Get Ideas, Answers, and Help delivered straight to your email.
Quit Smoking Now
User Rating:
/ 7- Details
- Parent Category: Lower-Intermediate News Lessons
- Category: Health Lessons
- Written by Chris Cotter
It's very difficult to quit smoking. Anyone who has tried to quit understands the challenges it took to succeed. There is a lot of advice about how to quit smoking, from nicotine gum and nicotine patches to counseling sessions and hypnotherapy. Only 50% of people who try to quit will succeed. This means that most smokers must try more than once to give up the habit.
At General Electric, a more successful program will begin next year. The program plans to give $750 to smokers who successfully quit. Furthermore, the company expects to save as much as $50 million per year because of reduced health costs. In other words, fewer smokers will mean healthier smokers at GE.
The program first began as an experiment several years ago. Participants of the experiment received payments for each month they didn't smoke. After one year, 15% of this group had successfully kicked the habit. This may sound like a small figure, but it was three times the success rate of the group which used traditional methods. Those usual methods included counseling and anti-smoking drugs.
The program does have some controversy, though. People wondered if it was ethical to pay people to quit.
Preview some of the lesson material:
Warm Up: Do you agree or disagree? Why?
- Smoking is a disgusting and dirty habit.
- People shouldn't smoke inside buildings. All smokers should smoke outside.
- Only weak people can't quit smoking.
- Because tobacco is a drug, it should be made illegal.
- I want to smoke a cigarette now!
Fragments: Remember how the fragments were used, and complete the sentence from today's article.
- Anyone who has tried to quit understands...
- This means that most smokers must...
- Participants of the experiment received...
- People wondered if...
post-Comprehension: Talk about the following questions in pairs/groups. Remember to support your answers!
- What do you think about smoking and smokers? Please explain.
- What is the general opinion about smoking and smokers in your country?
- Do you think it's fair that smokers at GE will be paid to quit? Why/not?
- Would a similar program be successful in your company or in your country?
- How does this program differ from companies paying bonuses to employees?
Google Search: Type "smoking" into Google. Look at the websites, and/or read additional articles on this topic. Discuss or write an essay about your findings.
