Describing How You Feel to the Doctor: A Guide for ESL Students

When you go to the doctor, you need to be able to tell him or her what the problem is that you have. To be able to do this, it is important that you know some vocabulary that can help you and the doctor figure out how to make your problem better. Here are some ideas on what to focus on as you learn about expressing yourself to your doctor.

First, you can spend some time learning different parts of the body. This will help the doctor at least know what part of you needs help. You can point to the part of your body that hurts, but if you know the exact word or words, you can help your doctor help you. You should spend time learning the outside parts of your body like your head, arm, knee, elbow, chin, etc., as well as parts on the inside, like stomach, muscle, bone, vertebrae, etc.

Here are a few resources to learn about body parts in English:

If you want some detailed, interactive information about the human body, try this site. It is available in English and Spanish, and it tells what is going on inside the human body, too.

This site has some interactive games and activities for learning about the different parts of the human body. It's great for both adults and kids.

This site has a lot of different health information, and there are a couple of good worksheets for learning parts of the body.

Next, you will want to be able to describe what is wrong. Are you vomiting? Do you have a fever? Do you have a bad cut? Did you sprain your ankle? This can help your doctor connect what part of your body is hurting to the problem that it has. This speeds up the process of healing. Here are a few resources to help you learn some great words and phrases to describe what is going on with your doctor:

This site is an entire lesson on identifying illnesses. It has some helpful vocabulary as well as some good reading and writing exercises. it's mainly about lead poisoning, but it has other good, general information to help you.

This is the same site as before with the health information, but it has some good information on helping you identify and describe what the problem is to your doctor.

This site has some vocabulary and pictures related to being ill. The last couple of pages don't seem to relate to the rest of the lesson, so focus on the information in the first few pages.

By using these resources and practicing your English with someone, you can be sure that your ability to describe what is going on with you or even your child to your doctor will improve. The Internet has lots of great helps for you to learn more about the human body and going to the doctor. Use them, and go to the doctor with confidence!