We are three members of the Student Action Health Team at Operation Bootstrap in Lynn, Massachusetts. We all have been students at Bootstrap in the ESOL classes and members of the Health Team for one to four years, working with facilitator Marcia Hohn.

Vanda Ivanenko
I came from Ukraine in 1996. I started ESOL in February 1996 and joined the Health Team in March of 1997. The three hours of meetings per week and presentations we made in classes, at conferences, and at health fairs helped me to improve my English to learn about health and not be afraid to speak. I am now the ESOL counselor at Operation Bootstrap.

Saiyi Diaz
I came from Cuba in 1997 and became a student at Bootstrap in September of 1998 and a Health Team member in January of 1999. The Health Team helped me with my English, increased my vocabulary about health, and helped me get my job at the Lynn Community Health Center as an enrollment coordinator.

Olivera Tarason
I came from Kosovo in March of 1999 and started at Bootstrap in April of the same year. I became a Health Team member in September of 1999. The Health Team helped me communicate better, improve grammar, helped me work with customers at Sir Speedy Printing, and learn about health in English.

Marcia Drew Hohn
I have worked with the Student Health Team at Bootstrap since 1994. Since 1994, we have learned and taught other students and teachers about many health topics-cancer, violence, healthy eating, exercise, child street safety, and stress-topics that the Bootstrap students chose each year by a community vote. We would like to tell you about how we did the stress program.

How We Learned About Stress Ourselves
We learned about stress by watching videos about stress, searching the Internet, discussing real-life situations, and from brochures from health centers.

Deciding What and How to Teach
We wanted to show real-life situations that cause stress and then explain the physical and emotional results. We did this through dramas. For example, we developed a drama called "Busy Mother--Crying Baby" where a mother had everyone and everything demanded of her time: the crying baby, the ringing telephone, the hungry husband, the impatient teenager, and the pot boiling over, causing her great stress. The mother described her stress symptoms: stomach hurts, headaches, blood pressure up, tired, and breathing fast. Then we had the class divide into small groups where each person got to talk about what caused them stress. We used many different dramas about what caused them stress. We used many different dramas about stress in students' lives, such as the stress of a new country, a new language, and a new culture, and not having enough money and too many bills. We came back to each class a second time to discuss how to relieve stress. In this session, we went back into small groups and students shared how they relieved their stress. We created "work webs" to share among the small groups. Then we taught them three new ways to relieve stress -- acupressure, stretching exercises, and self massage -- done with gentle music and scented candlelight.

Why We Do It This Way
Drama is a good way to teach about health because it's easier for ESOL students to understand, it's fun, and it's a safe way to approach hard health topics, like cancer and violence. We use multiple sessions (two-to-three sessions) because there needs to be time to ask questions and discuss information and its relationship to your own life. We use small groups because it gives students a chance to talk; it relates the health topic to students real-life experience; it gives students a chance to practice new vocabulary and participate in discussion. We teach acupressure, stretching, and self massage because it is important to learn something new; it is important to do something physical. We ask the teachers to cooperate by going over new vocabulary words before we come in. (We reinforce this by having each new vocabulary word on brightly colored poster board when we come to each of the classes.) Doing follow-up activities in class about the health topic is important. For example, the ESOL I teachers had the students cut out magazine pictures about stress and create collages.

Reducing Stress
We thought our stress program was very successful because stress is a common health problem; everyone had a stress story and different cultural methods for relieving stress; it is important to know how to relieve stress in simple ways. Also, students asked us to repeat our presentations about stress and how to relieve it; and students asked about resources for walking, swimming, counseling, mediation, gyms, and yoga classes. Students also asked where they could get information about other health topics. This year we have three new members whom we will be mentoring. The Bootstrap students are in the process of selecting this year's health topic. We look forward to developing a teaching and learning program about this new health topic. We also are looking forward to working with the Bootstrap teachers on "Learning to Learn About Health." Also, we have fun working as a team; we are friends with each other, and we explain words and help each other.

Vanda Ivanenko, Saiyi Diaz, and Olivera Tarason are members of the Student Action Health Team. Saiyi can be reached at saiyidiaz@hotmail.com; Vanda can be reached at vivanenko@hotmail.com; Olivera can be reached at oliver_tarason@hotmail.com; Marcia Hohn is the director of Northeast SABES. She can be reached at mdrewhohn@aol.com