Feole,+Diane

Diane Feole - HS English Deliverable 3 -

Proposal for the use of a English Department Blog Mona Boscia, Department Head Cranston High School West English Department cc: Mr. Steven Knowlton, Principal and Ms. Lynne Burke Assistant Principal for Student Affairs

I am submitting this proposal for developing a collaborative forum for English teachers here at Cranston High School West. This forum would be used to share best practices, as well as frustrations, advice and opinions.

Rationale: Due to federal, state and local mandates which have taxed the role of the teacher during the workday and beyond, our school environment has become quite impersonal and non-communicative. Instead of sitting at lunch and discussing our lesson ideas and how we might improve them, we now sit and ask each other questions about filling out this form or that, or how to upload a portfolio assignment, or check grades on new computer systems. At a time when the government is telling our school that we must implement more common planning, we are finding less time than ever to do so. Therefore, I suggest an English teacher blog that may in the future be expanded into a school-wide attempt, to find a way in the hectic day of a high-school teacher, to share ideas and find solutions to problems occurring in our classrooms and beyond.

Description: A blog is an online environment in which all participants can share, discuss and contribute through written, audio and video format. It offers the opportunity to post questions that others might be able to answer, concerns that others share or can alleviate, responses to school initiatives that others might need to consider, and laughs (see http://www.seekwellness.com/wellness/reports/2007-12-20.htm) that others may need to get through the day. In addition, teachers can share personal writing, personal achievements, goals, observations, insights and frustrations. As an example, I have created a classroom blog at [|http://feolesalweayswrite.blogspot.com] which you are welcome to visit and respond to if you like. The service that I would use to create this forum is called Blogger and is located at [|www.blogger.com]. It is free and can be accessed even here at Cranston West, despite blocks on blogging sites in our school-wide system. It is easy to use.

Reasons for a blog: 1. A blog fosters collaborative professional development. 2. The blog would offer opportunity for more uniform curriculum implementation through the sharing of ideas and methods. 3. The blog could offer a way to common plan without having to use a regular preparation period to do so. 4. A blog could be used to mentor new teachers in our school, who have questions and are sorting out problems, but do not have the times to step out of the classroom and find his/her mentee to ask for help. 5. Using a blog would hopefully encourage the use of this technology in other English teachers' classrooms for the use of students and teachers to share and correspond on classroom topics. 6. Blogging fosters a sense of community. As we know, current studies have shown that a sense of community in the workplace has been known to increase productivity and accomplishment. See http://houston.jobing.com/blog for more information and possible associated risks of blogging. 7. Blogging might even offer the opportunity for a shared belly-laugh, a much needed side affect of communication. See http://www.seekwellness.com/wellness/reports/2007-12-20.htm.

Implementation: I would volunteer my time to demonstrate the ease at which we can begin blogging today if we wanted. I am sure that teachers in our department would be interested. We have always been a close-knit department, willing to share and support one another in the workplace, and in our personal lives. Time restraints stripped away our ability to do so. This would afford us that opportunity to enjoy each others' minds and hearts once again.

Roadblocks: 1. First and foremost, limited technology experience would make blogging scary to teachers who have not been exposed. But on the flip-side, It is an easy fear to get over once blogging has begun. It is easy. It is fun. Once mastered, it would lead to a sense of accomplishment and confidence that would foster the desire to use more technology in the classroom. 2. Training time. Teachers would need to find time to learn the basics. It would take a very short period of time, and I have no doubt that it could be offered by me or an in-house media specialist as a PDI.

The future: More technology uses discovered for classroom use as well as a shared connection between ALL faculty.

Conclusion: Recently I was a part of a learning walk here at Cranston West. I was amazed to see that teachers in another department had not heard of some of the vocabulary techniques that have really helped those of us in English to make our classrooms more active learning environments. When asked why, the answer is that they did not have the exposure to these techniques, nor the time to search them out themselves. We could all benefit from collaboration. And we know what our own collaboration would mean to our students. Talking over lunch duties is not enough. Blogging and wikis are the future of teacher collaboration.

