preferred teaching ESP to general English
(or 'English for no particular purpose'). The
director at the school in which I teach was very
keen that the new teacher understood the difference
between the two. I assured him that I did so
he offered me the job. That was 10 years ago. I
don't know if I specialise within the field but I certainly
know a fair amount about the language of
radiography - particularly patient information in
radiography - as it's also the focus of my doctor-
ate.
What advice would you give to anyone wanting
to move into teaching English for healthcare?
There are two principal types of teacher in this
field: the medical professional and the language
teaching professional. Both need to understand
that the skills & knowledge of the other can only
help in the classroom. Read as much as you can
about the field your students will be/are working
in. Understand that you are now teaching English
for Specific Purposes (ESP). All the principles of
good ESP teaching apply - which means some of
what you learned as a general teacher of English
will not apply. And much of what you know about
a doctor from one country will not be relevant
when teaching nurses from another: keep thinking
who, to whom, where, what and why? Agood
needs analysis for every course you teach is fundamental.
A subscription to the journal, English
for Specific Purposes would be money well spent as
would joining EALTHY and attending conferences
and professional development workshops!
Page four
Catherine Richards, President
interviewed by Ros Wright,
Editor
English for Healthcare:
Some reflections
The 2nd
English for Healthcare Conference, set in
the stunning location of Bern, was very much of
the boutique variety. Around 70 delegates attended.
Most were university-level medical English
teachers, designing and delivering courses to
students from a broad range of subjectspecialisms,
including nurses, doctors, radiographers,
paramedics, and physiotherapists. The
speakers were a strong mix of established names
– including Ros Wright, Kieran Donaghy, and Virginia
Allum – as well as lesser known lights delivering
talks on designing courses for Polish nursing
students, using music, or developing materials
using case studies.
For me the standout talks I attended were the
two plenaries. The first was given by Dr Joe
Wang, consultant at St Georges Hospital in Tooting,
South London. As a hands-on practitioner,
Joe gave us excellent insights into the challenges
facing the NHS on doctor recruitment, notably
the rise in locums, the increasing numbers leaving
to work abroad, and the consequent greater reliance
on overseas-trained professionals. These,
when put together, create multiple issues around
communication skills, especially when one considers
the cultural challenges of a multi-cultural
team of doctors working with the vast range of
cultures and languages represented by today’s
patients. Joe highlighted that the increase in
IELTS score from 7 to 7.5 for all doctors didn’t
necessarily mean they could communicate appropriately
and empathetically in practice, something
we at SLC have come across many times in
our work on medical English. Joe has recently
been involved with the creation of a specialist
English for Doctors intensivecourseat the London
School of English, along with author and conference
co-organiser, Ros Wright.
The second plenary was given by Kieran
Donaghy, author of Films in Health Sciences Education.
His website, http://film-english.com won a
British Council ELTon award in 2013 for innovation
in teaching. Kieran showed a crowded room how
to use film clips to deliver engaging medical English
lessons that had real practical impact. He
used a selection of clips to show empathy – or
the lack of – as well as lessons in using intonation,
reflective listening and paraphrasing to build relationships
with patients in distress. The clips themselves
came from some well-known films such
as The Doctor, starring William Hurt, and Wit, with
Emma Thompson, as well as a couple of leftfield
selections, such as a Thai advert for telecommunications
which told a surprisingly powerful story
of a young boy repaying a debt to a kind street
food vendor, or a clip from Virginia Allum’s Goanimate
series looking at an HCA dealing effectively
with an aggressive patient. The clips all had a variety
of potential classroom uses. At the end,
Kieran talked about getting students to make
their own videos, which involves vast amounts of
language, both transactional (negotiating, debating,
deciding, etc.) as well as the medical English
illustrated in the actual films.
I gave a presentation on designing blended English
language courses, looking at how we can
combine the strongest elements of face-to-face
learning on the one hand and online self-study
courses on the other to create powerful blended
learning experiences.
… / ...
Page five
English for Healthcare:
Some reflections, contin.
Having released three online medical English course
this year, this subject is of great personal interest, and
it was encouraging to see the positive and engaged
response of the delegates to the talk.
