Drug Development, Viruses and Vaccines Vocabulary and Speaking Lessons
29th January 2025
Drug Development Visual Vocabulary
Drug development vocabulary has become increasingly relevant in our daily lives, especially given recent global health events. This worksheet helps students understand the key vocabulary related to how drugs are developed, tested, and distributed. From initial breakthroughs in the lab to final FDA approval, students learn terms that explain each step of the drug production process.
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Vaccines and public health are topics that affect everyone’s daily lives. This worksheet taps into students’ personal experiences with vaccines while building essential vocabulary about medical science. Through discussing their views on pharmaceutical research, immunity, and global health, students practice expressing opinions and giving reasons – valuable skills for both academic and real-world English conversations. The audio file helps practice listening skills too.
Drug Development Dialogue
In this listening activity, two researchers discuss a breakthrough in cancer drug development. Their informal conversation explores the drug’s promising trial results, testing phases, and potential timeline for approval. Their natural dialogue covers key vocabulary in pharmaceutical development – from experimental trials and efficacy rates to side effects and contamination protocols. The discussion reveals not only the technical aspects of drug development but also the careful balance between optimism for new treatments and the rigorous testing required to ensure patient safety.
Clinical Trials Q and A Exercise
The world of clinical trials has moved from medical journals into our everyday conversations, making it an essential topic for English language learners, particularly those studying in the field of medical sciences. This worksheet features a clinical trial dashboard that breaks down complex medical research into clear, digestible sections. The combination of technical terms and everyday language helps learners participate confidently in discussions about medical research and healthcare innovation, whether they’re reading news articles or talking with healthcare providers.
Expressing opinions about viruses and vaccines
The topic of viruses and vaccines has become a central part of our daily conversations, making it an ideal subject for ESL students to build their English skills. This worksheet helps learners express their views on everything from medical breakthroughs to pharmaceutical research, using vocabulary they encounter in news reports, doctor’s visits, and public health discussions. This exercise can be used as a critical thinking exercise and/ or as a listening activity.
Inventing a Vaccine to Save the World
Katalin Kariko and the story of mRNA
The race to develop the COVID-19 vaccine combines groundbreaking scientific discovery with a deeply human story of persistence against overwhelming odds. This worksheet follows Dr. Katalin Kariko’s journey from a determined scientist facing constant rejection to becoming a pioneer in mRNA vaccine technology. Through her story, students explore both the technical breakthroughs that made the vaccine possible and the personal challenges she overcame – from immigrating with just $100 hidden in a teddy bear to years of grant rejections and career setbacks. Her eventual success demonstrates how scientific innovation often requires not just brilliant ideas, but also the resilience to keep pursuing them when others don’t believe in their potential.
Inventing a Vaccine to Save the World (PDF)
Coronavirus vaccine vocabulary and questions
This is similar to the earlier exercises (below) but focuses on the vaccines for the coronavirus.
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Coronavirus: effects, testing and statistics
This exercise deals with some of the impacts and issues surrounding the coronavirus. It expands into vocabulary for dealing with a pandemic (a public health crisis) and an economic crisis.
Coronavirus: effects, testing and statistics (PDF)
Parts of speech for infectious diseases/coronavirus
This is a bit more challenging and advanced. It gets deeper into the grammar and language used to talk about a pandemic.
Parts of speech for infectious diseases/coronavirus (PDF)
Coronavirus lesson
I have been teaching the English language to medical technology students for many years so I have accumulated a lot of medical sciences related materials. In particular, I have a good library of images relating to medical topics. I realized that it would be quite easy to create a worksheet for the coronavirus.
Coronavirus reading comprehension
This is another exercise that focuses on the language of public health issues and the coronavirus.
Coronavirus reading comprehension (PDF)
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