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VISA CONTROL: Your country has imposed the strictest immigration controls. The central figure in the article has applied for a permanent residence visa in your country. In pairs / groups, create the visa questionnaire. Take turns in role playing the character from the article and the immigration officer.
AT THE DOCTOR’S: In pairs / groups, students write down a list of medical questions a doctor would typically ask. Students role play a consultation between the character in the article and the doctor.
THE ARTICLE COUCH: Students take it in turns to be on the counselor’s couch. They have to report to the counselor everything they remember or know about the article.
TWO ROLES: If the teacher has little time to prepare, just create two roles. The other students have the simple role: “Agree with everything the person on your left says; disagree with everything the person on your right says”.
TAG ROLE PLAY: The class observes one role play. The participants have their “team” behind them. If one of the participating members seems to have run dry of ideas, they are tagged and replaced by a member of their team.
TEXT INTERVIEWS: Students role play the characters in the text. They interview each other about the story for their own private newspapers. Students playing the same character must sit down together and think of the questions to ask the other characters.
INTRODUCED IDEAS: The teacher prepares additional information to be given to role players at appropriate times. This information could be quickly scribbled down and given to players to revive a role or change the direction of the role play.
CELEBRITY STUFF: In improvised role plays, students pretend to be friends of the characters in the text. They show other students around the lives of the character, showing them the car, house, pet, wardrobe etc of that character. Their partner(s) must analyze these things and decide what it says about the characters.
FORTUNE TELLERS: Students play fortune tellers. Their “clients” are the characters in the story. Before the fortune telling, students must think of as many questions as they can to ask. After they ask their questions, speculate on what the real answers to those questions might be.
VARYING LOCATIONS: Do the same role play several times, each time changing the location to change the dynamics and participants of the role play (i.e. a no-smoking role play could take place initially in a bar, then a hospital ward, then the headquarters of a tobacco company).
ROLE SWAPS: Once the roles and arguments have been established (after the role play has been under way a while) the teacher switches everyone’s roles. Participants must continue in their new roles.
REHEARSAL: Students do the role play initially just for practice. Go back to their teams to “fine tune” their arguments and do the role play proper.
PATENT PENDING: If the story is about a new product or discovery, students pretend to work for a patent office. They have to rigorously assess the product and put it through its paces by creating a set of tests. Change partners. Pretend to be patent workers and inventors. Students A ask the questions, Students B defend the product.
ROLE PLAY COURT CASES: Conduct the role play in a court. Additional characters are the judges.
NATURE WON’T BE HAPPY: In pairs / groups, think of five reasons why nature would not be happy about the contents of the news article. Decide on what the fish, trees, animals, etc. might say to the people in the article. Discuss what could be done to rectify the situation. Change partners and share and compare what you discussed. Students role play the animals and things from nature and the people responsible for destroying their world.
NEW PRODUCT COMPLAINTS: For lessons that are about new products or services, students pretend to be customers. They must brainstorm all of the things that could possibly go wrong with the product. Change partners and share and compare their ideas. Part II: Imagine these things have gone wrong. Role play the customers visiting the customer relations department of the manufacturing company.
SMEAR CAMPAIGN: For articles profiling new products, students pretend to be from competitor companies. Students must decide on all the bad things about the product. In a role play, the competitor confronts the manufacturer with the problems. The manufacturer retaliates by defending its product.
VENTURE CAPITALISTS: For articles that feature new products, designs or inventions. Students must think of ideas to raise funds to launch and promote the product. Change partners and share and compare ideas.
“KIDS” ROLE PLAY: Role play the children of the characters in the article. The children must defend and stick up for their parents.
LONG TIME NO SEE ROLE PLAY: Students A pretend they are long-time friends of the main character in the article (Students B). The scenario is that the two friends, who have not met for many years, suddenly bump into each other. They must catch up with all their latest news. They must talk about the past, what it’s like to be president / an actor etc, plus the issue in the news item.
PRESS CONFERENCE ROLE PLAY: All students are at a press conference. They must ask the person giving the press conference (someone from the article) questions from their national perspective.
TOUR OF MY LIFE: Students A pretend to be a person from the article and take Students B on tours of their daily lives, homes, offices, histories etc. Student B must ask questions. After taking turns doing this, change partners and share and compare what you heard.
COMPLAIN TO REPORTER: Students are unhappy with news report. They write down five reasons for their unhappiness. Students change partners and share and compare their ideas. Role play the conversation between the unhappy reader and the reporter (who must stick to his / her guns).
I COULD DO BETTER: For articles that are based on politics, elections, economic policies, etc, students pretend to be opposition politicians who can do everything much better than the politicians in the article. Students take part in a mock election. They have to create their manifestos and say why they could do better. Change partners and give each other feedback on manifestos.

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EXPONENTS TO MOVE FROM ARTICLE TO CONVERSATION: Providing suitable exponents can enable learners to more confidently talk about a text they have in front of them. It is quite natural for anyone armed with a newspaper, magazine or book to want to tell a nearby companion about something they have read. This is a skill learners transfer automatically from their L1s. Students use these exponents to introduce phrases from the article

1. According to this __________ (E.g. “According to this, the price of oil has hit $75 a barrel.”)
2. It says here __________
3. This article says __________
4. You’ll never believe this __________
5. I can’t believe what I’ve just read __________
6. Guess what?

SENTENCE-BY-SENTENCE: Student A has the article and reports the contents to Student B one piece of information at a time using one of the above exponents. Student B must respond appropriately. Students A and B talk about each snippet of information before moving on to the next item. Encourage the use of “What else does it say?” to keep the activity flowing.
PROMPTED QUESTIONS. Student A has the article. Student B has a list of keywords from the article. Student B must ask student A one of the following
exponents / questions:

1. Does the article say anything about __________?
2. Does the article mention anything about __________?
3. What does the article say about __________?
4. Is ___________ mentioned?
5. I heard something about ___________
6. Is there anything there about that __________?

PROMPTED QUESTIONS AND PATTERNED INTERACTION: Learners use the above prompts and questions in the following patterns of interaction. The teacher should write the interaction pattern on the board so learners know what is required of them:

1. Student A: What does it say about __________?
2. Student B: According to this, it says __________
3. Student A: Comment.

Or

1. Student A: What does it say about __________?
2. Student B: According to this, it says __________ + Additional comment / opinion.
3. Student A: Reply.

Or

1. Student A: What does it say about __________?
2. Student B: According to this, it says __________ + Additional comment / opinion + question.
3. Student A: Comment.

Or

1. Student A: What does it say about __________?
2. Student B: According to this, it says __________ + Additional comment / opinion + question.
3. Student A: Answer and comment + question.
4. Student B: Answer and question.
5. Student A: Answer and question.
6. Student B: etc.

It is up to the teacher how many exchanges are required. Quite often the more there are, the more fun it becomes and the more practice the students have. The teacher could challenge pairs to see who can keep the exchanges going the longest.
BECOMING PART OF THE STORY: Student A reads an excerpt from the text. Student B must respond by saying: “Yes, I know. I was there.” The patterned interaction might run as follows:

1. Student A: [Reads a snippet]
2. Student B: Yes, I know. I was there. + [expand]
3. Student A: Question re B’s expansion.
4. Student B: Answer.
5. Student A: Response to answer and then next snippet.

THAT’S NOT ENTIRELY TRUE: Students practice questioning what someone has said about a piece of news. The patterned interaction might run as follows:

1. Student A: Reads a snippet from the text.
2. Student B : Refutes or questions what Student A has just read.

Or

1. Student A: Reads a snippet from the text.
2. Student B : Refutes or questions what Student A has just read and says what is wrong.
3. Student A: Responds by sticking up for what is written in the text.

Or

1. Student A: Reads a snippet from the text.
2. Student B : Refutes or questions what Student A has just read and offers an alternative.
3. Student A: Responds to Student B’s reply.

NATURAL RESPONSES TO HEARING NEWS: Students practice responding to news they’ve just heard. Provide a list or recent or imaginary headlines. Students choose the most appropriate response from those below:

1. No way!
2. Oh my God!
3. Tell me more.
4. Yes. I heard about that.
5. I’m not surprised.
6. What a joke.
7. I can’t believe that.
8. You’re joking?
9. That’s shocking.
10. I’d love to have been there.

BRAINSTORM RESPONSES TO HEARING NEWS: Write a headline on the board. It should be controversial, shocking or funny enough to engage students’ attention. Examples might include – “George W. Bush wins Nobel
Prize” or “UFO kidnaps the Pope” or “The world will end at midnight”. In pairs / groups, students must write as many natural responses as they can think of. Change pairs repeatedly to enable students to share their responses. Students then chat about the headlines.
TEXT CHARTING: Students start with a blank piece of paper. They have to chart the progress of the text according to their feelings. Students change
partners and share and compare what they charted.
SENTENCE DEBATE: Students debate each word pair, phrase or sentence.
ARTICLE FEELINGS TIMELINE: Students discuss their feelings about
working on the article. How did they feel about being told the topic? What did they think of the headline? How do they feel about the subject now?
ARTICLE ASSESSMENT FORM: Students assess the article in terms of its value as teaching material.
MUSICAL ASSOCIATIONS: Students have to assign musical associations to each part of the article – the characters, situation, turns of events, etc. The associations must be related to musical instruments, sounds, degrees of
loudness, etc.
TEXT SOUNDS: Students analyze each sentence of the article and attribute
sounds to the events. Students change partners and share and compare their
ideas.
SEEING IS BELIEVING: List the things from the article it is possible to see, hear, feel, touch, taste and touch. Students talk about them and envisage their current state and condition.
SENTENCE QUIZ: Students must write down one question relating to each sentence of the article. They then ask these questions to their partners. Change partners and repeat. Students then sit with new partners and report
what they found out.
FIVE REASONS WHY I DON’T WANT TO FOLLOW THIS NEWS: Students must think of and write down five reasons why they want to follow this news after the lesson. Students change partners and share and compare their ideas.
INTERESTING THINGS: Students read the article and underline three
interesting things (they could also be happy, sad, worrying, etc. things). They have to report their interesting things to their partner(s). Partner(s) must respond with (e.g.) the following:

1. Yes, that’s interesting, but not as interesting as …
2. Yes, I also thought that was interesting, but I didn’t underline it.
3. Why did you think that was interesting?
4. Was that the most interesting of the things you underlined?
5. I didn’t think that was as interesting as …

KEYWORD GRAMMAR PRACTICE: Use one structure – Students use the words / expressions from the text in practicing that structure and then asking or talking about what they wrote. Examples:

1. The last time I __________ was ____________.
2. I haven’t ____________ for _______________.
3. I think he’s as ____________ as _______________.