** Diane Feole Apathy to Empathy through Literature ** [|www.feoleslitcircle.wikispaces.com] Intro : This unit is based on a grant project I created and have been working from with my 9th grade English classes, all academic year. For this project, Teaching Tolerance provided us with the novel __Chanda’s Secrets__ and it is to be read as an outside reading. The classes have done many, many readings to increase awareness, education, and tolerance of the world around us. These include a Holocaust and other world tragedies study through “The New York Times” archives, reading __The Freedom Writers Diary__, __The House on Mango Street,__ __Stolen Voices__, and many, many articles/ short stories, poems, all on the subject of tolerance. Chanda’s Secrets is a novel by Allan Stratton about a girl who is living with the shame of her family’s HIV in Africa. According to Stephen Lewis of the UN special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, “This powerful story hits home with its harsh truths, its pain and its hard-won hopefulness. No-one can read //Chanda’s Secrets// and remain untouched by the young people who are caught in the AIDS pandemic and still battling to make sense of their lives.” Most of the students in these two 9th grade English classes do not have computer, nor Internet access at home. Therefore, they have limited experience outside of the realm of instant messaging and text messaging when it comes to communicative technology. In an effort to expose them to both the plights of others in the world, and to the technology of blogs and wikis, I will provide a very controlled format for which they can express and share ideas about the novel they are reading outside of class. Finally, this format offers all of us an opportunity to practice reading and writing strategies we have been working on all year, but with a great deal more autonomy, hopefully leading to intrinsic motivation to learn more about the world through reading and writing. The blog will use the Question, Predict, Summarize, Connect, Clarify reading strategy formats. Goals: GSE’s: W-10, W-11 : Habit of writing – You follow the writing process. Includes research, rough draft work, etc…AND You write extensively, more than one piece, on the same subject, or multiple pieces on the same genre. W-1 – Structures of language – You apply understanding of sentences, paragraphs and text structures. This means that you write using a variety of sentence types. Your paragraph structure works to accomplish its goal. W-2, W-3: Reading-Writing Connection: Writing in response to literary work. W-9: Writing Conventions used correctly. R-2, R-3 – Vocabulary – Use of vocab strategies and breadth of vocab R-4, R5, R6 – Understanding literary texts – Analysis and Interpretation of texts, citing examples. R-16 – Generating a personal response. R- 17 – Breadth of reading and participating in a reading community. Content Standards: E1abc, E2ab, E4ab, E5ab, E6ab, E7ab School-Wide Expectations: 1.1 DOK varies by activity/assessment __ Pre-Activities:  __ Shame Pandemic HIV AIDS Sub-Sahara Transmission Hypothesis (We may add to these as we go along. Only 3 words should be introduced at a time) Topics and Links : 1) African geography http://www.nhm.org/africa/index.htm 2) African people [|www.pbs.org/wnet/africa/explore/index_html.html] 3) AIDS and HIV in sub-Saharan Africa http://www.kff.org/hivaids/upload/7391-02.pdf Other stuff to check out:
 * Final Project – Discipline Specific Teaching Unit**
 * 1) Expose students to blogs and wikis and have them use them in a controlled, educational environment.
 * 2) Provide individual research opportunities about topics of tolerance.
 * 3) Practice and maintain already learned skills and knowledge about reading and writing.
 * 4) Provide students with an autonomous learning environment.
 * 5) Provide students with the opportunity to share their knowledge of wikis, blogs, HIV/AIDS and or the novel.
 * 1) Mad minute –
 * 2) With a partner, students will write down everything they know about Africa.
 * 3) Then they will write down everything they know about AIDS.
 * 1) Vocab introduction: Add to word wall:
 * 1) Computer lab – responding to readings – Students will go to the blog/wiki site set up for this project, and go to the links provided. After each link, students will write a written response to their experience on the site.
 * FILMS: **

[|www.pandemicfacingaids.org/en/indexFlash.adp]
 * Pandemic: Facing AIDS **

The film follows Canadian Stephen Lewis (United Nations Special Envoy for AIDS in Africa) on one of his first fact-finding missions in Africa. Aired on CBC’s //Nature of Things// in 2001.
 * Race Against Time **

A follow-up documentary on Stephen Lewis’s return to Africa. Aired on CBC’s //Nature of Things// in 2003. [|www.cbc.ca/natureofthings/show_aids.html]
 * The Value of Life: AIDS in Africa Revisited **

