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This lesson is based on recent news pictures concerning the disease SARS. The print edition on Tuesday, April 8 included all of the pictures that accompanied the captions below. Copyright prevents us from publishing news agency pictures on the Internet, so only our Bangkok Post picture appears here. However, any teacher, anywhere in the world will surely be able to find effective pictures to use with this lesson. The captions are included here to give you guidelines for the kind of pictures and captions to look for.

There’s not a lot of good news in the papers these days. The two top stories worldwide are the war in Iraq and the spread of SARS. Last week’s lesson looked at news photos from the war and used the captions as a way of building vocabulary.

Following a particular story over a number of days is an excellent way to build your vocabulary. The words are easier to remember because they are related and the same words and phrases are repeated often so you will be using them right away.

Use the captions from the pictures on this page to begin building a vocabulary to talk about the disease called SARS. For example, here's the caption from a recent picture from Hong Kong:

Tourists wear masks to protect themselves against a killer pneumonia on the streets of Hong Kong. The outbreak of the killer pneumonia know as Sever Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which has killed 12 and infected another 470 to date, has devastated the key tourism sector as more countries issue travel warnings to steer clear of the city. — AFP

The words and phrases in the caption above and in those that follow can be used in the ways listed below. Those from the caption above are listed to get you started. Add to the lists as you read the remaining captions.

• Words directly related to the disease: pneumonia, outbreak
• Protective clothing: masks,
• Preventive actions : travel warnings,
• What the disease has done: killed, infected, devastated,
• Adjectives used to describe the disease: killer,
• Agencies/people involved: tourists,
• Words and phrases related to statistics: to date,

CAPTIONS FROM THE BANGKOK POST

Communicable disease control staff at Don Muang airport's arrival terminal have been issued with protective clothing to avoid infection. Officials check arriving passengers as part of stepped-up screening procedures. — JETJARAS NA RANONG

Here are other captions that will give you suggestions of the vocabulary you can look for in captions to pictures in your local paper.

A child wears a mask to protect against a deadly pneumonia virus as he sleeps on his mother's shoulder in Hong Kong's Mass Transit Railway station. The death toll in Hong Kong to SARS is now 13 with 530 people infected so far. — AFP

Patients put on face masks as they leave the clinic in Toronto, Canada. Canada has identified 129 probable or suspected cases of the killer pneumonia virus, including four fatalities, according to the Health Ministry's chief medical adviser — AFP

A police officer wearing a mask and doctor's gown stands guard outside Amoy Gradens, a Hong Kong apartment complex which was placed in isolation by health authorities yesterday. Police used metal barricades and tape to seal off the apartment building quarantined after 107 residents came down with the mystery virus. — AP

Thai Airways ground personnel wear surgical masks at Don Muang Airport in Bangkok to protect themselves from the deadly pneumonia-like virus Several Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which has infected thousands worldwide. — REUTERS