TEXT / THEME QUESTIONS: Students use the words / expressions from the text to ask questions to their partners about their own lives. The questions do not need to be related to the theme of the article. Change partners and repeat.
THIS WORD REMINDS ME: Students are given a worksheet containing the exponents –

1. What part of speech is this word?
2. How do you pronounce it?
3. How do you spell it?
4. How would you remember this word?
5. What’s this word in your language?
6. Can you think of any word partners?
7. Does this remind you of any other words?
8. Do you like it?
9. etc.

Students ask their partner(s) about the words in the text.
CATEGORY USES OF WORDS: Students talk about how different words from the text could be used in different news categories (sport, business,
entertainment, economy, etc.).
MY LIFE: Students make sentences using words from the text to talk about their everyday lives. Students could write down a certain number of sentences using the words before any conversation takes place.
HOW TO REMEMBER / TEACH THIS WORD: Students give each other
advice on how to remember words or phrases from the text.

GAP FILL: A traditional exercise in which students reinsert words that have been taken out of a text:

Put the words on the bottom into the correct gaps.

Landmine elephant gets new foot

1. EXAMPLE: New developments in ________ limbs means a Thai elephant can now stop ________ on three feet. Motala, 44, hit the world’s headlines in 1999 when she stepped on a landmine while working at a logging camp on the Thai- Myanmar ________. The explosion mutilated her front left
   foot, which veterinarians had to ________. The surgery left Motala with one leg shorter than the others and she was no longer able to work. For the past six years she has been cared for at a hospital ________ by the charity Friends of the Asian Elephant. A staff member reports she was a ________ patient and was rarely cantankerous or moody during her period of ________. Apparently, she quickly came to ________ with the loss of her foot and got on with life as usual.

1. recuperation
2. artificial
3. border
4. model
5. run
6. hobbling
7. terms
8. amputate

PHRASE FILL: Take phrases out of the article. Students have to put the phrases back into the text.
PAIRED GAP FILL: A regular gap fill except students choose from pairs of words to insert into the text. The pairs can be false friends, homophones, homographs, words to test general knowledge, etc. or be totally unrelated.
TRUE/FALSE: Students check the answers to the True/False activity. Talk about the answers and any disagreements there might be. Students talk about the choices in the true/false activity and whether it was a useful activity.

SYNONYMS CHECK: Students check the answers to the synonym matching activity. Talk about the answers and any disagreements there might be. Students talk about the activity and whether it was a useful activity. They also talk about the synonyms and their usefulness.
ANTONYM MATCHING: Write ten antonyms of words in the article. Students have to find the words in the article that match the antonyms.
PHRASE MATCH CHECK: Students have to check their answers to the phrase match exercise.
QUESTIONS: Students have to make notes for questions they would like to ask their partners or the class about the article. Ask students to circle the words as they read/listen.
VOCABULARY: Students circle words that they do not know the meaning of. They will find out more about the words after the exercise by showing the words to their partners and trying to guess the meanings in context or by breaking the word down into prefixes, suffixes and roots.
INTERESTING WORDS: Students circle words they think are interesting that they would like to talk about after the reading / listening.
PRONUNCIATION: Students circle the words they would like to know the pronunciation of.
SYNONYM ARTICLE FILL: Students are given groups of synonyms and have to add one more from the article that fits into each of the groups.
BETTER WORDS: Students think of better or alternative words to replace those from the gap fill. Students share and compare their words and discuss the worth of the replacement words.
QUIZ: Students circle three things they would like to write a quiz question on after the reading. After they have written the questions, they pool them and ask each other in groups.
YES, YES, YES: Students circle / underline anything that made them think “yes, yes, yes” or “no, no, no”, things that made them raise their eyebrows, things that made them think “wow”, things they found themselves frowning over, etc. As an alternative, they could simply underline things with which they agreed or disagreed.
THREE POINTS: Students have to remember three points from the article. They tell their partners what the points are after the reading.
ADJECTIVE UNDERLINE: Students underline anything they thought was interesting, worrying, disturbing, worrying, hopeful, etc. – whatever adjectives the teacher deems suitable.
ADJECTIVE MATCH: Teacher writes a number of adjectives on the board. Students must find information in the text corresponding to the adjectives.
QUIZ ANSWERS: Students have to find the answers in the article to a prereading quiz.
MY FEELINGS: Students write quick notes about their feelings as they read the article. They talk about these feelings later.
WHY? Students circle three things about which they want to ask “Why?” after they have read the text.
THAT’S NEW TO ME: Students underline all of the things they didn’t know before. Share these things with students after reading / listening. Talk about whether or not these new pieces of information are worth knowing.
WORD SCRAMBLE: Students have to put words that have been put in the wrong order back into the correct order.

Unscramble the words in the bold parts of the article by putting them back into the correct order.

1. EXAMPLE: Thieves have daring out a carried and audacious bank robbery in Brazil, making off with over 88 million US dollars. The stolen cash a total weighed in at of three point five tons. The gang of robbers tunneled 80 meters into a Brazilian Central Bank branch in the north of the country from a rented house several streets away. the over three months of course, they shored up the tunnel walls with wood and reinforced plastic and installed electric lighting. Neighbors reported about house the suspicious nothing or its occupants, who were supposedly manufacturing artificial turf. They said a truck arrived every day, which was loaded with dozens of large plastic bags and then driven away. They inkling had a tunnel no was being excavated.

CHOOSE THE CORRECT WORD: Students circle which of the two words in italics is correct.

1. EXAMPLE: Actress and pop star Kylie Minogue has been attributed with initiating / initialing an increase in the number of women having breast cancer viewings / screenings in Australia. Ms. Minogue’s widely-publicized breast cancer order / ordeal in May resulted in a 40 per cent increase in mammogram bookings, according to a study by Sydney University’s Professor Simon Chapman. He said there was double the number of first-time screenings for women aged between 40-69. The so-called “Kylie effect” could slash / slush the number of breast-cancer related deaths. Ms. Minogue was diagnosed with cancer in May and underwent surgery to have a bump / lump removed, attracting worldwide attention. She emphasized how critical it was for the cancer to be detected / deterred early.

ODD WORD OUT: Students decide which one of the groups of three words is incorrect.

1. EXAMPLE:Malaysia declared / issued / decried a state of emergency on August 11 as the air pollution index rocketed to extremely hazardous levels on its west coast. Smoke from forest fires in Sumatra, Indonesia, has shrouded / blanketed / bedded much of the country in a thick smog, a dangerous cocktail / contraption / concoction of ash, dust, carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide. The acrid / pungent / aphid haze has obscured from view the tops of buildings in Kuala Lumpur, where a government official said: “We are now in a state of emergency”. Authorities have closed schools and advised people to stay indoors to minimize contact with the noxious / poisonous / notorious and choking fumes. It is Malaysia’s worst environmental crisis since 1997 and already there are few signs of it letting up / abating / letting in.

MOST LOGICAL: Similar to the “Choose the Correct Word” activity above. Both of the pairs of words in italics fit. However, one fits better than the other. Students circle the best fitting word.
GOOD / BAD: Students place a check next to things they think are good and a cross next to things they think are bad. They talk about the things they designated after the exercise.
MISTAKES: Tell students that there are five incorrect words in each paragraph. Students have to find the mistakes.
MISTAKE CHOICES: Highlight in each paragraph and tell students half of them are wrong. Students must identify the incorrect words.

SPOT THE MISTAKES: Four of the words in bold in each paragraph are right and four are wrong. Circle the incorrect words and replace them.

Forty million credit cards hacked

1. EXAMPLE: What is your best nightmare? How about opening your credit card statement and seeing thousands of dollars worth of purchases you never made? This is a possibility for 40 million credit card grippers worldwide following a security broach at a major data processing center. U.S.-based Card Systems Solutions Inc., which processes transactions for banks and merchandise around the globe, has issued a press release saying it “identified a potential security incident” in May. Hackers infiltrated the system and made on with the personal details of up to 40 million people – the same number as the entity population of Spain. Card Systems immediately contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which out turn notified VISA and MasterCard. The company said it is currently “completing the installation of enhanced/additional security procedures”. Meanwhile, the world’s banks are working overtime charging the account details of concerned and irate cardholders Card Systems Inc. depressed sympathy with anyone who may have lost confidence in the integrity of credit card security or suffered anguish as a result of the breach. It said: “We understand and fully appreciate the seriousness of the situation.” It also assured the business world its primate focus was client oriented. The press release said: “Our customers and their customers are our lifeblood. We are undertaking no effort to get to the edge of this matter.”