Other films on AIDS in Africa are available at [|www.filmakers.com/AIDS.html] 4. Students will look at wiki at home and respond to the following information posted wikipedia about HIV Origins Myths: === MYTH: [[|edit]]   The AIDS epidemic began when a human male had sexual intercourse with African monkeys, transmitting the virus to modern humans  === While it is true that HIV is most likely a mutated form of [|Simian Immunodeficiency Virus], a disease present only in chimpanzees and [|African monkeys], it is extremely unlikely that the [|zoonosis] (inter-species transfer of a disease) of HIV occurred through [|sexual intercourse]. The African chimpanzees and monkeys which carry SIV are often [|hunted] for food, and epidemiologists theorize that the disease appeared in humans after hunters came into blood-contact with monkeys infected with SIV that they had killed. The first known instance of HIV in a human was found in a person who died in the [|Democratic Republic of the Congo] in 1959.[|[35]] ACTUALLY:

Likely spread from animal to human populations
A variety of theories exist explaining the transfer of HIV to humans, but no single hypothesis is unanimously accepted, and the topic remains controversial.

[ [|edit] ]   Cameroon chimpanzees hypothesis
The most widely accepted theory is the so called 'Hunter' Theory, according to which transference from ape to human most likely occurred when a human was bitten by an ape or was cut while butchering one, and the human became infected.[|[2]] Researchers announced in May 2006 that HIV most likely originated in wild [|chimpanzees] in the southeastern rain forests of [|Cameroon] (modern [|East Province] ) [|[3]] [|[4]] rather than in [|Kinshasa], [|Democratic Republic of Congo] (formerly Zaire), as had previously been believed. Seven years of research and 1,300 chimpanzee genetic samples led [|Dr. Beatrice Hahn], of the [|University of Alabama at Birmingham] , to identify chimpanzee communities near Cameroon's [|Sanaga River] as the most likely originators. [|[5]] Calculating based on a fixed mutation rate, the jump from chimpanzee to human likely occurred during the French colonial period (1919–1960). Comparative primatologist Jim Moore suggests that this may have been the result of colonial practices of forced labour, which could have suppressed the immune system of the initial hunter enough to allow the virus to infect and take hold. Likewise, using one needle on many patients for forced immunisations for illnesses such as [|sleeping sickness] may have sped the virus's initial spread through Cameroon. Needles were also shared in the booming colonial city of [|Kinshasa], where the virus spread.[|[6]] An elaboration on the "Hunter" theory hypothesises that colonial practices such as labor camps and non-sterile vaccination campaigns, with other technological and social disruptions, to the food supply in particular, promoted the cross-over from chimpanzees and the spread amongst humans.[|[7]]

