Tag Archives: newspaper

The #1 …..(authentic material in ELT)

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Number One** Not your ordinary, endless list – just what’s number 1. Get the full eBook

The Local Newspaper

I’m a big believer in the need and importance of both using authentic materials and current events in our classrooms.  Of all the authentic materials available, I really think the local newspaper an incredible resource at our fingertips (though, strictly speaking, a native speaker is really the #1 authentic material!). Even if in a foreign context, the internet allows you to download English newspapers for use in the classroom. See my blog post here about using “The Metro”‘s pdfs.
The newspaper combines so much that could be used, here’s a list off the top of my head to get some sparks flying in your syllabus development.
1.  Scanning for the main idea. The teacher asks a question and the students scan the newspaper to be the first to get the answer.
2.  Headline matching. Cut out headlines and articles. Glue on one page and photocopy. Students have to read and match correctly.
3.  The weather map. Put the prompt – “what’s the weather like in ….” on the board. Students ask/answer using the map with their group/pair.You can do the same with the stock exchange, foreign exchange, sports scores and other parts of the paper.
4.  The advice column. Students read the question/letter and give their own advice. Later, read what Ann Landers or the advice columnist suggested.
5.  Comics. Read the comics. Cut out and whiteout. Students then write their own content into the bubbles.
6.  Debate. Read an editorial together on a “hot” issue. Divide the class into two and they form arguments and then debate their side.
7.  5ws.  Students read an article and have to answer the 5Ws and present for the class. A great way to introduce journalism and short article writing.
8.  Horoscopes. Students read each others horoscopes. Did they come true?
9.  The Classifieds.  A biggee. Can be used in a multitude of ways. One way I’ve used them is to list items you want to buy. Students search for them and report back to you.  Another way is to give them a budget and have them find an apartment that is appropriate.

Using free “subway” newspapers in our classes

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Today, I’m in Vancouver and gorging on newspapers and English reading. One thing I read was the Metro newspaper and I got to thinking of times I’ve used it in my own teaching.

The Metro newspaper is a real newspaper, an authentic material (and read my comprehensive post on authentic materials in the EFL Classroom for more ideas) that teachers all over the world can use in their teaching. It is now available in a nice PDF version. Use the US. or Canadian versions for English.  Just open the issuu flash ebook and select “download pdf” . You can even select specific pages and not the whole paper (in most cases).   Here’s an example from today’s Toronto paper. metronewsexample
The Metro is a subway/transit magazine. As such, it is written in very simple English. Newspapers traditionally have been very hard to use in the English as a second language classroom. Too idiomatic, too filled with colloquialisms and local language and flavor. The Metro is different and very useable in our classrooms!
In my own teaching, I’d always bring in a stack for the classroom each day. Mostly because I really believe it our duty and not just the duty of a social science teacher – to involve our students in the world around us (see this presentation – The Top 10 Reasons to use Current Events in the Classroom as my argument). It is important to get students aware of the world outside their own social circle. My students always used these newspapers informally and now teachers all over the world can use the Metro in their own classrooms.
Here is today’s PDF version for Toronto as an example. (just click the issue and then the download icon at the top)  Lots of ways you might use it. Here are some:
1. D.E.A.R. – Drop Everything And Read sessions. Print and give articles/pages to student to read for 5 minutes of self sustained reading.
2. Read and Tell: Students read one article and then jigsaw into groups and share what they read.
3. 5 Ws. Students read an article and find the 5 Ws of it. Then share their reporting with the class.
4. As a daily start to the day/lesson. What’s the top story? Read together.
5. Horoscopes/ads/Advice/Recipes: use these as the basis of lessons in your class or activities.
So much more! Now, what was once only available to ESL teachers, is now available to EFL teachers – all due to the power of technology and all free!

Making an online Class Newspaper

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I’m a BIG HUGE CRAZY fan of the power of RSS and aggregation. If you don’t know what RSS or "real simple syndication" is – watch this cool Common Craft video.
 
RSS basically brings things from around the web to you. I’ve used it extensively and soon will have a new creation for English teaching jobs that will revolutionize our job hunting. But for teaching, I’ve used Pageflakes and also Addictomatic. But both are getting rather old and have also been going down the profit road – lots of ads and clunky! (you might also be interested in this "Simple Pie" rss to pdf newspaper maker I came up with.)
 
Recently though, two new "newspaper" aggregation tools have been taking things up a knotch. Paper.il and Newscred. Both have their merits but in particular, for classroom use – I think Newscred is phenomenal.
 
Paper.li allows you to use your twitter account to quickly and simply make a newspaper. That’s its attraction – how simple it is. Just go there and put in your twitter username. Then you have a newspaper. Here’s mine!
 
Newscred is much "fuller" but still simple. Here is the one I made in under 3 minutes! It offers you attractive designs and you simply search for topics and then create a newspaper. Really simple and would be perfect to introduce students to issues/topics that you are studying at the moment in class. Even videos. You can add an rss of any site – say for example a youtube search term and Bingo – it is on your class newspaper. (but it is tricky to make an RSS from youtube – go here or here for a playlist, Makes it simple!