BLANKS: Blank out some of the words in the article. Students have to decide on their own words to fill the blanks.
MISTAKEN PART OF SPEECH: Change the part of speech for five words in each paragraph. Students must identify and correct the parts of speech.
PART OF SPEECH CHOICE: Students have to decide which part of speech in each group of three is the correct one.

1. EXAMPLE: I need some advice / advise / advisor

WRONG ANTONYM: Replace five or six words in each paragraph with their antonyms. Students have to find and correct them.
OUT OF 10: Students write a number from 1 to 10 after each sentence. “1” means, “I understood almost nothing in this sentence”, “10” means “I understood everything in this sentence”. Students show each other their scores and try and help each other with the lower ones.
MY CULTURE: Students circle things that are different in their own cultures. They talk about these with their partners after.
NUMBER FOCUS: If there are several numbers in each paragraph, ask students to remember what the numbers relate to. After the reading /
listening, the students have to match the numbers on the board to what they remember.
NUMBERS: Students try to guess what the following numbers mean in the text by matching the numbers with the possibilities in the right
column:
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PERSON FOCUS: Ask students to concentrate on the characters in the story. After the reading / listening, the students have to match the characters on the board to what they remember from the text.
IF IT WERE ME: Students think about or make notes as they read / listen about what they would do, think, feel in a similar situation to the one in the article.
PROPER NOUN FOCUS: Ask students to remember the proper nouns in the story. After the reading / listening, the students have to match the proper nouns on the board to what they remember from the text.
THINGS I WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT: Students underline different things in the text they want to know more about. After reading, share these things with partner(s) and discuss them to see if students can find out more information.
OTHER SENSES: As students read, ask them to circle words that have more than one meaning. After the reading, students share the different words and talk about other meanings of the words.
SENTENCE SUMMARY: Students must write one word at the end of each sentence. That word must sum up their feelings about the sentence. After the reading, students tell each other their words and why they chose them.
BETTER WORDS: Students must replace five words in each paragraph with words of their own choosing. After they finish reading they tell each other which words they have replaced and explain their reasons.
POST SENTENCE DISCUSSIONS: Students read one sentence and discuss it before moving onto the next sentence. Continue until they finish the reading.
IDIOM HUNT: Students underline any language they think is idiomatic. They share what they underlined with the class for a discussion on what they think the language means.
SYNONYM FIND: In pairs / groups, students find two synonyms for each word in italics in the article. When they have finished, they compare and swap synonyms with other students. Students talk about whether any of their synonyms would be better than the words used in the text.
LISTENING QUESTIONNAIRE: Make a questionnaire for students to discuss the degree of difficulty of the listening and related activities. Some questions might include the following:

1. Did students get all of the gap fill answers?
2. Which words were easy or difficult to remember?
3. How much (per cent) did students understand?
4. Do you think you will understand more next time?
5. Are you happy with how much you understood?
6. What do you think is your biggest problem with listening?
7. What are their feelings now?

Repeat the questionnaire after each successive listening to see how their answers change.
NEW QUESTIONS: Students quiz each other about the listening. Listen three or four times. Each time they listen, they make new questions.
WHAT WAS THAT? Teacher plays the listening a segment at a time. Students have to figure out what was said. When they have finished, students look at the text and talk about the bits they got right and wrong. Listen again to check.
FALSE: Teacher creates an alternative text with ten incorrect facts. Students listen and have to find the correct information.
PHRASE ORDER: Teacher selects phrases from the text that contain useful vocabulary or idioms or phrases that are key for global understanding. Cut the phrases into strips and give them to students. Students put them into the correct order as they hear them.

TRUE/FALSE CHOICE: Create a series of true/false sentences. For each proposition, include one sentence that is true and its false partner.

• Circle the sentence that you think is correct
• Google wants to put millions of books on the Internet.
• Google has been asked to create a worldwide Internet library.
• Publishers are cooperating to expedite Google’s project.
• Publishers are up in arms over Google scanning books onto the Web.
• Google Print involves scanning all of the books sold by Amazon.com.
• Google Print involves scanning books from prestigious universities.
• All of the scanning will be finished in November.
• All of the scanning will be suspended until November.
• Publishers accused Google of turning copyright laws upside down.
• Google accused publishers of turning copyright laws upside down.
• Experts say copyright laws are too out of date.
• Experts say copyright laws are too ahead of themselves.
• Information technology is moving at a similar pace to new legislation.
• Information technology is outstripping the pace of new legislation.
• Google wants millions of people to discover new books.
• Google wants millions of people to buy new books.

TRUE/FALSE RATIO: To give students more to think about, tell students the exact ratio of true to false statements.
CHANGED TERMINOLOGY: Broaden the vocabulary / metalanguage used in this simple exercise. Instead of “true” and “false”, use terminology such as:

• Highly probable / Highly unlikely
• Spot on / No way
• Absolutely / You must be joking
• Correct / Incorrect
• Not in a million years / Couldn’t be more correct
• Right / Wrong
• etc.

GENERAL KNOWLEDGE: As a “pre-” pre-reading activity, create a true/false quiz based on general knowledge surrounding the contents in the article. Vocabulary from the article could be used in the quiz.
ALL FALSE: Make all of the sentences false. Students have to guess and change one or two words to make them true.
READ AND MOVE: Teacher reads the first true/false statement. Students have to move to the left of the class (the “true camp”) or the right of the class (the “false camp”). Students then have to persuade each other to change camps by arguing why they believe they are right.
THAT CAN’T BE TRUE BECAUSE…: Students must assume all of the choices are false and give each other reasons why they believe so. They introduce their doubts by saying, “This can’t be true because…”. Take a vote to see who has the most believable and plausible reasons. Students check the real answers when they read the article.
THIS IS PROBABLY TRUE: Students assume all of the choices are true and give each other reasons why they believe so. A vote can be taken to see who has the most believable, plausible reasons. Students check the real answers when they read the article. They might support their beliefs using some of the
following exponents:

• This is probably true because…
• This must be true
• I can’t see how this can be false
• This one is obviously true
• You can’t tell me this one is false
• There’s no way [on Earth] [in a million years] this one’s not true
• etc.

FILL IN THE GAPS: Give students a true/false exercise that is also a gap-fill exercise. First students must fill in the gaps, then they do whichever true/false activity you choose from the above.
DEFINITIONS: Choose a list of words from the text. Create definitions to create a definition matching exercise.
DEFINITION PAIRS: For each word, create two definitions. To make things more helpful, but still create a sense of achievement, make sure one of the definitions in each pair is total nonsense Choose the correct definition from each pair.
DEFINITIONS: Students match the following words with the most likely definitions (Please think about the headline!):

• (a) break (n)
• (i) a kind of chocolate bar with wafer inside.
• (ii) a short time to rest while working, often for lunch or a snack and drink.
• (b) slogan (n)
• (i) a phrase used like a logo in advertising to make a company or product easy to remember.
• (ii) to keep trying to do something without ever giving up.
• (c) decade (n)
• (i) a period of ten years.
• (ii) a geometric shape that has ten sides.
• (d) lexicon (n)
• (i) all of the words in a language, or all of the words known by a person.
• (ii) a chemical put into chocolate to make people stay awake longer.
• (e) translated (v)
• (i) when a bus or train doesn’t come on time.
• (ii) the meaning of a word or sentence changed from one language into another.
• (f) definitely (adv)
• (i) to describe the panic students sometimes experience before taking an examination.
• (ii) to describe something you are 100% sure something will happen.
• (g) lingo (n)
• (i) slang for ‘language’.
• (ii) a kind of dance that involves arching your back and moving under a low bar.
• (h) edible (adj)
• (i) something that is safe to eat without any danger to your health.
• (ii) the quiet atmosphere in an examination room.
• (i) charm (n)
• (i) a kind of tea that provides you with energy.
• (ii) a small object people carry with them or put in their cars for good luck.
• (j) confidence (n)
• (i) the negative feeling you have that you can’t do something.
• (ii) the positive feeling you have that you can do something.

TEXT DEFINITION: Students match a list of definitions to words in the text. Things could be made easier for the students by putting the answers in the article in bold.
STORY ON THE WALL: The teacher places as many sentences from the text that make sense as standalone propositions on the wall as possible. Students walk around the class and comment on the sentences. They must be completely unaware that the sentences are from the text.
STUDENT-CHOSEN DEFINITIONS: Pairs / groups of students make half of the definitions each. They choose the words they want to find the meanings of and provide definitions for those words. Once finished, change partners and work on matching each other’s definitions.
SLIGHTLY WRONG DEFINITIONS: Give students the words with their definitions already matched. Some of the definitions are a little wrong. Students have to correct the definition.
CORRECT / INCORRECT: Students are given a list of definitions of words from the text, some of which are true, some false. Students have to decide whether the definitions are correct or incorrect.
CHOICE OF THREE: A list of definition sentences is provided with a choice of three words as answers. Students choose which is the correct word.
EXAMPLE:

• an organized fight or armed struggle by a people against a government or occupying power.
• punch up
• uprising
• self-raising

MIX ‘N’ MATCH DEFINITIONS: Cut the definitions in half. It is the students’ job to put the definitions back together before matching them with the correct words.
CROSSWORD DEFINITIONS: Create a crossword puzzle with the clues as the definitions. Provide the answers in a list below the answers. Students must write the answers in the puzzle.
FILL IN THE GAPS: Give students a definition exercise (matching or otherwise) that is also a gap-fill. Students must first fill in the gaps, then they do whichever definitions activity you deem appropriate from the above.
SYNONYM MATCH: Match the words in one column to their synonyms in the opposite column.
ANTONYM MATCH: Match the words in one column to their antonyms in the opposite column.
SYNONYM FILL: There are six gaps in the article. There are six groups of synonyms below the article. Place the number of the synonym group in the correct gap (It is not important to guess a correct word – any of the synonyms from each group could be put into the relevant gap).