[ [|edit] ]   Oral polio vaccine hypothesis
// Main article: [|OPV AIDS hypothesis] // Freelance journalist [|Tom Curtis] discussed this controversial possibility for the origin of HIV/AIDS in a 1992 //[|Rolling Stone]// magazine article. He put forward what is now known as the [|OPV AIDS hypothesis], which suggests that AIDS was inadvertently caused in the late 1950s in the [|Belgian Congo] by [|Hilary Koprowski] 's research into a [|polio] [|vaccine] .[|[8]] Koprowski pursued legal action against //Rolling Stone//, and the magazine published a clarification stating that its editors "never intended to suggest in the article that there is any scientific proof, nor do they know of any scientific proof, that Dr. Koprowski, an illustrious scientist, was in fact responsible for introducing AIDS to the human population."[|[9]] The magazine also paid US$1 in damages.[|[10]] Nonetheless, the //Rolling Stone// article motivated another freelance journalist, [|Edward Hooper] , to probe more deeply into this subject. Hooper's research resulted in his publishing a 1999 book, //The River//, in which he alleged that an experimental oral [|polio] [|vaccine] prepared using [|chimpanzee] kidney tissue was the route through which [|simian immunodeficiency virus] (SIV) crossed into humans to become HIV, thus starting the human AIDS pandemic.[|[11]] This theory is contradicted by an analysis of genetic mutation in primate lentivirus strains that estimates the origin of the HIV-1 strain to be around 1930, with 95% certainty of it lying between 1910 and 1950.[|[12]] While few scientists have questioned the fundamental soundness of the [|phylogenetic] approach employed, some have questioned the validity of the associated [|molecular clock] mechanism for accurately gauging the passage of time without specific corroborating data,[|[13]] as in this case. Hooper rejects the dates calculated using a fixed mutation rate, saying phylogenetic dating of "the most recombinogenic organisms known to medical science", immunodeficiency viruses, is "inherently incapable of making any allowance for recombination". [|[14]][|[11]] In February 2000 one of the original developers of the polio vaccine, the Philadelphia based [|Wistar Institute], found a vial of the original vaccine used in the vaccination program.[//[|citation needed]//] It was analyzed in April 2001, and no traces of either HIV-1 or SIV were found in the sample.[|[15]] A second analysis showed that only [|macaque] monkey kidney cells, which cannot be infected with SIV or HIV, were used to produce the vaccine.[|[16]] The hypothesis that oral polio vaccine was involved in the origin of AIDS has been investigated and generally rejected by the scientific community, as a large mass of available evidence contradicts it.[|[17]][|[18]][|[19]][|[20]][|[21]][|[22]][|[23]] ** Pre-reading Assessment **: Agree or Disagree: In pairs, students will research and then agree or disagree with the following statements. They must choose one statement that they disagree with and explain using what they found in their research that disputes the statement. We disagree with statement #_ __because__ _. Define your idea of “shame.” What actions might be considered “shameful?” What about 50 years ago? Are some things shameful to one group of people and not to others? What does this suggest about how “shame” operates? READING THE BOOK:  Students will be assigned several chapters per week. At the start of the next week they will be taken to our school’s computer lab (yes, we only have 1!!!) and they will respond to and share insights from the novel by using the following prompts: While reading the book activities: **Chapters 1-5: The first few chapters of a book are important to understanding the novel as a whole because it provides the exposition. This means that you, as a reader are introduced to setting, characters, background info and conflict. Look at the questions below - Choose at least three of these that you were introduced to and talk about them on this wiki for at least 2-3 sentences, each. If someone else has already responded, be sure to read and refer to what he or she has said. Do you agree or disagree?