Flu season in full swing

Hi everyone,

Inspiration for this video came, as you probably know, from these miserable days at home in the company of the flu. I also love the expression "in full swing": we say that something is in full swing when it's at its highest level of activity. I prefer to use it for more positive events, like a party: We were a bit late, and when we arrived the party was in full swing.

This video is from last year, I think, when the flu season was in full swing: December/January. I propse two activities to be carried out with it: 1) a gap-fill; 2) finding out about the tone and intention of the text by listing adjectives: you know a newsreader is being dramatic when he uses the word "alarming" too often!

The main activity is this gap-fill in which I have highlighted the collocations in bold.

Flu season is (1) ____________ all across the country, with states in the North (2)____________ very hard.

Swine flu is making (3) ________________.

What’s (4) ________ about the H1N1 that’s a little more concerning is that it has additional symptoms: not only the fever, (5) __________, cough and congestion, but it can also have stomach-upset-like: (6) _________, vomiting and diarrhea. This makes one more (7) _____________ to dehydration.

In terms of prevention, the best thing to do is to get (8)_________________, but bear in mind it takes two weeks to (9) _____________.

It has been found that some bacteria can live longer on certain surfaces than (10) ________________. These bacteria can cause a strep throat, as well as (11)_____________ infections, sinus infections and even (12) ________________.

It was thought that once they touched a surface, they would die in (13) _______________ hours. It has now been found that they can survive longer.

A good prevention is not to touch your face, including (14) _____________ your eyes and (15) __________ your ___________.

You must also cover your mouth when you (16) ___________ or you (17) ____________.

Go for it! The key is available here.