• BNE: Japan’s world champion speed-eater has won his second ___ in two days at an eating competition in Hong Kong. Takeru Kobayashi, 27, easily ___ his rivals by consuming an amazing 83 steamed dumplings in eight minutes on Saturday. Kobayashi showed his munching talents again a day later by ___ 100 roasted pork buns in 12 minutes. He said he has a special technique that allows him to eat so much, so quickly. He ___ the food as tightly as he can in his mouth and then “chews like crazy”. Kobayashi holds ___ world eating records and is a ___ on the world speed eating tour. He is the current world record holder and champion for eating hot dogs – 53-and-a-half in 12 minutes. He has also ___ a similar ability with hamburgers by setting the world record in 2004 – 69 burgers in eight minutes. Mr. Kobayashi’s physique does not suggest he can eat such serious ___ of food. He is a very slim 65kg but says his stomach can stretch more than others. He hopes to make a career out of speed-eating.

1. Squashes squeezes crushes compresses
2. Downing swallowing eating devouring
3. Contest competition tournament challenge
4. Quantities amounts volumes portions
5. Shown displayed demonstrated revealed
6. Beat defeated whipped topped
7. Several various assorted different
8. Celebrity big cheese heavyweight somebody

PART OF SPEECH SYNONYM MATCH: Create a synonym match in which the synonyms are already matched, but the matched synonym includes different parts of speech. Students have to circle the choice that corresponds to the correct part of speech.
EXAMPLE:
safeguard (v) protective / protect / protection protectorate / protector
PART OF SPEECH JUMBLE: Create a synonym match activity in which incorrect parts of speech are matched with a synonym. Students must make the match and write the correct part of speech.
EXAMPLE:
safeguard (v) protective (Students must change “protective” to “protect”.)
TEXT SYNONYM MATCH: Students match words from a list to their corresponding synonyms in the text. Students can be helped in this by placing the synonyms in the text in bold. This could be made a little more challenging by putting in bold more words than matches.
SIMILAR SIMILES: Place two similes as the match for the word in the text. Students must discuss which one is a truer match for its partner in the text.
SYNONYM AND ANTONYM MATCH: Students must match words in the text to their synonyms and antonyms in a list below the article. They must denote which is the synonym and which is the antonym.
SYNONYM JUMBLE: The target words and their synonyms have been placed randomly on a piece of paper (not in the familiar 2-column format). It is the students’ job to find the pairs of synonyms.
CHOICE OF THREE: There are three choices for each word. Students have to decide which choice is the synonym, which the antonym and which is a nonrelated word.
KIM’S SYNONYMS: This is a game based on the popular memory activity, Kim’s Game. Pairs of synonyms are written on cards and placed face down. Students turn two cards at a time over. If the two cards are the same, they keep them, if not, they have to turn them back face down. The game is over when all of the matches have been found.
SYNONYM WORD JUMBLE: The synonyms are matched. There is one problem – the letters of the matched word are jumbled. Students have to guess the word from the jumbled letters.
EXAMPLE

• huge roesomun
• blasted damseml
• lethal dyadle
• etc

PHRASE MATCH: Take phrases or word pairs from the text and split them. Students have to match the beginnings with their endings. Alternate between keeping collocation pairs or phrasal verbs intact and splitting them on either side of the match. There may be cognitive value in the surprise students experience in seeing the two parts of a phrasal verb or strong collocate being matched. Decisions need to be made regarding where best to make the split for the match.
THREE WAY MATCHES: Create a phrase match with three columns. Students must match from left to middle to right in order to complete the match. In this example, the words in the first and third columns are correctly placed. The words in the middle column are in the wrong order.

CHOICE PHRASE MATCH: Create a phrase match with two choices in the second column. Students must decide which is the correct match.
EXAMPLE:
pirating has                           • afflicted the music industry
• reflected the music industry
ARGUE MATCHES: Each sentence or phrase beginning has a choice of two technically possible endings. Students A must argue that the first match is correct, Students B must argue that the second match is correct.
pirating has                           • afflicted the music industry
• improved the music industry
CHOOSE THE GRAMMAR MATCHES: Students match the phrases by choosing the correct collocates or phrasal verbs where the two matched halves join.
placing the onus                    • on the writer
• in the writer
STUDENT SPLITTING: Students create the phrase matches themselves. In pairs / groups, they agree on where it is best to split the sentence. With scissors, they cut the phrases and change partners. Swap slips of paper and see if the new partners can reassemble the phrases. When both sets of phrases have been completed, talk again about why the cuts were made where they were made. The teacher will need to mark the beginning of the phrases so students know where the phrases start.
ENDING CALL: The teacher or a group leader reads one of the phrase match beginnings. The other students look at a list of phrase match endings and alert the teacher if they think they know the answer. All other students must then make a decision as to whether or not they agree with the answer. Once agreed, the teacher / group leader places the matched pairs on the board / paper.
KIM’S PHRASES: This is a game based on the popular ESL activity, Kim’s Game. The beginnings and endings of different phrases are written on separate cards. Students turn two cards at a time over. If the two cards can be matched, the students put them face up to the side. If not, they have to turn them back face down. The game is over when all of the matches have been found. Some initial matches may be quite possible, but not be those in the article. Some re-matching may have to take place towards the end of the activity.
PHRASE JUMBLE: Beginnings and endings have been placed randomly on the desk on a piece of paper. It is the students’ job to match them correctly.
HALF RIGHT, HALF WRONG: Arrange the phrases so that half of the matches are right and half are wrong. Students have to decide which are the correctly matched phrases and correct the others.
YAHOO NEWS: Take in a list of the top 5 news stories from the different categories on Yahoo News (http://news.yahoo.com/). These include “Top Stories”, “Most Popular”, “Most E-mailed”, “Odd Stories”, Most Recommended”, etc. Write the headlines on the board, Students have to talk about them. Some of the following phrases might be useful as conversation starters:

• This is not news.
• Who wants to read about this?
• This looks like a great story.
• I can’t believe reporters get paid for writing stuff like this.
• Too depressing.
• There should be more news stories like this.
• This is my kind of news.

WHAT SHALL WE TALK ABOUT? A common question. Students are given the headline and must brainstorm three things to talk about. Pool the topics and then let the students chat.
THIS WOULD MAKE A GOOD MOVIE: Students discuss why the headline would make a good movie. They must develop the story and characters. They might also decide on which real life stars should play the characters that might be in the article. They could also decide on the music, director, genre, etc.
PREDICTION: Put the headline on the board. Pairs / groups formulate their ideas regarding the contents of the article and present them to another partner / group. Decide together which ideas are likely to be in the article.
PRONUNCIATION: Work on difficult to pronounce or hear words before students listen to the text. Practice words or phrases that have similar linking elements, pronunciation shortcuts etc. Students talk about which parts of the text were difficult and why. They can practice the areas they had most difficulty with before trying / listening again.
WE HAVE A SITUATION: Choose three or four of the main characters in or related to the article. Students take a character each. Each set of characters is grouped together in one of the following situations. Students must improvise and have the conversation between the characters. They should talk about the headlines.

• On an airplane flying to Hawaii
• Hiking through the Amazon jungle
• In hospital beds in the same room
• Studying Arabic at a language school in Peru
• In a movie theater
• etc

HEADLINE JUMBLE: Scramble the words from the headline and ask students to arrange the words in the correct order. If the headlines are different, students talk about them and speculate on which is the correct headline. Students could make different headlines from the scrambled words and talk about the likely stories from each.
THE REAL HEADLINE: Create several more headlines based on the real one. Ask students to talk about what the contents might be in each of the headlines and guess which is the real one. The alternative headlines could be used to introduce vocabulary from the article as a pre-reading exercise.
HEADLINE CHOICES: Provide a choice of three or four recent headlines that are all very different in content. Ask students to talk about each one and decide which they would or would not be interested in reading. Then tell students which article they will look at in that day’s lesson. This may be a good way of assessing what kind of articles to bring to class in future.
ROUND ROBIN HEADLINES: Student A makes a prediction as to how the story will start. Student B follows and then Student C continues. Keep rotating until a story has fully developed. Change partners and compare stories.
NEWS COLLOCATIONS: The teacher writes the headlines on the board. Students must think of adjectives that match the headlines. Students discuss in pairs / groups how well the adjectives match the headlines. Change partners and compare adjectives.
HEADLINE VOTE: Each student thinks about the headline and briefly describes how they think the story will unfold. Take a vote on whose story they think is …

• closest to the real article.
• most entertaining
• the craziest
• the least likely to be closest to the real article
• the most original

WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT…? Students mill around the class questioning other students about the headline. They must ask about the keywords in the headline. They should ask each other:

• “What do you know about X?”
• “What do you know about recent events / developments in Y?”
• “Do you know anything about X?”
• “What can you tell me about X?”
• “Tell me all you know about X”

JUICY? Ask students what kind of article the headline suggests. Introduce the following collocates of the word “headline”:

• Juicy
• Sensational
• Tragic
• Interesting
• Uninteresting
• Shocking
• Huge
• Historic
• Sad
• etc.

