From the blurb: "Cambridge
English for Nursing is for intermediate to upper-intermediate level
(B1-B2) learners of English who need to use English in a nursing
environment. The course can be used in the classroom or for self-study.
Cambridge English for Nursing is designed to improve communication
skills and specialist language knowledge, enabling healthcare
professionals to work more confidently and effectively."
Comment on the Blog !
One of the great joys of teaching English to adult
professionals is that you come into contact with a vast array of
different people, personalities and working lifestyles. The stories I've
had shared with me from air traffic controllers, Africa-based
oil-company reps and international glue salesmen in the course of my
English teaching career would probably fill a book in their own right.
And
as English language teaching materials get more and more industry
specific, we are having to deal with a lot of very specialised terms and
in particular functional language of the sort offered by one of
Cambridge University Press' latest books, Cambridge English for
Nursing.
Having given quite a detailed description of the style of
this series when reviewing the
Cambridge English for Job-hunting
title, I'll allow myself a rather more anecdotal approach here if you
don't mind.
I was a bit harsh in the aforementioned review,
complaining that its six long and rather unexciting units with their
equally laborious listenings could have been made a bit more accessible
and snappy. Cambridge English for Nursing, with its ten 8-page
units (as opposed to six 13-page slogs) and the colourful medical
diagrams and pictures immediately make it more accessible.
The job-hunting title struggled to jolly up its pages
with assorted stock pics of pens hovering over pads and people looking
pensive. Cambridge English for Nursing gets right to the
nitty-gritty with juicy diagrams of the inner workings of the pancreas,
a universal pain assessment tool and a pretty graphic set of gruesome
wounds to admire. Oh, and there are a couple of photos of pens
poised pensively over pads for good measure...
The exercises themselves are as excellently imagined as
ever from Cambridge, and the scope of language and medical
situations covered is almost mindboggling to the lay English teacher. I
don't know for sure, but I imagine that this title will be extremely
well received by teachers working in hospitals or for university-level
nursing courses where the students need to be able to cope competently
in a wide range of medical situations.
The page layout is particularly successful in this title,
always colourful and nice to look at, with a great variety of tables,
boxes, drop-shadowed notebook pages and so on to keep the learners
interest levels up.
The listening material is as comprehensive as it is
eye-opening for the non-specialist teacher. I'd love to have been a fly
on the editor's wall as they discussed just what sort of conversation
would most naturally illustrate all the necessary language involved in
giving a urine sample or cleaning someone's bowels out. A sample of what
they came up with:
|
Frances: |
...That's why it's called a
midstream urine sample. Do you understand what I
mean? |
|
Mrs Faisal: |
Yes, I think so. Let me repeat
what I have to do so I'm sure I've got it right.
I pass some urine into the toilet and then some
more urine into the container. |
|
Frances: |
Yes, that's exactly what I want
you to do. We want to get the middle part of the
stream of urine. Just one more thing. - tighten
the lid before you give me the specimen
container, please. |
|
Mrs Faisal: |
Oh right, I can see why that's
important. |
While it's rather cringe worthy to listen to the
obviously contrived exchanges like this, plaudits to the authors for
just managing to imagine scenarios where these sorts of conversations
don't sound totally ridiculous.
The ten units in the book cover Patient admissions,
Respiratory problems, Wound care, Diabetes care, Medical specimens,
Medications, Intravenous infusions, Pre- and Post-operative patient
assessment, and Discharge planning.
The
focus is firmly on real-life communicative skills needed by nurses, with
bang up to date material organised sensibly. Each unit contains, and I
quote:
-
discussion of the
nursing topic
-
listening
activities reflecting everyday nursing scenarios
-
a focus on
communication, for example giving advice sensitively
-
a medical focus,
for example describing how the heart works
-
charting and
documentation - medical forms and how to use them
-
abbreviations and
acronyms used in healthcare
-
an online glossary
with a pronunciation guide
Cambridge English for Nursing can be used if
studying alone and the units are stand-alone and can be done in any
order. It would also make a good course book as part of a nursing
qualification where English is important.
A great deal of thought and effort has obviously gone
into producing this book, and the authors and editor are to be praised
for this.
Good luck with the enemas, and let me know if you enjoy
using this book!
