Lesson Plan: One year of Covid
- Lead-In: Thinking about the last year of Coronavirus, what are three of the most important events for you?
2. Watch this video. Were your events mentioned?
Put these events in order, according to the video.
- Vaccines arrive
- Trump catches COVID
- First Coronavirus case in US
- Passengers on a cruise ship test positive
- Trump suggests crazy solutions
- Black lives matter protests
- California issues stay-at-home order
Language
| A mysterious illness | on PPE |
| There’s a run | a new hope arrives |
| Mask mandates and business restrictions | on the other side of the world. |
| A debate about opening | turned political |
| In December, | who would have fathomed the loss, and the resilience? |
| A year ago, | schools intensifies |
Discussion
What were the big events in your country? How would you tell the story of coronavirus in your country?
Reading
How do you think you have changed over the past year?
Match the questions with their answers:
| 1. Have you changed physically in the past year in a way you attribute to the pandemic? | OK, one? |
| 2. How has the pandemic affected your mental health? | |
| 3. Name two ways you’ve found to feel more healthy mentally. | If you answer “Don’t get me started,” you will not be alone. |
| 4. Name one good habit you’ve cultivated during your pandemic year. | Have you thanked them? |
| 5. Name a bad habit you’ve cultivated during your pandemic year. | If the word “coronacoaster” pops to mind, you will not be alone. |
| 6. Is there someone — or ones — who have helped you get through this year? | Helping someone else has made you feel better, hasn’t it? |
| 7. Who have you helped? | If you answer “none,” don’t worry. It’s never too late to start. |
| 8. Name someone outside your pandemic bubble you really miss hugging. | |
| 9. What is the farthest you’ve traveled from home this year? | If your answer includes daily large quantities of chocolate, you will not be alone. |
| 10. What former habits or routines disrupted by the pandemic are ones you’re unlikely to resume? | Have you let them know? |
| 11. What do you spend less money on now than you did a year ago? | You are not alone. |
| 12. What do you spend more money on? | If you answer, “Not enough because my cheapskate company won’t pay for an ergonomic chair,” you will not be alone. |
| 13. When was the last time you dined with someone outside your pandemic bubble? | If you answered alcohol, you will not be alone. |
| 14. What’s your favorite pandemic purchase? | If you still have never Zoomed, congratulations. |
| 15. What did you buy imagining it would ease your pandemic anxiety only to discover you’d wasted money? | |
| 16. Do you remember your first Zoom? | If you answered coffee, you will not be alone. |
| 17. What has the pandemic caused you to appreciate more than you used to? | Note: A pandemic purchase is something you bought out of desire, not necessity, something you imagined would ease your pandemic anxiety, or just add variety to your monotonous pandemic life. For example, a new pillow. |
| 18. Name one small, unexpected thing you’ve missed. | If you answer any of the following, you will not be alone: health care workers, delivery people, grocery store clerks. The people you love. Good health. Good neighbors. Sunny days. Walking. Everything. |
| 19. Has the pandemic changed the way you use space in your home? If so, how? | Are you sure you should have done that? Not judging. Just asking. |
| 20. Do you remember your first mask? | If you answer “chitchat with people I barely know” — baristas, fellow bus riders — you will not be alone. |
| 21. How many masks do you own now? | If you answered a jug of aloe vera or frozen tri-colored carrots, you will not be alone. |
| 22. What did you buy during early pandemic panic that you’ve never used? | Take a moment now to remember. |
| 23. Did you ever stockpile toilet paper? Do you still? | It’s OK to answer yes to both. No one but you will see these answers. |
| 24. On a typical weekday, how do you dress differently now than you did a year ago? | |
| 25. Why do the clothes you haven’t worn in a year look so pathetic? And should you get rid of them? | If you answered “not wearing a mask when I should have,” you will not be alone. |
| 26. What’s the biggest mistake you made during the pandemic? | Yes, yes, this is a theoretical question. But the answer might help in the future because we’re not out of this yet. |
| 27. Which of the following descriptions would you apply to the past year: Hard. Exhausting. Interesting. Enlightening. Long. Confusing. Sometimes beautiful. | Underwear is included in this question. |
| 28. Have you attended a virtual memorial for someone who died this year | Don’t worry if you don’t know the answer. We won’t understand what happened to us in the past year until the pandemic is over. And one day it will be. |
| 29. If you could live the past year again — in the pandemic — what would you do differently? | Some of these questions are really hard. |
| 30. What would you like people who go through the next pandemic to understand that you didn’t know a year ago? | “All of the above” is acceptable. |
Check your answers here. What do you think is the purpose of the article? What is the author trying to say about our experience of the pandemic?
Discussion: What are some of your answers to these questions?
Writing
Do you remember the moment you first realised it was a pandemic?
Read the following article. Which post do you identify most with?
https://www.npr.org/2021/02/28/972281960/people-share-themoment-they-realized-the-pandemic-was-changing-life-as-they-knew
Language: Choose a favourite post. What tenses do they use? What expressions? collocations? prepositions?
Writing: Writing your own post, sharing the moment you knew it was a pandemic.
Bonus: COVID and the markets
How Society has changed: https://www.npr.org/2021/02/28/972217746/one-year-into-the-pandemic-how-has-covid-19-shaped-who-we-are