COLLOCATION HEADLINES: In pairs / groups, students have to change the story according to each collocate (E.g. “Can you change this headline into a juicy / shocking story?”). Students change partners and compare stories.
FROM A HEADLINE: Give the class the news headline. In pairs / groups, students must expand the sentence a word or phrase at a time until they have a full paragraph. Change partners and compare paragraphs.
ALTERNATIVE HEADLINES: Students read the text and create three more alternative headlines that might be lurking behind the actual one. Students must expand on and tell the stories about the alternative. Students change partners and share and compare their ideas.
INTO A SENTENCE: Put the headline on the board. Students come to the board and add a word at a time to make the headline into a sentence that must become longer and longer. The sentence can be split in two, both parts also being added to and split further.
QUESTIONS: Students look at the headline and write down three questions each. They ask the questions to their partner / group. Change partners and ask the questions again. Students return to their original partners and report on what their previous partners said.
IMAGINARY HEADLINES: In pairs / groups, students make imaginary headlines that they tell each other and then talk about.
KIND HEADLINES: In pairs / groups, students must choose a “kind” headline from a given list and make their own story about it. They need to develop the background, characters, what happened, what people said, etc. After they have finished, they must change partners / groups and report the story to their new partner(s). They must be prepared to answer questions from their new partners. Example headlines might include:

• George W. Bush changes his mind
• China and Japan are friends forever
• Roses for everyone
• Israelis and Palestinians have a big party together
• World Kindness Day is a huge success
• Old lady helps the man who stole her car

MYSTERY HEADLINES: In pairs / groups, students choose a predetermined mystery headline and develop the story to tell to news reporters. Once they have decided on their story, change partners and take turns being reporters and mystery explainers. Example headlines might include:

• The talking bus stop
• Ten thousand pairs of jeans go missing in Russian town
• Lions and zebras become good friends in Kenya
• It’s raining pens and pencils in Chile
• The pregnant Mickey Mouse
• The remote control baby
• Marriage proposals increase 300% in Brazilian city
• The world’s computers’ space bars suddenly break

FRONT PAGE NEWS? Students talk about how newsworthy the headline is.

• Should it make the front page?
• Should it be the headline news?
• Is it worthy of a newsflash / breaking news?
• Should it be confined to the second page or a minor article inside the newspaper in one of the sections or later on in the news program.
• How much page space / program time should be given to it?
• Should there be photos?
• Is it the kind of story you would talk about with your friends?
• Would you turn on the news to get an update on this news?
• Where would this news item be in a newspaper in your home country?
• Does it warrant a top news reporter being assigned to it?

HEADLINE EXTENSION: Students look at the headline and brainstorm other associated headlines. (E.g. The Live 8 concerts that coincided with the Edinburgh G8 summit in 2005 spawned headlines on Sir Bob Geldoff, a possible Spice Girls reunion, Pop stars playing politicians, famine, trade, etc.). Students talk about the associated headlines and decide which ones are most serious.
LIES, ALL LIES: Students A try to convince Students B that the news in the headline didn’t really happen, that it’s all lies. Students B of course have to say the news is very much true.
I HAD A DREAM ABOUT THAT LAST NIGHT: Students look at the headline and say to each other “Funny. I had a dream about that last night”. They then have to embellish on what happened in their dream. One student had a lovely dream, the other had a nightmare.
I WISH THAT HADN’T HAPPENED: Students look at the article headline and start their conversation saying, “I wish that hadn’t happened”. They then explain why.
HEADLINE CHANGE: Put the headline on the board. Invite students to change two words. Students now talk about the new headline. Keep repeating until the original headline has changed beyond recognition. Students change partners and compare the stories they made as each new headline was created.
L1 ADJECTIVES: Students call out adjectives in their L1 that describe their feelings towards the headline. The students then provide translations in English. In pairs / groups, students talk about the headline in relation to the English adjectives on the board.
ON THE SPOT: Give half the class the headline. They must break the news to the rest of the class and ask for on the spot opinions.
FORUMS COMMENTS: Each student writes down a quick comment about the headline on a piece of paper. They put the paper in the middle of the room. Students pick up a piece of paper and in pairs or groups, respond to the comments. They return the comment slip to the middle of the room for other students to take. Continue until each group has picked up (and returned) several comment slips.
IDIOMS IDIOMS: Take a keyword from the headline and produce a list of idioms based on that word. Students talk about what they think the idioms mean. An alternative would be to do a matching exercise of idioms and meanings and then let the students talk.
CONNECTIONS: Students write down as many connections as they can from two of the words in the headline. Share these connections with other students. Rank the connections according to predetermined categories – strongest link, funniest link, most ridiculous link, most intelligent link, etc.
DESIGNER HEADLINE: Students take two or three words from the actual headline and make their own headline and story. Students change partners and compare their headlines and stories.
GLOBAL HEADLINES: Provide a list of countries for students to speculate on how the media in each of those countries might word the headline, then speculate on the story behind that headline. Students change partners and compare their ideas.
MOVED HEADLINE: Students speculate on what kind of story the article might be if it were moved to a completely different news section headings – sports, business, entertainment, motoring, gardening, etc.
HEADLINE WORD GUESS: Student A has the title. Student B doesn’t. Student A says one word at random. Student B asks questions and tries to guess the story.
LEXICAL PAIRS: Choose two words from the text that form an easily recognizable lexical pair (E.g. high level, paper chase, current event, etc.). Seeing the words together will provide a further learning opportunity. Ask students to look in their dictionaries (including collocation dictionaries*) to build up more information on the words. Students change partners and share the information they found out. Note: Make sure each part of the lexical pair is likely to have several meanings and be used in a variety of other word combinations.
SEARCH ENGINES: If the class has access to the Internet, enter the word pairs into the search field of a search engine. To give the best results with pairs of words or phrases, make sure everything is enclosed in speech / quotation marks (“high level” or “the time has come”). The search should produce hundreds, thousands or hundreds of thousands of examples of the words in natural use.
QUESTIONABLE USAGE: If students are unsure of the usage of a word pairing or phrase containing more than two words, the above search technique can be used to help them find more examples of the phrase in use.
PRE / POST COLLOCATES: Draw three columns on the whiteboard or ask students to draw three columns on a sheet of paper. Put one of the words from the word search in the middle column. Ask students to write the words they find that come before and after this word in the left and right columns. Students talk or make questions about their findings. Ask which combinations are new, sound interesting, seem worthwhile to learn, etc.

• Internet
• commit
• mass
• attempt
• attempted
• failed
• political
• would be to + inf
• suicide
• bomber
• mission

COLLOCATION CHAIN: Pairs of students start with the same word. They find a strong collocate that follows this word. They then find a strong collocate of the collocate and so on. You could give the students a time limit to see how many collocates they can add to their chain or give them a maximum number of collocates to find:
EXAMPLE:
English language – language problem – problem child – child friendly …
Students then show their findings to other students in the class or call them out to the teacher, who writes everything on the board.
COLLOCATIONAL GRIDS: Use these to teach collocation. There are many examples of collocation grids and other grids in these books:
The Words You Need. Rudska, B. et al. 1982. Prentice Hall
More Words You Need. Rudska, B. et al. 1985. Prentice Hall
WORD FAMILY: Give students the following table. Ask them to look in their dictionaries and find examples to fill in the information.

CLASS CONCORDANCES: Draw three columns on the whiteboard or ask students to draw three columns on a sheet of paper. Put one of the words from the word search in the middle column. Ask students to write sentences that contain the word from the phrase. Make sure to keep the collocate in the middle column. After a number of sentences are on the board or student papers, talk about the use of the word and the sentences. You should end up with a concordance similar to this:

• with the abundance of local radio chat shows that seem to have of the survey asked about favorite chat up lines (and of course those that said why don’t you pop round for a chat and a cup of tea. I’m sure it’d it’s nothing serious, just an informal chat about the upcoming graduation anything. He just stopped by for a chat. He really needed to talk about is the handsome host of the new chat show that’s due to air on Friday And then we went to Janice’s for a chat and to catch up on all the gossip they should be very careful about chat rooms that ask for addresses or there’s nothing better than a quiet chat with the person who means most free any time to come and have a chat with one of our experienced

Encourage students to research vocabulary themselves using collocation sites (http://www.collins.co.uk/Corpus/CorpusSearch.aspx) to find the most common word partnerships or concordance sites
(http://thetis.bl.uk/lookup.html) to find examples of words and phrases in authentic English sentences.
CHAT: Ask students simply to chat about the word pair. When they have finished, change partners. Tell new partners what they spoke about with their old partners and continue the conversation.
WORD PAIR HEADLINES: Ask students to make headlines from the word pair. Students have to think of the story that accompanies the headline. Change partners again and compare the stories from each invented headline.

WORDS BRAINSTORM: Teacher writes a keyword related to the news article on the board. Students spend one minute brainstorming all of the words they associate with that keyword. Students talk about the words in pairs / groups. Try to make categories and put them into lists. Swap partners and write down unknown words.

CHAT: Take a selection of keywords from the article and ask students to chat about them. Students could decide which of the words seem interesting (or otherwise) before choosing the ones they want to talk about. Students could also create spidergrams from each word to open up other possibilities for conversation.

LINKED CHAT: Students chat about two keywords from the above activity that are placed next to each other. They must create as many links as they can between the words. They then move on and do the same with the next pair of words.

DECISIONS: Using the list of keywords from the “chat” activity above, each student decides on the three topics he / she wants to talk about. Students explain to their partner(s) why they want to talk about those three words and not the others.

FACTS: Whatever the theme of the article, find an interesting collection of facts or trivia for students to talk about. This is an example from the lesson “New study says coffee is good for you” (http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/0508/050829-coffee.html).

• FACTS: Talk with your partner about these coffee facts:

1. a. The word coffee was originally Arabic and means “excitement.”
2. b. Coffee is the second most traded product in the world after
3. petroleum.
4. c. One coffee tree yields just half a kilo of roasted coffee.
5. d. Brazil is the largest coffee-producing nation, accounting for 40
6. per cent of total world output.
7. e. Over 53 countries grow coffee worldwide.
8. f. We use the term “coffee beans” even though they come from
9. berries. Each coffee berry has two beans.
10. g. 27 per cent of U.S. coffee drinkers and 43 per cent of German
11. drinkers add a sweetener to their coffee.
12. h. October 1st is the official Coffee Day in Japan.
13. i. 25 million families around the world work in coffee fields.

HISTORY: If the article is about a historical event, provide a list of other facts or similar or related events for students to talk about. A lesson on war might be accompanied by a list of wars students remember or know about. This is an example from the lesson “US-Vietnam mark end of war” (http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/0505/050502-vietnam-e.html).

• WARS

Wars are horrific and brutal events in our history and present day. Somehow nations move on and live together. Talk about how the following wars reshaped or changed the world and how peoples have moved on:

1. World War II (1939-45)
2. Korean War (1950-53)
3. Indo-Pakistan War (1965)
4. The Six-Day War (1967)
5. The Vietnam War (1965-75)
6. Cambodia (1975-79)
7. Soviet-Afghan War (1979-89)
8. Iran-Iraq War (1980-89)
9. El Salvador (1980-92)
10. Nicaragua (1980s)
11. Gulf War (1991)
12. Rwandan Genocide (1994)
13. Balkan Wars (1992-95)
14. Afghanistan (2001)

TABLE FACTS: Provide students with a table of facts based on the article for students to talk about.

FAVORITES: Students decide on their three favourite and three least favorite things related to the theme of the news item. Talk to other students about why these are favorites, or otherwise. (E.g. If the lesson is on games, students choose and talk about their three favorite and least-liked games.)

IMPORTANT POINTS: Students decide on the three most important points / key issues regarding the subject or theme of the article. Students discuss these points and try to persuade other their points are more important than their partner’s points.

EAST – WEST: Students talk about the lesson theme according to different geopolitical spheres.

• EXAMPLE: Is the West always right? Is the West guilty of any wrongdoing? In pairs / groups, talk about whether the West has the right to try to enforce its values and systems on other countries and societies. Find three examples of the West being right and three examples of the West being wrong on these topics: the nuclear issue, human rights, democracy, free and fair trade, oil, terror, the axis of evil, and WMD.

MY COUNTRY: Students talk about the theme of the topic in relation to their own countries and the views held by their government and compatriots.

1. How is this topic viewed or treated in your own country?
2. How different (better / worse) is your country’s attitude towards this subject?
3. How would this story be reported in your country?
4. How much media attention would it receive?
5. Do the things that happened in the article occur to the same degree in you own country?
6. Would this piece of news be newsworthy in your country?
7. Do different generations or different sexes have different views on this topic?
8. Would this topic ever be considered taboo or be censored in your country?
9. Would there be sympathy towards this topic in your country?
10. Are citizens of your country generally interested in this kind of news?
11. Other.

OLD NEWS: Students decide whether the news story is old and tired or new and exciting. Is it something they have talked about before? Would they like to talk about it again?

ORDER: The teacher writes a short list of items that are related to the text. Students have to put them in order of which is best / worst / most desirable / etc. This is an example from the lesson “Smog sparks emergency in Malaysia” (http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/0508/050812-smog.html).

• SMOG PROBLEMS: In pairs / groups, talk about which of the following smog problems would bother you most. List them in order of most serious:

1. Polluted air
2. Poor visibility in the streets
3. Not being able to see the sun
4. Having to wear a facemask outdoors
5. Being told by your government to stay indoors
6. The thought that illegal loggers make big profits and cause smog
7. The sudden closure of schools, hospitals and other services
8. The terrible smell
9. The potential for becoming ill

EXPERIENCE LIST: Teacher prepares a list of items related to the article that students talk about their experiences of. This is an example from the lesson “Chocolate bars poisoned in Australia” (http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/0507/050702-chocolate.html).

• YUM: In pairs / groups, talk about which of these chocolaty things would get you licking your lips and make your mouth water.

1. Mars or Snickers bar
2. Chicken in spicy chocolate sauce (Mexico)
3. Chocolate ice cream
4. Chocolate cake
5. Chocolate and mustard bar (Japan)
6. Chocolate milk shake
7. Chocolate fondue
8. Hot chocolate drink
9. Chocolate coated banana
10. Other

SCALES: Teacher creates a list of items related to the article that students have to assign a score from one to ten (or another system of grading – highly likely to highly unlikely, etc.). This is an example from the lesson “Four dead in Indian ‘diamond’ hunt” (http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/0506/050630-diamonds.html).

• GULLIBILITY: How gullible are you? Do you believe everything anyone says? In pairs / groups, talk about how much you trust these people (10 = absolute, total trust; 1 = no trust at all):

1. Your doctor
2. A used car salesman
3. An English school consultant telling you his/her study system is best
4. A jeweler on a beach in Mumbai, India
5. Your best friend
6. Your next-door neighbor
7. A lawyer
8. A McDonald’s spokesperson telling you hamburgers are nutritious

MONEY-RELATED: If the article is related to a large amount of money (or other things of value) use the amount(s) involved to get students into a spending spree of one kind or the other. E.g. What would / could / should you do with $XXX? or to whom would you donate the money? This is an example from the lesson “Forty million credit cards hacked” (http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/0506/050619-creditcard.html).

• SHOPPING EXPEDITION: Imagine you have a millionaire’s credit card and full authority to spend as much as you like in one day. In pairs / groups, talk about the following shopping expedition details

1. Who with?
2. Which shop first?
3. Where to have lunch?
4. What you need most?
5. A present for a friend
6. Where?
7. What to buy first?
8. What to eat?
9. Where to relax or have some fun?
10. What to buy your English teacher?

EITHER / OR: Create a set of choices that are related to the article. Students have an either / or decision to make.

SENTENCE STARTERS: The teacher creates a sentence starter (or several) that could initiate a wide variety of responses. Students complete their sentences, then walk around the class talking about them. An example is seen here from the lesson – “British food best in the world” (http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/0504/050422-britishfood.html).

1. British food is _______________________.
2. The best cuisine in the world is _______________________.
3. The most delicious dessert is _______________________.
4. Egg and bacon ice cream sounds _______________________.
5. Microwave dinners are _______________________.
6. Vegetarian fare is _______________________.
7. The best drink to accompany a meal is _______________________.
8. Dining out is _______________________.
9. McDonalds hamburgers are _______________________.
10. Life without restaurants would be _______________________.

LOVE / NOT LOVE: Students decide whether they love or do not love the subject of the article. Talk to each other about why they have these particular feelings. They must write down five reasons why they love or do not love the subject. Change partners and report on what previous partners said.

AWKWARD TOPICS: There are many topics that are often not talked about in the ESL classroom, which students actually might want to discuss.

• EXAMPLE: In pairs / groups, talk your feelings on the topics of conversation below. Would you feel comfortable talking about these topics with people?

1. Breast cancer
2. Death
3. Bad breath and B.O. (body odor)
4. Salaries
5. Sexual problems
6. Choice of election candidates
7. Feelings towards other ethnic groups
8. Toilet habits
9. Other __________________________

BIG DECISIONS: If the news item is about decisions, students talk about their own decisions. Students ask each other if they have made many big or momentous decisions in their lives. Talk about the decisions you have made regarding the following:

1. Career
2. Family
3. Shopping
4. Relationships
5. English
6. Studying
7. Hairstyle
8. Health
9. Home
10. Other

Change partners and compare what you talked about.

MEMORIES: Students write down memories they have of past news events.

• TERROR MEMORIES In pairs / groups, write down five different terror attacks that you can remember.

1. Where were you and what were you doing at the time you heard the news of these attacks?
2. What details can you remember about the attacks?
3. Did the attacks make you think the world was changing?
4. What other feelings did you have?
5. Who did you blame?
6. Were you angry?
7. How do you feel about the attacks now?

Change partners and compare what you talked about.

MY STRUGGLES: If the news item is about struggle, students talk about their own struggles.

• EXAMPLE: Do you have to struggle to do things every day? Is it a struggle to get out of bed in the morning? Is it a struggle to do your homework / the housework. In pairs / groups, brainstorm the things you struggle with every day. Talk about each of these struggles. Do you also struggle with the things brainstormed?

TWO-MINUTE DEBATES: Stand students in two rows facing each other. The teacher assigns sides of the debates (Instructions: “This side thinks…. And this side believes that….). The teacher allows two minutes before moving one student to the other end of their line and moving the other students up so everyone faces a new partner. The teacher then introduces the next debate. This is an example from the lesson “Korean gamer dies after 50 hours online” (http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/0508/050811-gaming.html).

• TWO-MINUTE DEBATES: Debate each of the arguments below with a partner for just two minutes, before moving on to the next partner and debate. Student A agrees with the first argument, Student B, the second.