** __Ideas to talk about__: Describe Chandra – What type of person does she seem to be? What is her family situation? What is her daily life like? Describe Esther – What type of person does she seem to be? What is her family life like? Describe Mama – What type of person does she seem to be? How many men has she had relationships with and how have these men affected Chandra? How many children does she have and how old are they? Describe Mrs. Tafa – What type of person does she seem to be? What has happened to her to make her the way she is? Describe where Chanda lives – What is sub-Sahara like according to the author, Allan Stratton? What is a shantytown? What is life like for the people who live there? Conflict is introduced in Chapter 3, p. 5 – What is the secret that is introduced here? What other “secrets” pop up in your reading? W hat characters have you met and which ones do you feel sympathy or empathy for? **Chapters 6-12: These chapters introduce more characters, more secrets and AIDS. Answer at least three of the following questions:** You learn a lot more about Jonah in this chapter. What do you learn and explain whether you feel sympathy or empathy for him anymore. Why or why not? Chanda says, “love makes people stupid” (28). What does she means and do you agree or disagree? What sort of power does Mrs. Tafa have in these chapters? What secrets are exposed in these chapters? What is the reaction of the characters to AIDS? Is it what you, as an American expected? Is it different from the way that we deal with AIDS? Sara dies. What symptoms does she exhibit that hint at her condition? **Chapters 12-25: Again choose three to respond to.** Describe the poverty of Chanda’s town. Have you ever witnessed anything like this? Explain where and when. Chapter 13 is about Mama. What cultural traditions are mentioned? How are they different from your own? There are a couple of “doctors” in these chapters. What do you think about them and Mrs. Tafa’s trust in them? You learn more about Jonah, and about Mama. Do you feel either sympathy or empathy for Mama? Explain which and why. How about Jonah? What happens to him? Esther is prostituting. Why and what is Chanda’s reaction? Well, so much happens to so many people in these chapters talk about three of the following characters. What has happened to them and how do you feel about them, empathy? Sympathy? Disgust? explain: Final Assessment: (Differentiated instruction) Students can choose from a variety of options: > paying attention to what is possible in her circumstances, based on the text. > >  Rubric: FINAL EXAM QUESTION will refer to empathy and this novel. Many names in Africa have a specific meaning. A number of these are included here, as well as definitions of the novel’s medical and cultural terms, and translations of its Setswana vocabulary.
 * Statements || Agree || Disagree ||
 * 1. One of the major factors contributing to the HIV/AIDS pandemic in sub-Saharan Africa is the lack of education regarding how the virus spreads and how it can be prevented. || || ||
 * 2. Most people dying of AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa became infected by engaging in “risky” or “promiscuous” behavior.” || || ||
 * 3. HIV/AIDS is Mother Nature’s Way of controlling the world’s population. || || ||
 * 4. HIV/AIDS is an infection that targets poor groups of people. || || ||
 * 5. The majority of sub-Saharan Africans with HIV/AIDS contracted the disease through homosexual relationships or IV drug use. || || ||
 * 6. Women are more easily infected with HIV/AIDS than men. || || ||
 * 7. Countries in sub-Saharan Africa should focus on prevention in the living than treatment of the dying. || || ||
 * 8. Some people deserve AIDS. || || ||
 * 1) Pre-reading prompt on wiki –
 * Chapters 25 – end**
 * 1) Jonah
 * 2) Esther
 * 3) Iris
 * 4) Mama
 * 5) Chanda
 * 6) Soly
 * 7) Mrs. Tafa
 * 1) Find a poem that explores a central issue in the novel and present it. Also provide a written paragraph of your presentation.
 * 2) Write a news article on the AIDS crisis in Bonang.
 * 3) Design a different book cover or a movie poster and explain in a separate written paragraph why it would be effective.
 * 4) Create an AIDS awareness comic book for children aged 8–11.
 * 5) Write about Chanda and her family five years after the book ends,
 * 4- exemplary || 3- proficient || 2- emerging || 1 – not proficient ||
 * Written project displays extensive knowledge of HIV/Aids in sub-Saharan Africa and the novel . It examines and analyzes impacts, offers insight into connections. ||  Written project displays knowledge of HIV/Aids in sub-Saharan Africa and the novel. It examines impacts, offers some insight into connections.  ||  Written project displays little knowledge of HIV/Aids in sub-Saharan Africa and the novel. It fails in its examination of impacts, and offers little or no insight.  ||  Written project displays very little knowledge of HIV/Aids in sub-Saharan Africa and the novel It does not address impacts, and offers no insight.  ||
 * Written project is creative and aesthetically pleasing. ||  Written project is somewhat creative and aesthetically pleasing.  ||  Written project is neatly displayed.  ||  Written project is not neatly displayed.  ||
 * Spelling, grammar, style – no mistakes ||  Spelling, grammar, style – few mistakes. Do not hinder understanding and effectiveness.  ||  Spelling, grammar, style – mistakes hinder understanding and effectiveness.  ||  Spelling, grammar, style – many that hinder understanding and effectiveness.  ||
 * ** The following glossary will be available to students on the wiki. ** ||

