Chapter 6
Malaria

Background information

THIS CHAPTER

Children need to recognize malaria and know how dangerous it is. They should be quite certain about what gives them malaria (a bite from the anopheles mosquito) and very aware of the need to protect themselves against mosquitoes. They should know that they must get treatment as soon as possible. They should recognize measures taken against malaria and take action themselves to avoid mosquito bites.

These lessons do not mention the malaria parasite, but just say that malaria is "in the blood".

LESSON 1: SICK WITH MALARIA

Background information for teachers

Objectives

Pupils should be able to:

• show that they can recognise malaria
• show they know that malaria is a serious disease

Time: 30 minutes

Teaching/learning aids

• Paper/cardboard for the Remember message

Introduction/Activity 40

Draw a stick figure of a boy lying down and say "Chalo has malaria. How does he feel?"

Pupils say if they have had malaria and how they felt. Help them with the vocabulary they need (e.g. vomit, weak). Encourage them to tell their own stories: this will show if they are confusing malaria with other diseases, and also bring out details of local practices and beliefs.

Through this discussion, build up a description of malaria symptoms and finally sum up by listing the symptoms.

Reading

Pupils look at the text. Ask Did we talk about all these things? Pupils read each sentence and say if it has already been mentioned.

Activity 41

Ask pupils to think of particular people they know who had malaria. Could they go to school? To work? How long were they sick? Did any of them die? What did they do for treatment? Again, get some real stories. Add your own stories if possible. Bring out the point that it is important to go for treatment as soon as possible.

Ask pupils if they think malaria is a very bad disease. If they say yes, ask Why? - e.g. because it kills people, it stops them working, it stops them going to school, it is very unpleasant, it makes you weak, it is expensive.

Ask yourself

This question follows from the previous activity. Ask pupils how they will answer the question, and encourage them to choose their own personal reasons for fearing and avoiding malaria. Then let them copy and complete the box for themselves. Go round to see what they say.

Remember

Ask for a volunteer to write the Remember message on a piece of paper, display it in the classroom and read it aloud. On the opposite side write the title of the lesson. Ask the pupils to give some examples of real, known people who had malaria. Store the message or display it permanently.

Homework

Pupils discuss with their families what they think causes malaria. This is an opportunity to find out local ideas about the causes of malaria. They also ask what to do if someone has malaria.^[7]

LESSON 2: HOW DO WE GET MALARIA?

Background information for teachers

Objectives

Pupils should be able to:

• show that they understand how people get malaria
• show that they know that mosquitoes are dangerous
• show that they know what they must do when they get malaria

Time: 30 minutes

Teaching and learning aids

• Paper/cardboard for the Remember message
• Rough picture of a mosquito (copy it from the Pupils’ Book) OR a model mosquito made with wire
• Something for sticking the "mosquito" up on the board
• Nine cards and a red pen for the Mosquito game

Revision of previous lesson

Draw the same stick figure as for Lesson 1 (a boy lying down). Say: "Chalo has malaria. How does he feel?" Let the class tell you the symptoms.

Introduction/Feedback on homework

a) Ask "What should Chalo do?" Get some ideas from the homework. Insist that he should go to the clinic AT ONCE for treatment.

b) Leave the picture on the board. Ask "How did Chalo get malaria?" As pupils suggest answers, write up words or draw pictures around Chalo (e.g. rain, water, mosquitoes) to represent their answers. OR ask pupils to write/draw their ideas on the board.

c) Discuss the various ideas. Don’t condemn mistaken answers, but at the end say that doctors are quite sure that malaria is brought by a mosquito. Hold up the picture or model of the mosquito and stick it on the board next to the picture of Chalo.

d) Ask what pupils know about mosquitoes. Encourage all contributions, but bring out in particular that mosquitoes are very small, come out at night, suck blood, whine, and they breed ("have their families") in stagnant water.

Activity 42

a) Point to "Chalo" and the "mosquito" on the board. Ask How can this mosquito give us malaria? Can you show us? Encourage volunteers to come and take the "mosquito" from the board, make it bite the sick "Chalo" and then come to bite us. If pupils cannot show this, demonstrate it yourself, explaining how the mosquito carries the malaria from the sick person to the healthy one.

b) Pupils look at the pictures in the book and explain to each other what is happening (the mosquito bites Chalo and sucks his blood. It cannot bite Kalwe because of the mosquito net, but it bites Muke and gives him Chalo’s malaria). Pupils read the questions and answer them.

Reading

Tell the pupils to shut their books. Write up the text with gaps - for example:

Malaria is caused by....................................................................
Mosquitoes carry................... from................... to.........................