1. PlayStation 3 is best. vs. Xbox is best.
2. Gaming is anti-social. vs. Gaming means you have lots of friends.
3. Gaming sharpens your mind. vs. Gaming makes you less intelligent.
4. Gaming will be an Olympic sport one day. vs. Gaming will always be just a game.
5. Fantasy games are dangerous. vs. Fantasy games are harmless fun.
6. People should play real sports, not video games. vs. Gaming activates the brain.
7. Top graphic designers are real artists, just like Picasso. vs. How ridiculous.
8. Gaming will become a social disease. vs. People said the same about television.
9. Interactive gaming is best. vs. Playing alone is best.

STUDENT LISTS: Students write down their own list of events, products, examples, etc., that are related to the theme of the article and talk about them. Change partners and compare lists.

REASONS FOR INERTIA: Write a list of world leaders (political, business, economic, cultural…) on the board. Discuss who has the greatest degree of responsibility. Discuss what that leader should do to help the situation in the article. Discuss the internal or external pressures that might be preventing that person from doing the right thing.

SHOPKEEPERS: The teacher takes the characters from the article (and perhaps adds one or two) and changes their professions to shopkeepers. Students must talk about what kind of stores they have, what they sell, how the prices are, the quality of the merchandise, etc. They then change partners and compare their ideas.

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES: Students talk about the advantages and disadvantages or pros and cons of the article’s subject matter. Rank the advantages and disadvantages. Students change partners and relate what they discussed with their previous partners. Change partners again and discuss again. Return to original partners and decide which are the top advantages and disadvantages.

ROLE CHANGES: Students change roles to become the characters in the text. After the activity, students talk about whether they liked being in that role. Students could also play the role of inanimate things.

THE PEOPLE / THINGS IN MY LIFE: Students write down the people they know or the things with which they are familiar that are similar to those in the text (smokers, 80-year-olds, televisions, etc). Students talk about and compare the character or attributes of each person or thing.

COMPLAINTS: Students brainstorm a list of complaints against the subject matter of the article. They must discuss how strongly they feel about those complaints. Rank them in order or most serious. Discuss how they might be rectified. Change partners and compare ideas. Were all of the complaints and solutions similar?

DIFFERENT WITHOUT IT: Students write down five ways in which life would be different without the subject of the article (PlayStation 2, dogs…). They discuss the desirability of these things disappearing and what people could do to compensate. Change partners and share ideas. Which ideas to compensate for life without the subject were best?

LIFE WITH IT: For articles that are about a new development or proposed development, students talk about how life would be different with it.

1. Is it desirable?
2. Would you like it?
3. How much money would you pay for it?
4. Are there any dangers of using / having it?
5. Will everyone be able to have one?
6. Would there be any damage to the environment?
7. Do you need it?
8. Will you still be using it ten years from now?
9. How would it affect your life?
10. What do you do without it now?

MUSTS: Depending on the nature of the article, students write down five “musts” and talk about them (must haves, must do’s, must go’s, must see’s, must buy’s etc.). Change partners and report on what previous partners said.

EFFECTS ON ME: Students talk about the effects the measures, events, items, products, etc. from the article would have on them, the world, their village, town, city or country. They write down three changes and tell other students.

ALL THE SAME: If the story is about a famous person (or even non-famous) all of the students in the class become that same person and get together for a chat. It can be amusing for students to pretend to be the person to whom they are also talking.

I DID THAT: Students pretend they are responsible for the inventing, creating, doing… of the subject matter in the article. They tell their partners all about it, from conception to fruition. An alternative might be for students to argue over who “did the doing” in the article, with both claiming responsibility.

FANTASTIC NEWS / TERRIBLE NEWS: Students must come up with three reasons why the news is fantastic or terrible. They then talk to other students to see who thought the news was the most fantastic or terrible.

MY HISTORY: Students talk about the history of the subject of the article as it relates to their lives. If the article is about the dentist, students talk about the entire history of their dental visits; if the story is about chocolate, their affiliation with chocolate, etc.

PEOPLE I KNOW WHO’D LIKE THIS NEWS: Students talk about three people they know who they think would like the news in the article and why they would like it. They also talk about three people they know who would not like it.

THIS NEWS IS USEFUL: Students talk about whether or not the news article is useful or interesting to them. If it isn’t, their partner must try to persuade them why the news is useful and interesting.

THE ROLE IN MY LIFE: Students talk to each other about the role the subject of the headline or article plays in their everyday lives and cultures. Students describe in detail what it means to them. (E.g. the role tea, television, a bicycle, etc. plays in their lives). They have to think of and talk about more than five different roles. Change partners and compare roles.

LIFE-CHANGING: Students talk about how the item, product, consequences, etc. will potentially change their lives. They must write down five changes and tell other students. Do all students agree on how the subject will change their lives?

AGES: Students talk about how the news affects people of different ages. Teacher writes the different age brackets on the board.

INCOME BRACKETS: Students talk about how this news affects people from different income brackets (a homeless person, a family barely able to survive, a low income family, average income, middle class, well-to-do, very rich, filthy rich…).

MALE OR FEMALE: Students talk about whether the news in the article would be read more by men or women and why. Write down three reasons why the article would appeal to men and three reasons why the article would appeal to women. Repeat for why the article would not appeal. Students compare and discuss what they wrote down.

HISTORY OF INTEREST: Students talk about their history of interest in the news in the article. They pinpoint when they first became aware of it, the key players from when they first followed it, the major events over the years, and their level of interest now.

IN THE NEWS: Tell students that the classroom is now in the middle of the actual news situation. Students talk about their new environment.

HERE’S MINE: If the article is about something that students are likely to have, let them talk about it. If it is about mobile phone technology, fashion, etc., students talk about their phones or fashion items. It might be useful to have a show and tell.

HYPOTHESES: Teacher briefly explains the nature of the article and writes a number of hypotheses that students have to respond to or give a number from 1 to 10 to rank them. This is an example from the lesson “India’s drumming tax collectors” (http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/0503/050314-tax drummers.html). An Indian local government devised a scheme to send drumming troupes to the homes of tax avoiders. The drummers made a noise until the residents paid their taxes.

• RAT-A-TAT-TAX: Discuss with your partner which of the following you would / would not do if the tax drummers came to your house. On a scale of 1 (impossible) to 10 (definitely) give a score for each point and explain why you have given that score.

1. Pay up immediately.
2. Buy lots of earplugs.
3. Turn your TV / stereo up really loud.
4. Take the drums away from the drummers and smash them.
5. Take the drums away from the drummers and keep them in your house.
6. Lie – promise the drummer you will go to the bank and pay.
7. Take your guitar outside and jam with the drummers.
8. Take your garden chair outside, sit down, and enjoy the free music.
9. Telephone the city government to complain.
10. Ask the drummers for drumming lessons.

PINNED FACTS: Pin different facts about the subject of the article around the room. Students have to visit each fact with a partner and talk about it.

UNTRUE: The teacher places a number of comments and facts on the wall around the classroom. Students have to decide which of the “facts” are not true and comment on the ones that are true.

SIMPLIFIED TEXT: Teacher creates a simplified text based on the one to be used in class. Sentences are cut up and pinned on the wall. Students must visit and talk about each in turn and then try to put them in order.

REGIONAL DISCUSSIONS: Students talk to other students to find out as much information as they can about the region in the news.

• EXAMPLE:

MIDDLE EAST: Talk to many students and find out as much information as you can on the items listed below. After you have finished, talk in pairs / groups about what you found out.

1. Ariel Sharon
2. Gaza
3. Settlers
4. Mahmoud Abbas
5. Hamas
6. The 1967 Six-Day War
7. Palestinians
8. The “Roadmap for Peace”

FUTURE ON THIS DAY: Students speculate what people will be saying about the news item or how it will be viewed 5, 10 or 20 years from now. Write down three things for each time period. Change partners and share and compare opinions.

SIMILAR EVENTS: Write down a list of events similar to that in the article. Students must compare the article event to the ones on the list. E.g. if the article is about a royal wedding or a Tom Cruise movie, make a list of other royal weddings or Tom Cruise movies for students to chat about.

ADVERTISERS: Students talk about what kind of companies or advertisers might be interested in having their ads placed next to the article. Think of three advertisers each. Students share and compare their advertisers and decide which three would be best suited.

MAKE THE LAWS: Before students have read the text or have been shown the headline, they have to write down a number of laws relating to the content of the article. Students then compare their laws and discuss any differences.

• EXAMPLES:

1. Laws relating to abortion
2. Same sex marriage
3. Animal testing
4. Sugar in soft drinks
5. etc.

TOTALLY UNRELATED: The teacher writes a number of words on the board (more than five) that are totally unrelated to the story. Students have to speculate how they might be connected with the story. Students change partners and share and compare how they fit the words into the story.

THE IMPROVISED QUESTIONNAIRE: Tell students you accidentally brought the wrong questionnaire for the article. Give the “wrong” questionnaire to the students and tell them they have to change every question to fit the theme of the article.

BRANDS: If brand names are the subject of the article, brainstorm other brands for students to talk about. Put the following comments on the board and ask students to discuss whether they apply to the brands:

1. That’s a brand I’d never buy.
2. Last year’s fashion.
3. OK for old people.
4. Totally ridiculous.
5. OK for David Beckham / Britney Spears, but not for me.
6. The fake ones are just as good.
7. I’d rather have a nice meal at a restaurant.
8. My friends would laugh at me if I bought it.
9. When I’m really rich.
10. Not worth the money.

FACT SHEETS / POSTERS: Teachers make or print off a poster of facts concerning a topic (drugs, the death penalty, etc.). Students look at and comment on the information. Encourage students to respond to each fact with one of these exponents:

1. Wow. I didn’t know that.
2. That cannot be true.
3. That’s really interesting.
4. That should be changed immediately.
5. You learn something new every day.
6. People can be so cruel.
7. I don’t want to think about it.
8. There ought to be a law against it.
9. That’s outrageous.
10. The world is an amazing place.

