Home and Fire Safety ESOL Teaching Pack For additional support and information about Home and Fire Safety, or to order further copies of this pack, call: 0141-276-7706
Publishing Details First Published: February 2009 Produced by Mark Watson Second Edition: March 2010 Re-edited by Jeremy Mills ITS Glasgow Co-ordinator Glasgow College of Nautical Studies 21 Thistle Street Glasgow G5 9XB In association with Strathclyde Fire and Rescue 91 Port Dundas Road Cowcaddens Glasgow G4 1ES The information within is presented as a not-for-profit, educational resource for teachers and peer educators. Imagery and factual information from third party sources is reproduced with the permission of copyright holders. Teachers / Peer Educators are permitted to make photocopies of the contents of this pack to use within their place of work. 2009 Mark Watson / ITS Glasgow / Glasgow College of Nautical Studies / Strathclyde Fire and Rescue 2
Integration Through Safety: ITS GLASGOW Home and Fire Safety ESOL Teaching Pack: Introduction This short course was designed to promote learning about home and fire safety through English (ESOL) language lessons. It is part of the Integration Through Safety (ITS) Glasgow project, which encompasses a wide range of safety issues. The course was designed with Elementary and Pre- Intermediate (SCQF Level 3/4, SQA Access 3/Intermediate 1) ESOL learners in mind, although it is adaptable to suit other levels of English proficiency. It can stand alone or be integrated into a General English programme. Some of the reading material included within is from previous safety campaigns of Strathclyde Fire and Rescue, and as such, has been left as authentic text. The safety message is of key importance to the programme and activities have been specifically graded to suit the level of learner the project is aimed at. The activities have been designed to broaden the learners English vocabulary relating to the topic of Home and Fire Safety, as well as to reinforce the key concepts behind the project educating the learners and helping them stay safe. Mark Watson ITS Glasgow Project Co-ordinator Glasgow College of Nautical Studies February 2009 3
Contents 1 Fire Hazards in the Home 2 How Safe is Your Home? 3 Using Smoke Alarms 4 Before You Go to Bed 5 Plan Your Escape 6 Problems Escaping 7 Home and Fire Safety Revision Teacher s Notes 4
1. Fire Hazards in the Home The Kitchen The kitchen can be very dangerous. BE SAFE! Write FOUR things you can do to stay safe in the kitchen: Move Clean Hang Switch Off your cooker and your toaster often. toasters can get greasy and catch fire. Dirty cookers and your toaster and kettle away from the cooker. Wires can be dangerous if they become hot they can start fires. the cooker after you finish cooking. Sometimes people forget to do this and it is very dangerous for children and animals. tea towels and oven gloves away from your cooker. Keep them on the wall or in the cupboard instead. 7
Rearrange the words. Make sentences about things you must NEVER DO in the kitchen: 1. Never / kitchen / you / when / are / leave / the / cooking 2. children / Never / where / and / leave / pots / over / pans / can / knock / them 3. dangerous / they / Never / use / chip / are / pans / very / because 4. Never / rings / on / leave / empty / switched 5. kettles / hanging / leave / and / toasters / wires / Never / from Now LOOK at the picture below. How many examples of DANGER can you find? Circle them and write a sentence describing each of them. 8
2. How Safe is Your Home? Read the following, and choose the answer which is true for YOU. 1. Do you switch off electrical equipment after using it? A) Always B) Sometimes C) Never 2. Do you use a chip pan to cook with? A) No B) Sometimes C) Yes 3. How many smoke alarms do you have in your house? A) One B) More than one C) None 4. Do you have a smoke alarm? A) In the bathroom B) In the hall C) In the kitchen 5. Have you made a fire action plan? A) No B) What is that? C) Yes 6. Do you keep dangerous things like bleach in a safe place away from children? A) Yes B) No C) I don t know 7. Do you close all the doors in your house before going to bed at night? A) No B) Yes C) Some of them 8. Do you smoke cigarettes or use candles in your house? A) Often B) Sometimes C) Never 9. If a fire started in your house, would you first: A) Throw water over it B) Call 999 C) Get out of the house 10. Where do you keep your house keys at night? A) Always in the same place B) In my pocket C) Somewhere in the house 9
Now check your answers using the information below: SCORE 1. A= 3 B= 1 C= 0 6. A= 3 B= -1 C= 0 2. A= 3 B= 1 C= 0 7. A= 0 B= 3 C= 1 3. A= 1 B= 3 C= 0 8. A= -1 B= 0 C= 3 4. A= 0 B= 3 C= 0 9. A= 0 B= 1 C= 3 5. A= 0 B= -1 C= 3 10. A= 3 B= 1 C= 0 RESULT Score: 0-9 You have a very unsafe house! It is very important for you to take more care and learn about Home and Fire Safety. Listen to your teacher and the firefighters! 10-19 You know some things about Home and Fire Safety, so that is a good start, but you can still learn more and make your home a safer place. 20-30 You understand the importance of Home and Fire Safety, and you are already doing many things to protect your home and your family, but there are always more ways you can protect your home and the people in it. Keep learning! 10
2. How Safe is Your Home? - Fire Hazards Below are more sentences about fire safety in the home. Some are TRUE and some are FALSE. Write TRUE or FALSE beside each sentence if the sentence is FALSE, you should write the correct answer. Examples: Electricity is dangerous. Switch off and unplug things after you finish using them. TRUE It is okay to put five plugs into one socket. FALSE Never put five plugs into one socket. Only put one plug into one socket. 1. It is okay to use old plugs with loose wires. 2. You should unplug your electric blanket before you go to bed. 3. Put wires under the carpet to keep the house tidy. 4. Do not put heaters near furniture. 5. Dry your clothes on a radiator. 6. Put lamps next to curtains. 7. Use plates or cups to put your finished cigarette in. 8. Keep matches and lighters in a safe place, away from children. 9. Always smoke in bed. 10. Keep candles in a candle-holder. 14
3. Using Smoke Alarms 15
3. Using Smoke Alarms WHERE TO PUT YOUR SMOKE ALARM Where are the BEST PLACES to put smoke alarms? Name three: 1. 2. 3. Name TWO rooms in your house where it is a BAD idea to put smoke alarms 1. 2. TAKING CARE OF YOUR SMOKE ALARM The information below is mixed up. Put it in the correct order, like the example: Once a week Once a year Twice a year After 10 years Buy a new smoke alarm Press the button to test the battery Change the battery Open the smoke alarm and carefully clean it 16
4. Before You Go to Bed Safety Checklist Read the article and remember the checklist. Now complete the checklist below from memory, and fill in the missing words: Unplug all e things except the fridge and the freezer Check that the c is turned off Check that the washing machine, t d and dishwasher are off Switch off h because they might get too hot and start fires Check that all c are out Check that c are out properly (use ashtrays) Check that d and w keys are in the right place Check your e routes Close all doors to stop f spreading 18
5. Plan Your Escape Home Safety Plan - Puzzle Across 5. This is the way you get out your house 7. There should be nothing the exit 9. This is a note you can put somewhere in your house so everyone can see Down 1. If your house is on fire, you must 2. This is the arrangement you make so you know what to do if there is a fire 3. Ask the operator for these people 4. Keep these in a safe place where you can find them easily 6. Try to be, don't panic! 8. Use this to call 999 for help 20
5. Help Brenda Become a Safer Citizen Brenda never pays attention to other people when they give her advice. Because of this, she lives in a very unsafe home. One day, there was a fire in her house and she didn t know what to do. Read the story below and underline all the things Brenda did wrong Brenda was sitting at home watching TV. It was a cold night, so she plugged in two heaters into the TV socket and put them next to the window, in front of the curtains. Her TV was old and the cat had eaten the wires but she didn t care about getting it repaired. She only wanted to drink some wine and watch TV. Brenda got up and went into the kitchen. She decided to make pancakes because she was hungry. She put some oil in a pan and switched on the grill. Brenda was tired, so she didn t wait in the kitchen. Instead, she went to the living room and sat down again. Five minutes later, Brenda heard her smoke alarm. Stupid alarm! she said, I can t hear the TV now. She stood up and opened the smoke alarm, and she took out the battery. She sat down again and watched TV. She lit up a cigarette too. Brenda watched TV for another 5 minutes and then she remembered about the pancakes Oh no! she thought. She could smell smoke coming from the kitchen. She dropped her cigarette on the carpet and ran into the kitchen. The pan was on fire. Brenda was scared. She turned on the tap and filled up a bowl with water. She threw the water over the pan. The pan exploded and the fire became bigger. Now Brenda was really scared. She ran into the living room and she saw the carpet was on fire she had left the cigarette on the floor. Brenda didn t know what to do because she didn t have a fire action plan. Brenda was lucky this time her neighbours called the fire brigade and they came to rescue her, but because she was so careless, next time she might not be so lucky. 21
Think about what you have learned about home and fire safety in the previous lessons. Work with your partner to rewrite the story and help Brenda become a safe and sensible citizen. Brenda was sitting at home watching TV. It was a cold night, so she plugged in a heater, but she was careful and plugged it in to an empty socket, far away from the curtains... 22
6. Problems Escaping Sometimes the fire is near the door, so you can t get out of your house. It is important to get out of a window, but you must be careful and do things in the correct order. The sentences below are in the WRONG order: Put a blanket or a towel over the broken glass to protect yourself. Carefully lower yourself down, out of the window, on to the cushions or blankets below. Open the window. If the window doesn t open, find something in the room to break the window, e.g. a heavy chair. Hit the window in the bottom corner. Throw some cushions, pillows or blankets out of the window. If you can t get out of your house, go into a room where there is no fire. Call 999, shout for help and stay near a window where people can see you. Keep hitting the window until the glass breaks and there is a hole for you to get through. Try to go to a window. Stay close to the ground if there is smoke. Write the CORRECT order below: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 25
7. Home and Fire Safety - Revision N I N E N I N E N I N E M G F K M G N A T M I N Y A D R P I J Z L Z M O H X N S L K Y T R H K A A T L N F A U P O N U E E O W J C L P F D V N I J O F X S A B L Y E Q E V O X I T I A O C Y W W A E M P I M L E G T T R A I G P T Y Z T B V G H W E L R P D W L S N C T R G T S H I B P E B G L H A P V G E O N A V M M R W M U E F S X R G J E Y E G A O O H R Y L P O H B W S Q R P R U R I K W N K P G S K C S B C V T F F S X H G A I B E M R A L A E K O M S Can you find the following words and expressions about Home and Fire Safety in the puzzle above? ASSEMBLY POINT GET OUT CRAWL NINE NINE NINE ESCAPE ROUTE SAFE WIRING FIRE ACTION PLAN SMOKE ALARM FIREFIGHTER STAY CALM 26
Teacher s Notes Lesson 1 Introduce the concept of home safety: Ask the learners questions about what they do after class elicit the verb, to cook. Ask them what/where they cook, and what they use elicit some basic kitchen vocabulary, e.g. oven, pot, pan etc Explain to the learners that they are going to read about being safe in the kitchen, because it can be a dangerous place. Distribute the Kitchen safety Dos and Don ts two page reading article and the attached worksheets for lesson 1. Instruct the learners to read the Dos page. Have them complete Lesson 1 Worksheet page 1 (Four things to stay safe in the kitchen) in pairs. Check the answers as a class: 1. Clean 2. Move 3. Switch off 4. Hang Next, ask the learners to read the Don ts page and complete the first exercise on worksheet page 2, again in pairs. Check the answers: 1. Never leave the kitchen when you are cooking 2. Never leave pots and pans where children can knock them over 3. Never use chip pans because they are very dangerous 4. Never leave empty rings switched on 5. Never leave toasters and kettles hanging from wires Ask learners to look at the picture of the Dangerous Kitchen. It would be useful to enlarge it onto A3 paper or card (or put it on an overhead transparency) for this exercise. This activity can be done in pairs or small groups. Tell the learners to find at least THREE examples of danger in the kitchen (from the following, use the list to check answers afterwards): Fire extinguisher in wrong place Woman s hair not tied up Woman s clothes loose (sleeve) Pots and pans in dangerous place Wire hanging down from kettle Ring left on with nothing on it 27