Some of these words are not found in the novel. However, they are useful for understanding HIV/AIDS issues. We thank USC Canada and AIDS Vancouver for permission to use their glossary.


 * Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS):** A doctor may give a diagnosis of AIDS when someone is HIV+ and has an opportunistic infection.


 * AIDS Service Organization (ASO):** A non-profit organization working on HIV and AIDS issues.


 * Amanthe:** Setswana word for “beautiful.”


 * Antenatal clinic:** A clinic specializing in services for mothers and babies shortly after the birth. In countries with generalized HIV epidemics, mothers at these clinics are randomly, anonymously tested to determine national prevalence rates for HIV.


 * Anti-retroviral drugs:** Medications that are used to treat HIV. These medications prevent the HIV from making new copies of itself, which allows the immune system to get stronger by producing more white blood cells. There are three main kinds or “classes” of anti-retroviral drugs; each interferes in a different part of the HIV reproduction cycle.


 * AZT:** The first anti-retroviral drug available to treat HIV.


 * Baobab tree:** The baobab is one of the major symbols of Africa. It has a massively thick trunk, large white flowers producing edible fruit, and strange branches that look like roots. The baobob’s bark is sometimes boiled into a tea to treat bowel ailments, diarrhea, and fevers. It can grow to be over 30 meters (100 feet) in circumference and can live to be over 4,000 years old. There are many myths explaining its appearance. According to one, the baobab did something that made the Creator so upset that he yanked it up and stuck it back in the ground upside down.


 * Boago:** Setswana word for “developing.”


 * Bogadi:** Setswana word for “dowry,” or bride price. The bogadi is paid by the bride’s family to the groom’s family, as thanks for the groom taking over financial responsibility for the bride from her father.


 * Bogbean:** A plant growing in bogs, with white to slightly pink, hairy flowers. It is used by some herbal doctors to treat rheumatoid arthritis, improve digestion, and reduce bile.


 * Buckthorn:** Any shrub or small tree with thorns that comes from the Rhamnus family. Some herbalists use it to aid digestion.


 * Care and Support:** Initiatives designed to reduce the impact of HIV/AIDS. Some examples are medical assistance, counseling, financial support, orphanages, and food assistance.


 * Celery seeds:** Celery seeds are used by some herbal doctors to treat rheumatism, arthritis and gout, and as an antiseptic for the urinary tract.


 * Centers for Disease Control (CDC):** A U.S. government institution that monitors and works to control disease; often referred to simply as the CDC in literature.


 * Child Mortality Rate:** The number of children under five years old who have died in a country out of every 1,000 live births.


 * Cocktail:** See High Active Anti-retrovirus Therapy.


 * Commercial Sex Worker (CSW):** Someone who engages in sexual activity in exchange for money.


 * Concentrated epidemic:** In the concentrated stage of an epidemic, over 5% of those most vulnerable to infection are living with the disease, while the prevalence rate in the general population is still low.


 * Contagious disease:** A disease that can be transmitted by casual contact, such as, for example, touching or coughing. Not all infectious diseases are contagious. Genetic diseases are not contagious. HIV is not contagious. See also Infectious.


 * Determinants of health:** Factors in the social and physical environment that influence the health of populations.


 * Devil’s claw root:** A tuberose root resembling claws, common to southern Africa. The root is chopped up, sun-baked for three days, and used to treat pain, both of the joints and of soft tissues.


 * Discrimination:** The processes through which certain groups are considered dominant or the norm, and thus better than or more normal than others. The effects of these processes lead some individuals to enjoy privileges or benefits because of their status as members of the norm while others experience negative social, economic, and psychological effects because they are part of an oppressed group.


 * Dumela:** Setswana word for “hello” when addressing an individual.


 * Dumelang:** Setswana word for “hello” when addressing a group.


 * Durra:** A tropical cereal grass of the Sorghum family.


 * Elder bush/tree:** A member of the Sambucus family, it has white flowers and typically red or dark blue berries. It is used by some herbal doctors to cause sweating in order to soothe various body systems.


 * Epidemic:** An outbreak of infectious disease affecting a large portion of the population of a region.


 * Food security:** When there is enough food to feed all the people in a community, and the food is of sufficient quality to meet their nutritional needs.


 * Gabs:** Slang for Gaberone, the capital city of Botswana.


 * Gender:** The roles and ways of being that are expected of people based on whether they are born male or female. Gender is related to the social conditioning we receive in our society or culture. In fact, in some cultures there is a belief in more than two genders. Some of these traits may also be influenced by our physical sex.


 * Generalized epidemic:** In the generalized stage of an epidemic, the disease is widespread among the most vulnerable groups and the general population.


 * Global Strategy Framework on HIV/AIDS:** The document that was created as a result of the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS. This document, and the expanded response model within it, is used worldwide to explore the dynamics of the HIV pandemic and design responses.


 * High Active Anti-retrovirus Therapy (HAART):** A combination of medications from the three classes of anti-retroviral drugs. Because each class interferes in a different stage of the HIV virus’s reproduction cycle, it is the most effective therapy for HIV/AIDS. It is known as “the Cocktail.”


 * Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV):** The virus that causes AIDS.


 * Hyena droppings:** Hyenas eat the bones and other remains of dead animals that predators such as lions have left behind. The calcium in the bones they eat makes hyena feces hard and white. When the missionaries came to sub-Saharan Africa in the 19th century, they brought blackboards for their lessons, but they ran out of chalk. Instead of going back to Europe for a new supply, they used hyena droppings.


