Subscribe
← Lesson map
Bright Lives English · Teacher sheet

Edward Jenner: They Said Milkmaids Never Caught Smallpox… So a Doctor Tested It

Level B2 (Upper intermediate) · Video 5:22 · 45-minute lesson

brightlivesenglish.com/lessons/edward-jenner-first-vaccine/

45-minute lesson plan

TimeStageWhat to do
0–3′Warm-upAsk the class: “Which vaccines have you had? Do you know any old sayings or home remedies from your grandparents? Do you think they are true?” Let a few students answer.
3–10′WordsPre-teach the 5 words with the flashcards: smallpox, contagious, milkmaid, immune, eradicate. Say each word, show the meaning, and ask for a quick example.
10–17′VideoPlay the video (5:22). Students follow the transcript. Play it a second time if needed.
17–25′ComprehensionWorksheet C (or the online Story Challenge): check answers together. Ask “How do you know?”
25–33′GrammarIt was said that … / be thought to + verb: passive reporting: to say what people said or believed, without saying who. Show “Milkmaids were thought to be immune.”, then do worksheet E together.
33–40′WorksheetStudents do worksheet A, B and D alone or in pairs. Check with the answer key.
40–45′SpeakingIn pairs: “Jenner tested his idea on an eight-year-old boy. Today, this would not be allowed without many rules and checks. Was Jenner brave, or was he wrong to take the risk? What do you think?”

Homework: students finish the lesson online (flashcards + Story Challenge). With your class link, you see who finished.

Words and grammar

  • smallpox (noun): a very dangerous disease that caused fever and spots on the skin, and often death. “Smallpox killed about 400,000 Europeans a year.”
  • contagious (adjective): passing easily from one person to another. “Smallpox was terribly contagious.”
  • milkmaid (noun): (in the past) a young woman whose job was milking cows by hand. “The milkmaid had cowpox sores on her hand.”
  • immune (adjective): protected, so that you cannot catch a disease (immune to something). “After cowpox, the boy was immune to smallpox.”
  • eradicate (verb): to destroy something completely so it never comes back (past: eradicated). “In 1980, smallpox was declared eradicated.”

Grammar: It was said that … / be thought to + verb — passive reporting: to say what people said or believed, without saying who. “Milkmaids were thought to be immune.”

Discussion questions

  1. Jenner tested his idea on an eight-year-old boy. Today, this would not be allowed without many rules and checks. Was Jenner brave, or was he wrong to take the risk? What do you think?
  2. What was the hardest moment in Edward Jenner's story? What did Edward Jenner do?
  3. Make two sentences about your own life with “It was said that … / be thought to + verb”. (From the story: “Milkmaids were thought to be immune.”)

Student worksheet

Name: Date:

A Match the words to their meanings

  1. smallpox (noun)
  2. contagious (adjective)
  3. milkmaid (noun)
  4. immune (adjective)
  5. eradicate (verb)
  6. cowpox (noun)
  7. vaccination (noun)
  8. inoculation (noun)
  1. giving someone a vaccine to protect them from a disease
  2. a mild disease of cows that people can catch from them
  3. a very dangerous disease that caused fever and spots on the skin, and often death
  4. putting a small amount of a disease into the body (through a cut) so the body learns to fight it
  5. (in the past) a young woman whose job was milking cows by hand
  6. passing easily from one person to another
  7. to destroy something completely so it never comes back (past: eradicated)
  8. protected, so that you cannot catch a disease (immune to something)

B Complete the sentences from the story

Smallpox · milkmaid · inoculation · Vaccination · contagious · cowpox · eradicated · immune

  1. killed about 400,000 Europeans a year.
  2. After cowpox, the boy was to smallpox.
  3. Smallpox was terribly .
  4. The had cowpox sores on her hand.
  5. Milkmaids often caught from the cows.
  6. Before Jenner, doctors used a risky with real smallpox.
  7. In 1980, smallpox was declared .
  8. spread around the world.

C Did you understand?

  1. Historians are sure that a milkmaid told young Jenner about cowpox.True / False
  2. What advice did John Hunter give Jenner?
    1. Never trust country people.
    2. Stay in London.
    3. Why think? Why not try the experiment?
    4. Study cows, not people.
  3. Who was James Phipps?
    1. A famous surgeon in London
    2. The eight-year-old son of Jenner's gardener
    3. A milkmaid's brother
    4. A member of the Royal Society
  4. After the real test with smallpox, James became very ill.True / False
  5. Where does the word 'vaccine' come from?
    1. the name of a milkmaid
    2. a town in France
    3. the Greek word for needle
    4. vacca, the Latin word for cow
  6. The Royal Society published Jenner's report at once.True / False

D Put the words in order

  1. be / Milkmaids / immune / thought / were / to

E Grammar: It was said that … / be thought to + verb

We use it for passive reporting: to say what people said or believed, without saying who. It was said that milkmaids rarely caught smallpox. · Milkmaids were thought to be immune. · It is said that Napoleon freed two prisoners.