In addition to the various talks, there was plenty of
time to drink coffee, eat croissants, and catch up with
everyone at the conference. One of the real advantages
of a small boutique-style conference is that
you get to speak to most people and you already have
plenty in common to talk about. Bern, as mentioned
above, is stunning, and it was a real joy spending a
couple of hours both before and after the conference
taking in the Old Town, designated a UNESCO World
Heritage site in 1983.
So, a big thanks to the two organisers, Catherine Richards
and Ros Wright, as well as their team who effortlessly
fed, watered, guided and informed us throughout
the two days. And of course a big thanks to all
those people who spent time with me, sharing their
experiences and ideas and making the conference
memorable in many ways. I hope to stay in touch with
many of them and look forward to meeting again at
the next conference.
Page six
Chris Moore
Managing Director
Specialist Language Courses
Medical English
Materials Based on
Real-life Case Studies
Authentic, real-life case studies, when used as teaching
materials in medical English classes can serve as effective,
interesting and motivating tools1
. However, there
is a lack of case study based materials that can actually
be employed for teaching English in healthcare disciplines.
Although English language textbooks in
healthcare specialties often provide examples of authentic
medical cases, they are not meant for teaching
English language. Their objective is to teach the
healthcare process. Accordingly they are targeted toward
healthcare learners who have sufficient English
language proficiency to grasp the content. In order to
use those case studies for teaching English language to
learners in healthcare, they need to be selected and
adapted according to the needs, level and ability of the
target class.
This presentation described the development and implementation
of materials based on real-life case studies
for teaching medical English to undergraduates in
medical, nursing and medical technology programs.
Examples included materials based on authentic medi-
cal-genetic2
and medical-surgical3
case studies and
samples of developed lessons for the respective courses
and programs. In addition, the presenter gave tips
for selecting and adapting the case studies, and introduced
a step-by-step procedure for implementing
them in the classroom. The pedagogical approach in
developing and implementing the materials focused on
developing all five language learning skills including
comprehension, reading, writing, listening and speaking.
Depending on the course and level, students were
engaged in various creative and critical thinking activities
in pairs or groups, such as answering questions
related to management or treatment of the disease
involved, discussing ethical and/or decision-making
issues, composing dialogues and acting them out in the
class and so on, all based on the content of the case
studies.
Results of student assessment and feedback demonstrate
the numerous benefits of using medical English
materials based on real-life case studies for teaching
learners in healthcare.
References
¹Janjua N. 2014. Using case studies to develop effective medical
English teaching materials and methods for Japanese
undergraduate programs. Journal of Medical English Education
13(1): 7-14.
²Gelehrter TD and Collins FS. 1990. Principles of Medical Genetics.
Baltimore: Williams and Wilkins.
³Ankner GM. 2008. Delmar’s Case Study Series: MedicalSurgical
Nursing. New York: Thompson.
Dr Najma Janjua
Kagawa Prefectural
University of Health Sciences
Japan
The Sound of
Music in the
EHC Classroom
In the introduction to my talk I
discussed the numerous advantages
of integrating music
and songs into lesson plans:
to teach structures, vocabulary,
pronunciation, notions,
and functions; to provide a
broader cultural input; to trigger
creativity; to open discussions;
to upgrade writing proficiency,
etc.
I presented four of a broad
collection of techniques, practical
activities, and tasks - tried
and tested personally in the
classroom over the years.
Three activities can be used to
explain and enrich professional
vocabulary and the other
can elicit class discussion. All
the selected songs have a
story line and are most compatible
with the following exercises:
Cardiac Arrest by Madness
(Vocabulary Prediction);
Riding to New York by Passenger
(Vocabulary Association);
Streets of London by Ralf
McTell (Running Dictation)
and Like a Surgeon by Weird
Al Yankovic (Society Values
and Cultural Stereotypes Dis-
cussion).
There was a quick overview
given for each activity before
the delegates tried them out
for themselves. Each activity
was supported by music videos
and lyrics downloaded
from the Web.
The richness of using music as
a source for foreign language
classroom activities lies in its
multiple applicability and interpretation.
As a conclusion
to my talk I encouraged the
delegates to find a place for
songs in their classrooms.
