The illness that went around the whole world — and was never really Spanish.
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These are the new words for the Spanish flu. Match each word (1–8) to its meaning (A–H). Say your answers out loud — "I think 1 is D" — then check.
1 = D (an illness) · 2 = B (a virus) · 3 = G (to spread) · 4 = A (a soldier)
5 = E (a hospital) · 6 = H (a mask) · 7 = C (to hide news) · 8 = F (to recover)
Read each part. Then try the questions from memory, and talk about the last one.
In 1918, the world was tired. The First World War had gone on for almost four years. Millions of soldiers lived close together in army camps and in long holes in the ground called trenches. They were tired, and there was very little space. This was the perfect place for a new illness to spread.
One of the first big outbreaks was at an army camp in Kansas, in the United States, in March 1918. Then soldiers carried the virus across the sea to Europe. Soon it spread to many countries. This first wave was not very strong, and most people got better.
But the illness got a strange name: "the Spanish flu". This was not fair, because it did not start in Spain. The countries at war hid the bad news, because they did not want people to feel afraid. Spain was not in the war, so Spanish newspapers wrote about the illness freely. People read the news from Spain and thought the illness came from there. So Spain got the blame for telling the truth.
1. Why did the illness spread so easily among the soldiers in 1918?
2. Why was the illness called "the Spanish flu" if it did not start in Spain?
1. Millions of soldiers lived close together in camps and trenches, tired and with very little space — a perfect place for an illness to pass from person to person.
2. The countries at war hid the news. Spain was not in the war and wrote about the illness freely, so people thought it came from Spain.
In the autumn of 1918, the illness came back, and now it was much worse. The virus had changed, and this second wave was the big killer. It worked very fast. Some people were well in the morning and dead by night. Their lungs filled with liquid, and they could not breathe.
The strangest thing was who died. Normal flu is most dangerous for very old people and very young children. This flu killed them too — but it also killed strong, healthy young adults, people who were about twenty to forty years old. Many soldiers who were fit enough to fight in the war died from the flu.
Hospitals everywhere had too many sick people. There were not enough beds, not enough nurses, and not enough doctors. Almost every country in the world was hit. The illness reached big cities and small islands far away. No one was safe, and for a few terrible months the whole world was afraid.
1. Why was the second wave in autumn 1918 worse than the first?
2. Who did this flu kill that normal flu usually does not?
1. The virus had changed and became much stronger. It killed very fast, and hospitals had too many sick people and not enough beds, nurses or doctors.
2. It killed strong, healthy young adults (about twenty to forty years old), not only the very old and very young.
There was no medicine and no vaccine to stop the flu. So people used simple ways to stay safe. Cities asked people to wear masks. They closed schools, churches and theatres. They told people not to meet in big groups. Some towns kept sick people away from everyone else. These things helped a little, but often they came too late.
A third, smaller wave came in 1919. Then, in 1920, the flu slowly stopped. No one beat it. It stopped because so many people had already had it. Some had died, and others got better and could not catch it again. So the virus could not find new people to make ill.
The numbers are very big. About one third of all the people on Earth — maybe 500 million — caught the flu. Between 50 million and 100 million people died. That is more than all the people who died in the First World War. But for many years, almost no one talked about it. A war had heroes and a clear story, but an illness did not. The sad world wanted to look forward and forget.
1. Why did the flu finally stop, if there was no medicine?
2. Why did people not talk about the Spanish flu for many years?
1. So many people had already had the flu — some died and others got better and could not catch it again — so the virus could not find new people to make ill.
2. An illness did not have heroes and a clear story like a war. The sad world wanted to look forward and forget, so there were few monuments and little in the history books.
This story is about big numbers — the flu touched everyone and reached every country. These small words help you say how many. They are easy to mix up, so look at the noun after them.
Look at the noun after the gap. Which word fits?
1. country in the world was hit by the flu.
2. one was safe from the illness.
3. the hospitals were full of sick people.
4. towns closed their schools, but others did not.
1. Every (every + one country — singular)
2. No ("No one was safe" = not any person)
3. All (all + the hospitals — plural)
4. Some (some = not all of them)
Look at the word before the gap. Do you need a singular verb or a plural verb?
1. Every soldier tired.
2. All the beds full.
3. Each wave different.
4. Some newspapers free to write the truth.
1. was (every + singular verb)
2. were (all + plural noun → plural verb)
3. was (each + singular verb)
4. were (some + plural noun → plural verb)
There is a real podcast about the Spanish flu. It is for native speakers, so it is fast and quite difficult — that is normal! You do not need to understand every word.
From the Noiser podcast network. About 50 minutes. It plays on the Noiser site, or search "Short History Of The Spanish Flu" on Spotify.
Play on Noiser →Prefer Spotify? Open the show and find the Spanish Flu episode.
Do all three tasks out loud. Use the timer to keep talking.
Tell the story of the Spanish flu in your own words. Use these steps to help you: a tired world in 1918 and the war → the first wave and the wrong "Spanish" name → the strong second wave and who it killed → masks, closed schools, and the slow end → the big numbers, and how the world forgot.
Try to use some of the key words (illness, virus, spread, soldier, hospital, mask, recover), and the small words every, all, some, no, each.
The countries at war hid the bad news. Spain told the truth, and got the blame for it. Do you think a government should ever hide bad news to keep people calm? Or is it always better to tell the truth? Say what you think and why.
Tell a story of your own. It can be about an illness, a big event, or a time when everyone was worried together. Use the small words to say how many people it touched: every, all, some, no, each.
Not sure what to talk about? Choose one: