The language of pain

Advanced lesson plan (B2 and above): The language of pain - BUY ME A COFFEE if you like my FREE ESL content

OUCH! How would we describe an ear ache, an ant bite, giving birth or being kicked in the testicles? It can be difficult even in your native language. 

Fortunately, doctors in pain clinics have designed the McGill Pain Questionnaire to help patients put their feelings into words - a tool we can also use as ESL teachers.

In this B2+ worksheet, students will learn lots of vocabulary related to pain, as well as studying a Ted-Ed video about the nervous system and an article about fibromyalgia.

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Lesson activities:

1) To warm up, students will read a short extract from Elaine Scarry's 1987 book The Body in Pain. They will have to match underlined words with their definitions. Key vocabulary: fragmentary, coax, bypass, perceive, amplify, unreliable narrator.

2) Students will be introduced to the McGill Pain Questionnaire, which uses seven dimensions and three levels of severity to categorise pain. They will be challenged to use the words to talk about different scenarios (a headache, an earache, a broken bone, being kicked in the testicles, giving birth, a burn and a dog bite). Key vocabulary: flickering, throbbing, pounding, jumping, flashing, shooting, pricking, sharp, stabbing, dull, aching, tingling, itchy, stinging, annoying, miserable, unbearable and sickening.

3) Students will watch a short Ted-Ed video (4:57) explaining how stimuli are transmitted through the nervous system and translated into pain by the brain. They will then be asked to answer comprehension questions. Key vocabulary: tissue, nerve cells, fire signals, spinal cord, salience network, mild pain, morphine, painkillers, prescription medications.

4) Finally, students will read a short article about a person with fibromyalgia. They will answer comprehension questions and fill gaps in the article with missing words. Key vocabulary: migrate, interventions, impose, mutual, caretaker, inflammation.