Healthy Living
Primary 5 · English
Healthy Living
Lesson 3 of 3
14 min
Let's begin
On the wall of the health centre there is a poster. Big letters, a few numbers, one warning at the bottom.
Umutoni’s grandmother cannot see it well, so she taps Umutoni’s arm. “What does it say, my child?”
Umutoni does not read the whole poster out loud. She reads it the fast way — and today you will learn her way.
Here is the poster on the wall. Read it once.
STOP MALARIA IN OUR UMUDUGUDU
Malaria comes from one thing: the bite of a mosquito at night.
What to do
1. Sleep under a mosquito net every night — children and adults.
2. Close the windows before it gets dark.
3. Clear away still water: old tins, tyres and buckets. Mosquitoes lay their eggs in still water.
Warning: If a fever does not go away after one day, go to the health centre and ask for a malaria test. Do not guess.
Every good poster has the same bones:
Question: “What must you clear away, and why?”
Step 1 — underline the key words in the question. They are clear away and why.
Step 2 — hunt for that key word in the poster. Don’t read from the top. Let your eye look only for “clear away”. There it is, in step 3.
Step 3 — read that line and the one next to it. The what is in the first half: still water: old tins, tyres and buckets. The why is right after it: Mosquitoes lay their eggs in still water.
Step 4 — answer in a full sentence, using your own words plus the poster’s facts.
You must clear away still water in old tins, tyres and buckets, because mosquitoes lay their eggs there.
That is the rule: take the key word from the question and hunt for it. You do not have to re-read the whole poster for every question.
Sometimes the answer is not written word for word — you must put two lines together. Ask: “Do children need a net too?” The poster never says “children need a net”. But step 1 says “children and adults”. So the answer is yes — children too.
Look again at step 1 of the poster: Sleep under a mosquito net every night.
Who is it talking to? You. But the word you is not there at all. Instructions begin with the doing word, and the person is understood. That is called the command form.
Notice the difference from the last lesson:
Ishimwe was asked to explain how to wash your hands. He wrote this:
“Well I think first you should be making your hands wet and then the soap is rubbed everywhere and don’t forget between your fingers and then it should be rinsed off and after that you should dry them.”
Every fact is there — but it is one long snake of a sentence. Nobody in a hurry can follow it. Fix it in three moves.
Move 1 — find each separate action. There are four: wet hands / rub soap, between fingers / rinse / dry.
Move 2 — start each action with a doing word. Cut “well”, “I think”, “you should”. Cut anything that is not an action.
Move 3 — number them in the order they happen. One action per step.
How to wash your hands
1. Wet your hands with clean water.
2. Rub soap all over your hands. Do not forget between your fingers.
3. Rinse the soap away with clean water.
4. Dry your hands in the air or on a clean cloth.
Short. Ordered. Anyone can follow it.
If you write your steps as a paragraph instead of a list, these time words keep the order clear: First, Next, Then, After that, and — always for the last step — Finally.
Tip
Reading: take the key word out of the question, then hunt for that word in the text. Don’t start again from the title.
Writing: start with the doing word, one action per step, numbered in order. Wash your hands. — not “You should be washing…”
Here is a new poster. Read it, then answer.
CLEAN WATER AT HOME
1. Boil the water for 10 minutes.
2. Let it cool with the lid on.
3. Store it in a covered jerrycan.
4. Pour the water into your cup. Do not dip your cup into the jerrycan.
How long must the water boil?
Answer: For 10 minutes. (Key word: boil → step 1.)
Which step tells you where to keep the water?
Answer: Step 3 — in a covered jerrycan.
Why does the poster say “Do not dip your cup into the jerrycan”?
Answer: Because your cup or your hand may be dirty. If you dip it in, you put the dirt straight back into the clean water. Pour it out instead.
Turn this advice into a poster instruction: “You should close the windows before dark.”
Answer: Close the windows before dark. (Cut “you should”, start with the doing word.)
Your friend has cut his knee playing football. Write three numbered instructions for him.
Answer:
1. Wash your hands with soap and clean water.
2. Clean the cut gently with clean water.
3. Cover it with a clean cloth or a plaster.
(A warning at the end: Do not touch the cut with dirty fingers.)
What you learned today
Quick check
Look at the malaria poster in this lesson. What must you do if a fever does not go away after one day?