Majda Šavle
University of Primorska
Slovenia
Page seven
Membership @ EALTHY
Individual Membership
45Sfr*
Individual membership is for one year on receipt of
membership fee:
 Free workshops
 Discounted rate - English for Healthcare Conference
 2 issues of EALTHY magazine
 Healthcare English materials
 Publisher special offers
*approx. £30 / 45 Euros
Institutional Membership
150Sfr
Institutional membership is a great way to help your
teachers in their professional development:
 4 EALTHY membership subscriptions (unnamed, so more
flexibility for you)
 Additional membership cards at reduced rate 30 Sfr
Facilitating Academic
Writing in Postgraduate
Medical Education: Tips
for instructors
EFL academic writing pedagogies in the context
of postgraduate medical education can be best
described by invoking the classic model of communication.
By focusing on the encoder of the
message, i.e. the author, students can be taught
specific techniques mainly from the field of creative
writing. These can help them learn about
writing in general, overcome the writing block,
avoid procrastination, develop a writing habit, or
simply enhance their writing during the individual
stages of the writing process. The techniques
might include free or rapid writing, group presentations
on assigned readings (e.g. books or articles
on writing), discussions regarding students’
writing processes (tips on what works for them),
contributing to web-based class blogs or discussion
forums.
In the message-oriented approach, i.e. the text,
instructors can draw on ample research into academic
genres such as the medical paper. Swalesian’s
(2004) CARS (Create a Research Space) model
is a well-known technique for performing a
structural and rhetorical analysis of the introduction
section of a research article. When dealing
with texts, instructors should also describe the
context of a specific academic genre. In the case
of abstracts for instance, the following questions
might serve as a springboard for discussing the
context: What is an abstract? Who reads abstracts?
Why are they important? etc.
The final component of the communication model
is the receiver, i.e. the reader/audience. By using
the tools of corpus linguistics, students can
familiarize themselves with and gradually acquire
typical lexico-grammatical features of academic
genres that their disciplinary communities (= the
audience) expect them to master. In addition,
students can increase their chances of being published
by conducting their target journal analysis.
Last but not least, a mock peer-review in which
students give feedback on their classmates’ written
assignments, either in class or online, using a
simple software is important.
Dr Robert Helán
Language Centre
Masaryk University
Brno, Czech Republic
Page eight
Teaching
Medical
English for
Intercultural
Communication
Based on a
Psycholinguistic
Approach
The teaching of Medical English
in Russia has certain specific features
when compared with common
practice in many European
countries. The difference is that
we do not teach clinical communication
in English, as Russian
doctors do not communicate in
English in the clinical setting,
either with patients or with staff
members. Results of our needs
analysis¹ showed that Russian
doctors use English mainly for
obtaining professional information
from a variety of international
sources and for writing
short summaries of articles in
Russian. We call this
‘informative-communicative activity’.
Other skills mentioned
were, making a paper or poster
presentation in English, and participating
in academic discussions.
Given the growing involvement
of Russian physicians
in international collaboration, a
new need emerged recently;
that of presenting a patient at a
clinical session.
When developing Medical English
courses it is important to
view professional communication
from a cross-cultural perspective.
According to Russian
psycholinguistic theories²,
effective communication in the
intercultural setting, including
professional communication,
results from the congruence of
‘professional images of the
world’. While non-congruence
causes misunderstanding. Experimental
psycholinguistic research
shows that with professionals
coming from different
ethnic cultures, congruence of
professional consciousness may
be incomplete. One important
task is to investigate culturespecific
consciousness images to
identify the areas of congruence
and non-congruence. Another is
to develop training courses
teaching effective cross-cultural
communication based on research
data.
Our British-Russian-Spanish experience
of conducting international
clinical sessions involving
doctors and medical English
trainers from each side, has
proven to be a very effective
way of focusing on both the areas
of congruence and incongruence
in ‘professional images of
the world’. Indeed this activity
provides students with effective
psychological and linguistic
strategies for intercultural professional
communication.
¹TEMPUS Project Life-long Learning for
the Medical University Teaching Staff.
TEMPUS IV 159328-TEMPUS-1-2009-1-FR-
TEMPUS-SHMES
²e.g. the theory of Verbal Consciousness,
theory of Lacunae, theory of Speech
Activity.
Irina Markovina
Sechenov 1st Moscow State
Medical University
Russian Federation
Page nine
Go to page 13 to find out more about the
international clinical sessions mentioned
in Irina’s article.