In pairs, pupils decide how to fill the gaps, then make suggestions. Praise all reasonable suggestions.

Pupils open their books and compare the text with their own ideas.

Ask yourself.

Imitate the sound of a mosquito and ask What do you think when you hear that sound? If you like, mime your own response (e.g. fear, irritation, preparing to kill, moving away, rolling down shirtsleeves, grabbing an insect spray). Read the question to the class and ask them to decide how they feel, then copy and complete the box. Circulate to look at the answers. Tell the class about any interesting and appropriate responses.

Remember

Ask for a volunteer to write the Remember message on a piece of paper, display it in the classroom and read it aloud. On the opposite side write the title of the lesson. The pupil asks one of the class to explain why mosquitoes mean danger. Children take the message home and read it to their families.

Game: Mosquito

Extend the lesson into a playground game. Explain the rules to the class and leave them to play the game in their own time.

Write MALARIA on nine small cards (in red if possible). On the back of the cards write MOSQUITO - DANGER. Get the children to read the words. Give three cards each to three volunteer "mosquitoes". The "mosquitoes" (whining) have to catch the other pupils and give them the MALARIA cards (like penalty cards in football). Those caught have to crawl off the field, "sick" with malaria. The game ends when all the cards are finished. The winners are the pupils who have escaped the "mosquitoes".

Homework

Lead in to the homework by asking "How can you stop mosquito bites?" Get a few answers. Then tell pupils to ask their families when they go home and come back with some more answers.

LESSON 3: HOW TO STOP MOSQUITO BITES

Background information for teachers

Objectives

Pupils should be able to:

• show they know what is done to prevent malaria
• describe their own actions to prevent malaria

Time: 30 minutes

Teaching/learning aids

• Paper or cardboard for the Remember message

Introduction/Feedback on homework

Pupils say what is done in their homes to prevent mosquito bites. Collect all their ideas. Get them to demonstrate physically if possible. Put the ideas on the board with pictures or a few words (e.g. nets, cutting long grass).

Activity 43

a) In pairs, pupils look at the pictures and tell each other what is happening. They match the pictures with the ideas on the board.

b) Explain that some methods kill mosquitoes and some stop them biting you. Ask them to say Kill or Stop for each method.

c) Ask who does these things in their house? E.g. My mother cuts the grass. This can be revealing - e.g. it is often only the man of the house who sleeps under a mosquito net.

Reading

The reading repeats the discussion and pictures. Pupils in pairs read it quickly, match the sentences with the pictures, and find the sentence which does NOT have a matching picture (covering our bodies).

Ask yourself

This question is about pupils’ own roles. Demonstrate asking yourself the question and answering it for yourself. For example, Well, I do a lot to stop mosquito bites. I bury rubbish, and fill holes, and I have mosquito screens on the windows etc. I always wear long trousers in the evening. But you cannot do all these things. What can you do? Think about it!

Give them time to think, then ask them to copy and complete the box personally.

N.B. They should be able to find at least one thing they can do (e.g. sleep under a sheet; sleep under a net; mend holes in a net; fill in small holes; bury tin cans; close windows; help with bigger jobs). Go round and look at the responses. Tell the class any interesting answers.

Remember

Ask for a volunteer to write the Remember message on a piece of paper, display it in the classroom and read it aloud. On the opposite side write the title of the lesson. Ask pupils to give examples of how to stop mosquito bites. Store the message so it can be used again.

Homework

Choose the homework you think is most acceptable to families, or ask pupils to choose.

Review

Ask the pupils responsible for the previous Remember messages to come to the front of the class. Revise the whole chapter by asking them to read out their messages. Ask the class to expand and explain each message.

If time allows, small groups can prepare to present the messages: one holds up the message, one reads it aloud, the third explains it, gives examples etc.

Event track

You may wish to organize a final "event" to recycle and publicize the messages of the lessons. This can be a performance in class, or for families or other classes, or be part of an Open Day. Here are some ideas relating to this chapter.

1. If there are several opinions locally about the causes of malaria, get children to make a strip-cartoon poster as suggested below. Train TWO pupils to stand by the poster and reveal the pictures one by one. They read it aloud, pointing to the pictures.

POSTER: HOW DID MR X GET MALARIA?

2. Madam Mosquito

Do a mini-drama based on Lesson 2, using four children. Three are lying down, the second one under a mosquito net. A fourth child (a girl) is dressed as the mosquito with paper wings and very long fingers. (You can use two bottles of red-coloured water to represent the blood, one with some stones or grit in it to represent the malaria. However, you can also manage without these.)

Here is a possible script: