Starving cancer with fat — Video-based ESL lesson

This 90-minute intermediate-to-advanced ESL lesson centers on the YouTube video, “Scientists Just Discovered How to Starve Cancer”. Learners explore the transcript to uncover the Warburg effect, cancer’s sugar addiction, and a breakthrough therapy using engineered beige fat organoids to block tumors’ fuel.

Level: Intermediate (B1–B2) to advanced
Duration: 90 minutes
Materials:

• Whiteboard/markers.
• Transcript (printed or digital).
• Audio/video clip (optional for listening).
• Vocabulary flashcards.

Objectives

• Understand key ideas from a science video transcript (Scientists Just Discovered How to Starve Cancer) about cancer metabolism and new fat-based therapy. Click “more” on the YouTube video and scroll down, and click on “show transcript”. Copy and paste.
• Learn and use 20 science-related vocabulary words (10 from the transcript + 10 expanded).
• Practice listening for gist and detail, reading comprehension, and discussion.
• Improve pronunciation of technical terms.

Warm-up (10 min)

Activity: Quick quiz
Ask students: “What do you know about cancer? Can we ‘starve’ it like a hungry animal?”
Elicit ideas; write 3–4 on the board (e.g., chemotherapy, diet).
Tell them today’s lesson comes from a YouTube science video.

Vocabulary introduction

• Insidious – Slowly harmful in a hidden way.
  Cancer has been thought of as an insidious disease.
• Insatiable – Always wanting more; never satisfied.
  An insatiable force is consuming the body.
• Tumor – Abnormal mass of cells.
  Applying raw meat to tumor areas.
• Glycolysis – A process where glucose is broken down without oxygen.
  Stopping at glycolysis, producing just 2 ATP.
• Mitochondria = Cell parts that produce energy.
  Shuttled into the mitochondria.
• Metabolism – Chemical processes that keep the body alive.
  Cancer’s voracious metabolism can make it spread quickly.
• Hypoxic – Lacking oxygen.
  The local tissue becomes hypoxic.
• Angiogenesis – Formation of new blood vessels.
  A process called angiogenesis.
• Thermogenesis – Heat production in the body.
  Cold enough to activate thermogenesis.
• Organoid – Tiny lab-grown tissue that acts like a real organ.
  Turned into fat organoids.

Vocabulary for extension

• Chemotherapy – Drug treatment to kill cancer cells.
• Radiation – High-energy rays used to destroy tumors.
• Ketogenic – High-fat, low-carb diet.
• Pseudoscience – False claims presented as science.
• Lactic acid – Waste product from glycolysis.
• ATP – Energy molecule in cells.
• CRISPR – Gene-editing tool.
• Beige fat – Engineered fat that burns energy like brown fat.
• Liposuction -Surgical fat removal.
• Immunotherapy – Treatment using the immune system.

Activity

Pair matching – students match word to definition; check together.Listening/reading (20 min)

Task 1
Give transcript sections (Warburg effect, brown fat, beige fat organoids).
Play audio (or read aloud).
Students answer:

1. What did Otto Warburg discover?
2. Why did cold help mice fight tumors?
3. What is the new “weapon” against cancer?

Task 2
True/False (correct the false ones).

1. Cancer cells use oxygen efficiently. (F)
2. Brown fat burns glucose to make heat. (T)
3. Beige fat needs cold to work. (F)

Speaking practice (20 min)

Discussion in pairs/groups.

1. Do you think diet can cure cancer? Why/why not?
2. Would you try living in cold to fight cancer?
3. What is the most surprising idea in the video?

Role-play: One student is a doctor explaining beige fat therapy; the partner is a patient asking questions.Writing (15 min)Task: Write a 5–7 sentence summary of the video for a friend.
Use at least 5 vocabulary words.

Wrap-up & homework (10 min)

Review

Quick oral quiz – define 3 random words.

Homework

1. Find one more fact about the Warburg effect online; share next class.
2. Record yourself reading 5 vocab sentences; focus on stress.