Integrating
Content &
Language to
Enrich
Learning
In 2007, the University of Calgary
in Canada established a
branch campus to deliver a
Bachelor of Nursing program
in Doha, Qatar. Currently,
there are over 500 students
comprising 33 different nationalities,
80% of whom require
English language support.
Although the majority of
students spend at least one
term in the 3-level English for
Academic Purposes Program
prior to entry into the degree
programs, many require ongoing
language support until
graduation. For this reason, an
effective instructional model,
which combines instruction in
language and academic skills
with the acquisition of content
knowledge, is needed.
A modified Content and Language
Integrated Learning
(CLIL) approach is currently
being trialed to assist native
English speaking content instructors,
delivering courses in
English but without experience
of teaching second language
learners, in developing
skills focused on scaffolding
content delivery. Additional
support is provided in synchronous
content course tutorials
taught by EAP instructors.
In a recent needs analysis,
instructors indicated that
the largest competency gap in
degree programs was with
academic reading skills. Students
indicated that the challenges
of academic reading
were the greatest cause of
anxiety as well as animosity.
As a result, a large part of the
CLIL support is centered on
addressing academic reading
needs.
Academic reading support is
delivered using a variety of
instructional approaches. Content
instructors are incorporating
language teaching pedagogy,
focusing on pre- as
well as post reading strategies
into their courses. Scaffolding
is further provided through
integrating reading with listening,
writing and speaking
in supportive groupings. Tutorials
led by language instructors
focus on helping students
deconstruct text and develop
strategic reading skills as well
as the ability to transfer these
skills to what is being presented
in their content courses.
Preliminary feedback from
both content instructors and
students indicates that the
delivery of content using a
modified CLIL approach has
been successful in facilitating
language ability while deepening
content knowledge. Although
CLIL can be preparation
and coordination intensive
and require a great deal
of institutional support, its
advantages outweigh the possible
drawbacks and the use
of it benefits the growing
number of language learners
undertaking tertiary education
in a foreign language.
Jody Shimoda
University of Calgary in Qatar
Qatar
Page ten
Soft Skills for Medicine:
Breaking bad news
The true test of a doctor’s communication skills
has to be the delivery of bad news; a complex
task often carried out several times a week. If
delivered poorly, the experience remains with the
patient long after the initial shock of the news
itself and is further compounded if the doctor
struggles to do so in a language that is not his
own. Bad news means different things to different
people. From the teenager unable to play the
football season due to a shoulder injury, to the
single mother learning of the return of breast
cancer.
There are many dos and don’ts when delivering
bad news. Breaking news over the phone is totally
unacceptable, as are comments such as
‘Nothing can be done’. Professionals should avoid
using unnecessary medical jargon, or being judgemental
and must be careful not to allude to an
exact time frame when discussing prognosis. Given
the highly sensitive nature of this task, it is
comforting to know guidelines exist. Baile’s
SPIKES model guides the medical professional
through the maze to ensure bad news is delivered
as effectively as possible and in accordance
with the UK’s National Health Service protocol.
So how does SPIKES work? Trainees first need to
Set the scene, then determine the patient’s Perception
of their condition, obtain the patient’s
Invitation before delivering the preferred
amount Knowledge, while providing Empathy
and finally Summarising and laying out a Strategy
for the future.
There are many advantages to using communication
frameworks such as SPIKES in the medical
English classroom. As an authentic task it proves
an effective and engaging method with immediate
relevance to the work environment. From a
language perspective, frameworks often provide
guidance to the learner and are surprisingly easy
to adapt to the classroom. The functions and
communication strategies employed in SPIKES
are fairly clear: questioning, clarifying, summarising,
etc. Additionally, despite the context, neither
the lexis, nor the structures employed to carry
out such functions are beyond the remit of the
ESP trainer and can be taught from a low intermediate
level upwards.
Ros Wright
www.englishformedicine.net
Page eleven
Poster Presentations:
An effective way to
assess scientific and
medical English?
This presentation reported on the action research
conducted over a two-year period to evaluate the
potential of scientific poster presentations as a
effective means of assessing specific language
competency and professional knowledge in a tertiary
training school in southern Switzerland. The
students involved were final year radiographers
and biomedical technicians.