 * Immune system:** The system in the body that protects a person’s health. This includes white blood cells.


 * Impact:** Effects of HIV/AIDS on individuals, their families, communities, nations, and the world.


 * Incidence:** The number of people within a population who acquire HIV over the course of a year.


 * Infectious disease:** A disease capable of spreading from person to person via micro-organisms, but not necessarily by casual contact (i.e., touching, sneezing, breathing). Not all infectious diseases are contagious. HIV is an example of a disease, which is infectious, but not contagious. The common cold is contagious. See also contagious.


 * International development:** Development is a complex, long-term process that works to reduce poverty and to contribute to a more secure, equitable and prosperous world. It involves all of the world’s people, governments and organizations at all levels.


 * Intravenous drug user (IDU):** A person who uses injection equipment to administer drugs. The drugs may be legal and/or illegal.


 * Inyanga:** Setswana word for “traditional doctor,” an African healer who is believed to be inhabited by spirits.


 * IV drip:** Slang for the medical apparatus that drips medicine from a bag through a tube into a patient’s vein.


 * Jackleberry bush/tree:** The jackleberry has thorny branches with reddish flowers. Jackleberry trees grow near water. People lost in the jungle climb them to look for the nearest water source.


 * Jo'burg:** Slang for Johannesburg, the capital city of South Africa.


 * Kabelo:** Setswana word for “receiving.”


 * Kagiso:** Setswana word for “peace.”


 * Kaone:** Setswana word for “with it.”


 * Lactuca virosa:** Latin name for “wild lettuce.” It is used by some herbal doctors to treat insomnia, restlessness, and other nervous disorders.


 * Laying over:** The time that a dead person spends at the family home before being buried. Usually a body will be taken from the morgue to the family home the afternoon before the funeral.


 * Life expectancy:** The number of years that a child born today could expect to live if s/he lived his/her entire life under the social, environmental, and economic conditions of today.


 * Mabele:** A tropical cereal grass of the Sorghum family, which is used to make porridge (bogobe) and to brew the beer-like drink bojalwa.


 * Marginalization:** A process of discrimination in which people or groups of people are excluded from or pushed to the sides of society. This limits their ability to participate in the decisions that influence their lives.


 * Marula nut:** A product of the marula tree, the marula nut was once a staple food of the San people. Mma: Setswana word for “Mrs.”


 * Mokoro:** A traditional African dugout canoe.


 * Moleane:** Setswana word for “stork.”


 * Mopane tree:** The mopane tree is used to make supports for traditional African huts. The mopane worm that lives under its bark is a popular snack.


 * Moriti:** A low rectangular metal fence covered by a nylon or canvas roof that sits over a grave in place of a headstone. Although cheaper than a headstone, it is still too expensive for most individuals.


 * Morogo:** A common green vegetable similar to spinach.


 * Mpho:** Setswana word for “gift.”


 * Nascent epidemic:** The nascent stage is the earliest period of an epidemic, in which fewer than 5% of those most vulnerable to infection are living with the disease. In the case of HIV, these groups tend to be commercial sex workers, their clients, and injection drug users.


 * Opportunistic infection:** An infection that “takes advantage” of an HIV+ person’s lowered immune response. HIV does not kill people directly; it opens the door for opportunistic infections, which wouldn’t kill a person with a healthy immune system but can kill a person who has HIV.


 * Orphan:** Where one or both parents of a child have died, the child is an orphan.


 * Pandemic:** An outbreak of infectious disease affecting a large portion of the populations of many regions.


 * Passiflora:** Latin for “passion flower”; some herbalists use it to treat persistent insomnia and to control spasms, neuralgia, and shingles.


 * Person Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWA):** A term used to define someone who is infected with HIV. It includes those at all the stages of HIV disease progression. Because this term puts the person before the disease, it is believed to be a more empowering and respectful way to refer to people.


 * Poke root:** Some herbal doctors use this root to treat long-term rheumatism.


 * Poloko:** Setswana word for “saved.”


 * Population Health Framework:** A theoretical framework used by government to understand how broad social and physical factors within a population’s environment influence the health of the entire population and subgroups.


 * Prevalence rate:** Percentage of adults within a population who are HIV+.