Teacher s Notes Lesson 2 Recap on previous lesson. Ask learners to tell you some of the things they can remember about safety in the kitchen, write them on board. Introduce the idea that safety is important everywhere in your home, not just the kitchen. Use flashcards or images of plugs, heaters, cigarettes etc as realia aids to elicit the relevant vocabulary. Distribute the questionnaire How safe is your home? Ask the learners to work individually for this exercise. Read through the questions to check understanding before beginning the activity, and explain / encourage peer explanation of any unknown vocabulary. Allow the learners a few minutes to complete their questionnaires. When the class has finished, distribute the answer key and go through the answer to the first question together with the learners, to ensure they know how to mark their own answers. Give them a couple of minutes to check the rest of their answers and total their points. When they have a total, explain that they can read an analysis of their score in the box. They can then discuss their answers and their safety rating with a partner before you ask for some whole class feedback on the exercise. Next, explain that learners will read a text about all aspects of home safety and distribute the reading article. Ask learners to work in pairs, quickly reading the 4-page article and underlining any new vocabulary. Have a class feedback session to explain the new vocabulary. Distribute How safe is your home? fire hazards worksheet. Assign pairs and have learners complete the TRUE / FALSE exercise. Encourage the learners to write the correct answer where a FALSE answer is given. Check answers as a class: 1. F 2. T 3. F 4. T 5. F 6. F 7. F 8. T 9. F 10. T 28
Teacher s Notes Lesson 3 Recap on previous lesson. Ask learners to tell you about other risks in the home (cigarettes, plugs, heaters etc) and revise some dos and don ts with them on the board. Introduce the concept of a smoke alarm. It helps to have an actual working smoke alarm to demonstrate this, pressing the button to show how it functions. If this is impossible, use a large picture on card or OHT instead and describe how the smoke alarm works. Brainstorm ask the learners, in pairs, to think about why they need a smoke alarm, where they could put it and how many they might need. Distribute the reading text and allow them time to read and check their guesses from the first exercise in open class feedback. Next, have them complete the worksheet exercise ( Where to put your smoke alarm? ) and check the answers together. Answers: Part A: 1. Top of the staircase 2. On landings 3. Between living and sleeping areas Part B: 1. Bathroom 2. Kitchen Finally, ask them to match the sentence halves together ( Taking care of your smoke alarm ). The answers are given below: Once a week Once a year Twice a year After 10 years Buy a new smoke alarm Press the button to test the battery Change the battery Open the smoke alarm and carefully clean it 29
Teacher s Notes Lesson 4 Recap on previous lesson. Revise smoke alarm vocabulary and good ideas about where and when to use smoke alarms. Ask the class When do most fires at home happen, and why? Get feedback and write the learners ideas on board. Tell the class they are going to learn about being safe from fire at night. Distribute the reading activity for lesson 4. Tell the learners they have 5-10 minutes (at teacher s discretion) to read and remember as much as possible. They are allowed to talk to their partner and use dictionaries at this stage, but they must not be allowed to write anything down. Answers: After 5-10 minutes has elapsed, gather in the reading activity sheets. Distribute the worksheet (individually, or in pairs, at the teacher s discretion) and tell the learners to try to remember what the missing words are, and fill them in on the worksheet. Have open class feedback and write the correct procedures on the board in full. Electrical, cooker, tumble dryer, heaters, candles, cigarettes, door and window, escape, fire 30
Teacher s Notes Lesson 5 Recap on previous lesson. Revise good fire safety practice before going to bed. Explain that many people make a Safety Plan to help them know what to do if there is a fire in their home. Distribute the reading article about the Safety Plan. Allow the learners 5-10 minutes to read it, underline any new vocabulary and explain meanings in class feedback session. Next, distribute worksheet to accompany this lesson (Lesson 5). It is a crossword which the learners can complete in pairs, by re-reading the text and guessing the answers. Answers: Across 5. Escape route 7. Blocking 9. Reminder Down 1. Stay out 2. Safety Plan 3. Fire Brigade 4. Keys 6. Calm 8. Telephone Part Two Help Brenda Become a Safer Citizen Having revised some important safety vocabulary in the previous exercise, the learners will now read a story including many examples of poor home and fire safety. Distribute the worksheet to each learner and read through the introduction with them. Explain to the class that they have to read the story and find all the examples of unsafe home and fire safety. When they find one, they should underline it. There are eight mistakes: 31