English assessment in this training centre had
previously taken the form of traditional presentations
delivered in plenary ( sometimes with an
invited audience of the students' peers) and/or a
20-minute oral examination in three parts with
one or two examiners present – a format common
in schools in the region and one loosely
based on the Cambridge English examinations. A
growing concern that such tests did not
`...reflect the actual communicative needs of people
in that context' (Douglas 2010) or accurately
or validly assess their professional communicative
competence prompted the teacher to introduce
the change, initially for one programme and
then, in the second year, for both training pro-
grammes.
Poster presentations are a format common to
graduate and post-graduate scientific and medical
training programmes the world over, though
the ESP students in this study were generally unfamiliar
with posters as a form of scientific communication.
As a result it was fundamental to
split the process into two clear stages. The first
stage allowed investigation, experimentation,
group feedback and peer assessment of a draft
poster to take place before students started
work on the second stage: the design of and
presentation their individual posters. All posters
related to the final year, subject-specific diploma
projects in radiography or biomedicine that students
had written in their L1.
Data from questionnaires given to all students
after the assessed poster presentation and informal
feedback from both poster presenters and
the 1st
year students and subject specialists who
attended the presentations was extremely positive.
As a result, poster presentations have now
replaced the traditional presentation and interview
as the final assessment.
Catherine Richards
crichards.golini@gmail.com
Page twelve
Breaking the Language
Barrier: Clinical sessions
in English in a Spanish
setting
Sir William Osler wrote, ‘I desire no other epitaph than
the statement that I taught medical students in the
wards, as I regard this as by far the most useful and important
work that I have been called upon to do’.
I have been teaching English for Medical Purposes for
many years, mainly in the two main public hospitals of
Mallorca, Son Llatzer and Son Espases. It is a fascinating
field, made all the more so by being practiced in a
hospital setting. However, being on the inside also
highlights the difficulties for Spanish doctors, who
have a block with English. Add the fact that English is a
prerequisite for Spanish doctors (and all non-English
speaking doctors), especially in Mallorca with its tourists
and large numbers of non-Spanish speaking resi-
dents.
So, English is both a problem and a necessity for Spanish
doctors. With this in mind I began to think about
the ways of helping doctors and other health professionals.
Around five years ago I came up with an idea,
whose main aim was threefold:
 to encourage doctors to break the barrier
 to engage busy clinicians with English and
 to embed the learning experience in a clinical set-
ting.
But how?
David Merrill, an Education researcher has proposed,
‘learning should be situated in realistic settings’. In
clinical sessions doctors regularly discuss patients; the
past medical history, medication, allergies, social and
personal history, and so on, with the aim of reaching a
diagnosis and devising a treatment plan. I had a stroke
of luck when I was invited to attend a clinical session
with the Infectious Diseases department of Son Espases
hospital. As the guest doctor from Kenya spoke
no Spanish, the department head decided the clinical
session should be delivered in English. The idea took
shape and developed from there.
The practicalities are simple. The resident doctors,
with the help of a consultant, choose an interesting
case to discuss; one with an important educational
aspect. They write up the case report, which they send
to me for correction. During the clinical session they
present the case report, which is then discussed and
debated in a normal way, the only difference being everything
is in English.
I take notes while the doctors are discussing. At the
end of the session I comment on all the linguistic aspects,
such as pronunciation, medical terminology, use
of acronyms, false friends, word order, grammatical
structures, etc. It is a privilege to attend and assist the
doctors. The sessions have been very successful in
their main aim of introducing and normalizing the use
of English in the daily hospital work of Spanish doctors.
There are many benefits and few disadvantages.
I now lead Clinical Sessions in English in many different
departments: from Oncology to Immunology, ENT to
Haematology, and Radiology to Pneumology. While
each department might make a slight changes, the
general format is the same.
This project was started in Mallorca, but as a result of
meeting Professor Irina Markovina working at the oldest
and most prestigious Medical University in Russia,
the Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University, I
was invited to lecture in Moscow last April. Since then,
we have transferred the Clinical Sessions in English
from one hospital and one country to two hospitals
and two countries. So far, we have carried out three
clinical sessions in Urology between Son Espases and
Sechenov via videoconference, and on one occasion
both Son Espases (Urology Department) and Son
Llatzer (Oncology Department) worked together with
Sechenov. The results are promising, but this is just
the beginning.
