Reading Lesson plan
Level: Grade 10
Duration: 50 minutes
Material: PC, LCD, board and markers, handouts,
Objective: By the end of the lesson, students will be able to show understanding of the article “The Gift of
Life” by identifying the problems the Ayalas family faced and the solutions they implemented to overcome
these problems by filling a table.
Procedure:
Warm up:
Brainstorm (3’):
T asks / writes on the board: Why do people beget kids?
Answers are written on the board by Ss after they discuss in their groups.
Pre-reading: Introduce difficult words (5’)
T asks the class “who likes to major in the medical field?” or “what words from the medical
domain do you know?” to initiate the presentation of vocabulary through pictures displayed
on PPP.
Ss try to guess the words from the pictures. Words are written on the board (or Ss write
them on flashcards and post them on the board).
During-reading:
1st reading: scan for names of people (2’)
Ss scan the text to just find names. Pair work then group work.
2nd reading: fill in a family tree (5’)
T asks: what relation is there among them? Fill in the information in a family tree.
3rd reading: add details to the tree (5’)
Ss start adding details in response to questions: who is in the hospital? Why?
(the details could be extended if Ss are asked to list the actions each person did) (pocket
plan)
4th reading: odd ones out (8’)
Which of the below problems and suffering did the Ayala family face? Write them in the
table in your handout. Individual work then pair work.
-
Anissa had leukemia and had only five years before death.
Airon was sick too.
Marissa’ bone marrow was rejected.
Airon blood did not match.
The family did not find an outside donor.
Mary was old to get pregnant.
The chances of a matching child were weak (1-4).
The failure chance of the transplant was around 30%.
Immediate donation from Marissa was not possible. They had to wait for her to grow up a
little.
Marissa had to take chemotherapy.
Anissa had to take chemotherapy and face its negative effects (hair loss, immune system
weakened….
Marissa’s life was in danger because of the donation.
The father was too old to get kids.
Time was running out of Marissa
OR (plan B) they are asked in pairs to pick all the problems encountered by the family and write them in a
table.
1
5th reading: find solutions (6’)
Consider the problems you listed in your table, find the solution the family took to
overcome each to save Anissa. (some of the problems are solved in the same way; the
solutions are implicit)
T models: the problem of Anissa undergoing chemotherapy was overcome by surviving the
chemo.
Respond to critical, analytical questions and connect to the real world (8’)
Post-reading:



How does the title reflect the selection? Explain.
Answer the question in the last paragraph: “Would the baby have agreed to the
transplant if she had been able to make the choice?” T tells them to refer to the list
they gave about reasons of begetting a child.
There are organ donation centers that save many lives. Would you list yourself so your
organs can save someone’s life upon your death? Why?
2
School’s Name
Grade level
Name: _______________
Reading Comprehension
Scholastic year
Date:
Teacher’s Name:
The Gift of Life
1.
Marissa lay anesthetized upon an operating table in the hospital. A surgeon inserted a 1-inch long needle into
the baby's hip and slowly began to extract bone marrow. In 20 minutes, they removed about a cup of the viscous
red liquid.
2.
The medical team then rushed the marrow to a hospital room where Marissa's 19-year-old sister, Anissa, lay
waiting. The doctor began feeding the baby's marrow into Anissa's veins. The marrow needed only to be dripped
into the girl's bloodstream. There, the healthy marrow cells began to find their way to the bones.
3.
If all goes well, if rejection does not occur or a major infection sets in, the marrow will do a miracle. It will
give life to the older sister, who otherwise would have died of chronic leukemia. Doctors rate the chance of
success at 70%.
4.
The Ayala family had gone through a sequence of life-or-death adventures to arrive at that end. Anissa's
leukemia was diagnosed three years ago. In such cases, the patient usually dies within five years unless she
receives a marrow transplant. Abe and Mary Ayala began a nationwide search for a donor whose marrow would
be a close match for their daughter Anissa, but the search failed.
5.
The Ayalas did not accept their daughter's fate. They knew from their doctors that the best hope for Anissa lay
in a marrow transplant from a sibling (a brother or sister), but the marrow of her only brother, Airon, did not
match. Her life, it seemed, could depend on a sibling who did not yet exist.
6.
First, Mary Ayala ventured to become pregnant at the age of 43. The chances were 1 in 4 that the baby's bone
marrow would match her sister's. The baby was a match. Then, everyone waited for the baby to grow old enough
and strong enough to donate safely even while her older sister's time was decreasing.
7.
Twelve days before the operation, Anissa began receiving intensive doses of radiation and chemotherapy to
kill her diseased bone marrow. As a result, she lost her hair. Her blood count dropped. Her immune system was
weak. But in two to four weeks, the new cells should take over and start their work of giving Anissa a new life.
8.
The drama of the Ayalas – making the baby and facing so many problems to save the older daughter – seemed
to many people to be a miracle. A marrow transplant represents little risk to the donor: Marissa's health was
never in danger, and she came out of last week's procedure with only an ache in the hip.
9.
To other people, it was troubling. A baby was brought into the world not as an end in herself. The parents
created the new life, and then used that life for their own purposes, however noble. The baby did not agree to be
used. Would the baby have agreed to the transplant if she had been able to make the choice?
Adapted from the Times Magazine
3
A. Fill in the Ayala family tree.
The Ayala Family
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------B. What problems are faced by the Ayala family to save Anissa? Write them below.
Problems
Solutions
4