 * Prevention:** Refers to changing behaviors or social conditions so that HIV infection does not occur. Some examples of the many HIV prevention programs include education on safer sex and safer needle use, as well as programs designed to reduce vulnerability, like literacy, food security, and poverty reduction programs.


 * Racism:** Discrimination based on race or ethnocultural background.


 * “Raetsho yoo ko le godimong”:** “Our Father who art in heaven”; the first words of the Lord’s Prayer.


 * Risk:** A situation or behavior that provides an opportunity for the HIV virus to pass between people.


 * Safer sex:** Strategies used to reduce the risk of pregnancy, STDs, and HIV infection during sexual activity. In the past the term “safe sex” has been used, but today “safer sex” is used to recognize the fact that sex is never 100% safe—abstinence is the only truly safe option.


 * San people:** Once known as the Bushmen, the San people are a tribal group that has been in sub-Saharan Africa for over 30,000 years. They call themselves Ncoakhoe (the red people).


 * Segaba:** A traditional musical instrument, the segaba features a bow made from a long piece of wood, a tin, a nylon fishing line, and a fly whisk.


 * Senna leaves:** Senna leaves are used by some herbal doctors as a natural laxative.


 * Seswa:** Setswana word for “chipped beef”; it is mixed with beets, carrots, peas, and bean mash to make a stew called setampa.


 * Setswana:** A major language of the Bantu language group, common in sub-Saharan Africa.


 * Shabeen:** Setswana word for “illegal bar.” Shabeens are frequently located outside in a family yard.


 * Shake-shake:** Slang for bojalwa, the Setswana word for a beer-like alcoholic drink made from fermented mabele.


 * Social exclusion:** The result of processes of discrimination and marginalization, social exclusion leaves individuals and groups unable to participate fully and freely in their community.


 * Standpipe:** A pipe coming out of the ground that provides a community with all its water for drinking, cooking, cleaning, and bathing. Standpipes are generally located some distance from each other, which requires most families to take a lot of time in collecting sufficient water for their needs. Because of the lineups, standpipes provide a center for community interaction and communication.


 * Stigma:** Shaming, prejudice, and discrimination directed at people who are or are perceived to be infected with a disease, their loved ones, social groups, and communities.


 * Structural Adjustment Program (SAP):** A program usually involving cutbacks to social services and trade liberalization, often imposed on developing countries as a condition of aid or loans.


 * Survival sex:** The use of sex to meet one’s basic needs. Directly, it may include the exchange of money for sex. Indirectly, sex may be used as a way to sustain a relationship that provides access to the basics of life.


 * Syndrome:** A collection of signs and symptoms that doctors use to diagnose illnesses. In the case of AIDS, the signs and symptoms are 28 opportunistic infections. Thabo: Setswana word for “happiness.”


 * Traditional doctor:** An African healer believed to be inhabited by spirits, colloquially known as “spirit doctor” by non-believers. Each tribe has its own name for traditional doctors; names may also vary depending on whether the traditional doctor specializes in herbal therapies or in spells.


 * Tuelo:** Setswana word for “paid.”


 * UNAIDS:** Also known as the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS. UNAIDS is the main advocate for global action on the epidemic. It leads, strengthens, and supports an expanded response aimed at preventing transmission of HIV, providing care and support, reducing the vulnerability of individuals and communities to HIV/AIDS, and alleviating the impact of the epidemic. UNAIDS is a joint program of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the International Labour Organization (ILO), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the World Bank.


 * United Nations General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS (UNGASS):** In June 2001, this assembly was held to address the global HIV/AIDS pandemic and to secure a global commitment on the issue. The Global Framework on HIV/AIDS is one of the outcomes of this session.


 * Vulnerability:** A measure of how much control an individual has over the risk level s/he faces. Social factors, such as gender and poverty, affect kinds of decisions available to an individual or group to avoid behaviors and/or situations in which there is a risk of HIV infection.


 * World Health Organization (WHO):** A United Nations agency that focuses on issues related to health.


 * Yerbabuena:** A herb used for relaxation and in purification rituals. It is a favorite of the santeras (priests) in the Afro-Cuban religion of Santeria, and is also used in many commercial aromatherapy bath oils. ||