Example from the story: Milkmaids were thought to be immune.

  1. It was that milkmaids never caught smallpox. (said / saying / say)
  2. Milkmaids were thought immune. (to be / being / be)
  3. Napoleon is said admired Jenner. (to have / having / to)

F Your turn

Retell Edward Jenner's story in 5–6 sentences. Use at least three words from exercise A.

Answer key

A. 1c 2f 3e 4h 5g 6b 7a 8d

B. 1 Smallpox · 2 immune · 3 contagious · 4 milkmaid · 5 cowpox · 6 inoculation · 7 eradicated · 8 Vaccination

C. 1 False · 2 c · 3 b · 4 False · 5 d · 6 False

D. 1 Milkmaids were thought to be immune.

E. 1 said · 2 to be · 3 to have

Transcript

In the 1700s, smallpox killed hundreds of thousands of Europeans.

Country people believed that milkmaids were safe from it.

A doctor tested this on an eight-year-old boy.

Would the boy catch the disease?

This is the story of Edward Jenner.

Welcome to brightlivesenglish.com, where we teach real English using real-life stories.

Smallpox. Smallpox was a very dangerous disease.

It caused a high fever and spots all over the body, and it often killed.

Smallpox killed about 400,000 Europeans a year.

Contagious. A contagious disease passes easily from one person to another.

Smallpox was terribly contagious.

Milkmaid. A milkmaid was a young woman whose job was milking cows by hand.

The milkmaid had cowpox sores on her hand.

Immune. If you are immune to a disease, you cannot catch it.

After cowpox, the boy was immune to smallpox.

Eradicate. To eradicate something means to destroy it completely, so that it never comes back.

The past is eradicated.

In 1980, smallpox was declared eradicated.

Now, one pattern: passive reporting.

We use it to say what people believed, without saying who believed it.

People thought that milkmaids were immune.

Milkmaids were thought to be immune.

Ready? Let's begin.

Edward Jenner was born in a small English town in 1749.

He lost both parents when he was about five, and his older brother and sisters looked after him.

At about thirteen, he began training with a country surgeon.

In the countryside, it was said that milkmaids rarely caught smallpox.

They often caught cowpox, a mild disease from cows.

Milkmaids were thought to be immune.

A famous story says a milkmaid told young Jenner this.

But historians believe that story was invented later.

At twenty-one, he went to London to study with a great surgeon, John Hunter.

Hunter gave him advice he never forgot: "Why think? Why not try the experiment?"

Then Jenner went home to work as a country doctor.

He was curious about everything.

He studied cuckoos, the birds that leave their eggs in other birds' nests.

In 1784, he even sent a balloon up into the sky.

But one question stayed with him.

Was the milkmaids' story true?

In May 1796, a young milkmaid, Sarah Nelmes, came to him with cowpox sores on her hand.

She had caught it from a cow called Blossom.

This was his chance.

But to test the idea, he needed someone who had never had smallpox.

On 14 May, he made two small cuts in the arm of James Phipps, his gardener's eight-year-old son.

He put in a little cowpox from Sarah's hand.

James felt a bit ill for a few days.

Then he was fine.

In July came the real test.

Jenner put smallpox itself into the boy's arm.

Then he waited.

One day. Two days. A week. Nothing happened. James did not get smallpox.

He was immune.

Jenner sent his report to the Royal Society, the most famous group of scientists in Britain.

They rejected it.

So in 1798, he published it himself.

Later, the new method was called vaccination, from vacca, the Latin word for cow.

Many people were afraid.

One cartoon showed vaccinated people growing cow heads!

But vaccination spread around the world.

It is said that Napoleon freed two English prisoners because Jenner asked him to.

In a little hut in his garden, Jenner vaccinated poor people for free.

Jenner died in 1823.

Smallpox, so deadly and so contagious, was once thought to be unbeatable.

But in 1980, the World Health Organization declared it eradicated.

It is still the only human disease ever wiped out completely.

And it all started with a milkmaid's story.

Let's review. Smallpox killed about 400,000 Europeans a year.

Smallpox was terribly contagious.

The milkmaid had cowpox sores on her hand.

After cowpox, the boy was immune to smallpox.

In 1980, smallpox was declared eradicated.

And remember: milkmaids were thought to be immune.

Edward Jenner's story teaches us: don't just laugh at an old idea or believe it, test it.

Want more interesting lessons?

Go to brightlivesenglish.com.

Please subscribe and learn with us.