Brenda was sitting at home watching TV. It was a cold night, so she plugged in two heaters into the TV socket and put them next to the window, in front of the curtains. Her TV was old and the cat had eaten the wires but she didn t care about getting it repaired. She only wanted to drink some wine and watch TV. Brenda got up and went into the kitchen. She decided to make pancakes because she was hungry. She put some oil in a pan and switched on the grill. Brenda was tired, so she didn t wait in the kitchen. Instead, she went to the living room and sat down again. Five minutes later, Brenda heard her smoke alarm. Stupid alarm! she said, I can t hear the TV now. She stood up and opened the smoke alarm, and she took out the battery. She sat down again and watched TV. She lit up a cigarette too. Brenda watched TV for another 5 minutes and then she remembered about the pancakes Oh no! she thought. She could smell smoke coming from the kitchen. She dropped her cigarette on the carpet and ran into the kitchen. The pan was on fire. Brenda was scared. She turned on the tap and filled up a bowl with water. She threw the water over the pan. The pan exploded and the fire became bigger. Now Brenda was really scared. She ran into the living room and she saw the carpet was on fire she had left the cigarette on the floor. Brenda didn t know what to do because she didn t have a fire action plan. Brenda was lucky this time her neighbours called the fire brigade and they came to rescue her, but because she was so careless, next time she might not be so lucky. Check the answers together as a class. Next, distribute the second worksheet and divide the class into pairs (one worksheet between two). Instruct the class to rewrite Brenda s story, changing all of the unsafe things that she does into safe fire safety practices. There is an example given at the beginning of the story to help the learners begin. Monitor and assist where necessary. The second part of this activity could alternatively be set as homework. 32
Teacher s Notes Lesson 6 Recap on all the units so far. Discuss with your class why people may sometimes have a problem escaping their houses if there is a fire. What kind of problems could there be and what kind of people are most at risk? Distribute reading text. Allow learners time to read through and look up any new vocabulary. Distribute the worksheet to pairs of learners, and ask them to complete it by rearranging the order. It is optional if you wish to gather in the reading text prior to doing this. Check the answers as a whole class. 33
Teacher s Notes Lesson 7 The first activity is a word search. Distribute the worksheet to each learner and explain that they have to search for the words listed under the puzzle. All of these words are related to home and fire safety. The words can be found horizontally, vertically and diagonally. Allow 10-15 minutes for the learners to complete the puzzle and check it together with the class by having an enlarged completed puzzle ready for display, or by standing at the front of the class and showing them where they can find all the answers on the puzzle. As an optional extra for early finishers here, you can ask them to use the words and expressions from the puzzle by making sentences around them, e.g. FIREFIGHTER A firefighter is a person who helps people in trouble, by putting out fires and rescuing them. 34
Suggested extension activities: Spelling Test Choose 10-12 words from the previous lessons at random, and dictate them to the learners without allowing them to see. The learners write down the words they hear. Have the learners exchange their completed tests, and mark them together as a class, using the board. Short Story Ask the learners to write a short story (50-100 words) about safety in their home what they have learned about being safe from fire. Quick Team Quiz Put together a short quiz, which can be done at the end of any of the lessons. Divide the class into teams and give points for correct answers. Example questions could include: Where do most fires start? Name THREE causes of fire in the home. Where should you put smoke alarms? Where should you NOT put smoke alarms? 3