Jonathan McFarland
Freelance Medical English Coach
mcfarland.jonathan@gmail.com
Page thirteen
Book review
Films in Health Sciences Education
(University of Barcelona, 2012) offers trainers a
selection of medical themes to develop in the
classroom through the medium of film. Such
themes could be of interest to various healthcare
professionals, as well as to learners from other
disciplines. Kieran, already known in the industry
for his use of film in ELT, teams up with Icart Isern
whose experience in the medical field makes for
an exciting combination of expertise.
Each of the 10 films, some based on true stories
(Iris) and others adapted from novels (The Constant
Gardener), is treated in a similar way: a synopsis
is followed by 3 Minutes to Analyse which
offers a section of dialogue, highlighting either an
aspect of public health or a particular disease, its
diagnosis and treatment. A glossary of key
vocabulary and expressions can be found next,
together with extension activities to encourage
learners to analyse the clinical and/or ethical issues
raised in the dialogue. A bibliography subsequently
provides additional web resources for
trainers and learners alike seeking to delve deeper
into a particular theme.
For trainers wishing to examine film features with
their learners, the authors guide learners through
the techniques exploited by the cameraman that
help us further comprehend the characters. The
fisheye lens in Requiem for a Dream, for example,
is used to draw the viewer into the ‘dark world of
addiction’, by recreating the hallucinary vision of
the addict.
Films in Health Sciences Education is nothing if
not original. However, while this title will engage
your learners on several different levels as well as
develop their understanding within a variety of
medical contexts, trainers may feel the need for a
little helping hand. I have it on good authority
that teachers’ notes are in the pipeline and I
strongly recommend keeping an eye out for
these on the following website:
www.publicacions.ub.edu/liberweb/filmsInHealth
as well as any future titles by this author-team!
(First published in the Teaching Times, Issue N°67)
Ros Wright
www.englishformedicine.net
Page thirteen
Go to the EALTHY website for Catherine Richards’
review of Kieran’s award winning,
Film in Action: Teaching language using moving images
(DELTA Publishing)
Web reviews
New Year resolutions and all that …
As the UK’s Chief Medical Officer, Dame Sally Davies,
announces new guidelines for alcohol consumption,
you may be considering this as a possible
topic of conversation for your learners this
month.
So how do you go about sourcing a suitable article?
You may already have your go-to website for
news-worthy medical items. However, you might
also want to consider signing up for MedScape
(www.medscape.com). Its free, written for experts
while still accessible to non-experts and includes
pages in French and German.
MedScape offers up-to-date articles as well as
video clips on a whole host of topics and specialities.
Under the Education section, features include
clinical cases and presentation slideshows,
which can be adapted for the classroom.
A lesser known site is healthtalk.org
(www.healthtalk.org) set up in 2001 by a GP from
Oxford and her colleague after their own experiences
of ill-health. The site provides reliable information
about health issues, by sharing people's
real-life experiences.
For those teaching in the university sector,
youthhealthtalk.org offers a vehicle for younger
patients (18-25) to express their thoughts and ask
questions of experts on all manner of health issues,
including alcohol use. Your learners may be
surprised to learn about the cultural differences
regarding alcohol consumption in the UK, which
shock even our closest European neighbours ...
Ros Wright
www.englishformedicine.net
Page fourteen
Interested in writing for EALTHY magazine?
We’re looking for contributions:
 Web / book reviews
 Medical / healthcare related issues
 Teaching and testing in medical / healthcare English
 Activities and lesson plans
 ESP classroom practice
 Specialised medical / healthcare teacher training
Contact Ros at ros_wright@hotmail.com
Events @
Page fifteen
Workshop
Title: Making it Specific: Using authentic
texts & video in the medical & scientific
English classroom
Speakers: Susan Wood & Catherine Richards
Date/Time: Saturday 2 April, 2016
9.00-12.30
Location: Bern, Switzerland
Free for EALTHY members
55 Sfr non-members
EALTHY events are open to members & non-members but spaces are limited.
Reserve now by sending an email to admin@ealthy.com
or fill in the contact form online.
Workshop
Topic: Nursing and telephone skills
Speaker: Virginia Allum
Date/Time: Saturday - June 2016 (TBC)
9.00-12.30
Location: London, UK
Free for EALTHY members
55 Sfr non-members
Page sixteen
2nd English for Healthcare Conference
@
the heart of
your
professional
development
Issue N°1 January 2016