FOR KIDS: Students have to think about how to explain the news from a particular headline to a group of children who are wholly unfamiliar with world events but who have a million questions. They then have to make the million (or five) questions the children might ask, and ask them.

GOOGLE SEARCH: Give students various phrases taken from the article. They have to do a “Google search” and ask other students for information related to the search phrase. The other students are search engines.

THE OTHERS: If the article is about a winner of something, students become the people or things that did not win. Students talk to each other about their feelings at having been beaten by the winner, whether the winner was worthy, whether they should have won, etc.

IN A ROOM: Choose three or four of the main characters from or related to the article. Students take a character each. Each set of characters is grouped together in a room. It is up to the students to start and continue the conversation. Change partners and report how the previous conversations went.

EVERYDAY QUESTIONNAIRES: Use the standard, generic questionnaires found in ESL course books and ask them to the main characters in the article. Students play the main character.

YOUR NEW TEACHER: Students talk about whether they would like the characters from the story as their new teacher. What attributes would the characters excel at and why? Here are some words that could be talked about:

1. patient
2. knowledgeable
3. fun
4. strict
5. fair
6. punctual
7. well-dressed
8. handsome
9. explains things well
10. interesting

WHAT KIND OF JOB? Give students a list of jobs or roles. Students ask each other what kind of teacher / lawyer / nurse / mother / boyfriend / son / etc. a person from the article might be / have been. Students change partners and compare and share what they heard from their first partners.

WHAT KIND OF STUDENT WAS THIS PERSON: Students speculate about the school life of the person from the article. Give students the following areas to be assessed:

1. Punctuality
2. Bullying
3. Homework
4. Popularity with other students
5. Attire
6. Attitude
7. Discipline record
8. Sports
9. Art
10. Other (Teacher decides other fun topics related to the person)

WHAT WOULD THIS PERSON DO ABOUT…? Write a list of current events topics on the board. Students ask each other what they imagine the main character from the article thinks or would do about each topic. Students change partners and compare and share what they heard from their first partners.

SHOPPING: Students imagine they go shopping with a person from the article. Talk about what that person would buy in a:

1. Supermarket
2. Clothes store
3. Florists
4. Home center
5. Jewelry store
6. Pharmacy
7. Toy store
8. Electrical goods store
9. Furniture store
10. Duty free store

AGREED: Write the beginnings of different sentences related to the article. In pairs / groups, students have to complete the sentences so that everyone agrees. This is an example from the lesson “Landmine elephant gets new foot” (http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/0508/050830-motala.html).

• AGREED: In pairs / groups, agree on a word or sentence ending to finish the following sentences. Change partners and repeat (it is unlikely new partner answers will be the same, therefore lots more agreeing to do).

1. Elephants are ___________________________________________.
2. Landmines ______________________________________________.
3. Logging is ______________________________________________.
4. Landmine victims should __________________________________.
5. Working elephants _______________________________________.
6. Losing a limb ____________________________________________.

FROM THE PAST: If the article is technology related, students imagine they are from another time. They have to talk about the curious invention. Their partners must bring them up to date on the history of the technology and its uses and functions.

BOTH SIDES: If there are two people or groups of people that are central to the news story, students pretend to play them. They are sitting next to each other at the bus stop. They must talk together about the news item and the part they each play in it. Endangered gorillas might want to have a discussion with poachers or children might want to confront their smoking parents.

BREAKTHROUGHS: If the article is technology related, brainstorm other similar innovations or potential inventions. Students talk about the desirability and likelihood of the brainstormed breakthroughs becoming real. Students change partners and share and compare what they talked about previously. (E.g. For a newly discovered dental cream that automatically fills pin-sized cavities – www.breakingnewsenglish.com/0502/25.toothpaste.html – other inventions could be automatic teeth straighteners, 100% effective fresh breath pills, non-smelling garlic, tooth whitener, everlasting-flavor gum etc.)

INVENTIONS AND DISCOVERIES: Students A are experts in the new invention or discovery, Students B are eager to know all about it. Students A gather together and brainstorm everything they know about the invention or discovery and try to predict the kind of questions they will be asked by Students B. Students B pool all of the questions they can think of for students A. After the Q & A session, students sit in groups and talk about how the discussion went.

SKILLS TRANSFERRED: If the article is related to skills or abilities of other people, animals or inanimate things, ask students to imagine they now have those skills. How will their lives change? This is an example from the lesson “Hibernation on demand” – (http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/0504/050423-hibernation.html). Hibernation is a basic survival function for many animals. Which of the following animal abilities would you like scientists to make available for humans:

1. Hibernation
2. The longevity of tortoises (150 years)
3. The sonar of a bat
4. The speed of a cheetah
5. The hearing of a dog
6. Flight
7. Breathing underwater like fish
8. Changing colors like a chameleon
9. Others?

MYSTERY SOLVERS: If there is an element of mystery in the article, students write down possible explanations for those mysteries. Pool the explanations and talk about which are most or least likely. Pairs of students must choose the likeliest and try to convince other students of their choice. An example can be seen in the following lesson on why dogs were jumping to their deaths at a particular beauty spot – “Canine suicide puzzle” – (http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/0503/06-canine_suicide.html).

• ANSWERS: Which of the following reasons do you think is the answer to this mystery? Please add your own reason to the list before you begin. Give a mark of 1 to 10 for each reason: 1 = very probable, 10 = no way.

1. A ghost dog from the haunted house is telling the dogs to jump.
2. The dogs have had enough of the stresses of modern life and decided to end it all.
3. A wicked person is standing beneath the bridge with the biggest, most aromatic juicy bone they’ve ever smelled.
4. The dogs were abused by their owners and couldn’t take any more.
5. There are trees below the bridge. The tops of the trees look like solid ground to the dogs when they jump into thin air.
6. A mysterious virus has got into the dog food that gives dogs suicidal tendencies.
7. Scottish dogs want to start canine bungee jumping.
8. Dogs can smell or hear something that humans can’t, that makes them leap from the bridge.
9. Each dog has recently lost its partner and is too sad to continue living.
10. The dogs are part of a canine suicide cult.

COLLOCATES: Choose a keyword from the article and create a list of collocates. Turn the list into a ranking exercise. An example can be seen here from the lesson “Exploding Toad Mystery” (http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/0504/050425-toads.html).

• TO DEATH: Swelling or expanding to death must be a terrible and painful way to meet your end. Look at these other “to death” causes for dying. Talk about the circumstances which might lead to each death:

freeze to death / starve to death / choke to death / crushed to death / worked to death / clubbed to death / kicked to death / scared to death / bleed to death / strangled to death / tortured to death / stabbed to death / mauled to death / stoned to death

Rank each according to the following scale:

5 – That must be the worst way to go.

4 – I’d hate to die like that.

3 – That’s a really bad way to die.

2 – It doesn’t seem too bad.

1 – This one seems pretty painless.

MATCHING QUIZZES: Create a quiz related to the article for students to match the questions and answers. An example can be seen here: “Japanese Emperor and anthem” – (http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/0504/050426-anthem.html).

• FLAG QUIZ: Match the (nick)names of these flags to their countries:

• The Cedar Tree
• Five Stars Red Flag
• Tricolore
• Hinomaru
• Union Jack
• Maple Leaf
• Stars and Stripes
• The Hammer and Sickle
• The Southern Cross
• Star of David

1. Ex-Soviet Union
2. Australia / New Zealand
3. United Kingdom
4. China
5. France
6. United States of America
7. Israel
8. Lebanon
9. Japan
10. Canada

NATIONAL SYMBOLS: If the article is based on a particular country, use the national symbols, images, historical events, products, places, people, etc. of that country to create conversations. You could create a ranking or sentence starter exercise.

STEREOTYPES: If the article is based on a particular country, use stereotypes of that country as an opinion-based activity.

1. Are the stereotypes true?
2. Are they slightly fair?
3. Where do they come from?
4. What would the people from that country think of their being stereotyped in that manner?
5. Is there an element of racism in the stereotype?
6. Are the stereotypes universal?
7. Are you prepared to let go of the stereotype?
8. What kinds of characters are behind the stereotypes?
9. Have you met people from that country who confirm of dispel the stereotype?
10. What are the characteristics or personalities of the stereotypes?

MY RECENT ACTIONS: Students write down three actions they have taken that are similar to the ones in the article. This is especially useful if the article is based on feelings or emotions, such as kindness, anger, fear, joy, etc. This is an example from the lesson “Surrogate mother donates 5 boys” – (http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/0504/050428-surrogate-e.html).

• KINDNESS: Write down some kind things you have done recently and some of the kindest things you have ever done. Talk with your partner about these acts of kindness. Repeat the activity by writing down the kind (or unkind) things people have done for you.

THE THINGS YOU CAN DO WITH…: If the article is based on something useful, students brainstorm as many uses for it as they can think of. In pairs / groups, students decide which are the most useful uses.

INTERNATIONAL VARIATION: If the subject of the article has many international varieties, list them for students to talk about. An example can be seen in a lesson on rice – “Chinese thumbs-up for GM rice” – (http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/0504/050430-chinarice.html).

• VERSATILE: Rice is one of the most versatile foods in the world. Write down the different ways you know of using rice in food. Add them to the list below. Which of them sound delicious or otherwise to you?

1. Boiled rice mixed with hot tea (a Japanese dish)
2. Rice for breakfast
3. Rice and curry
4. Savory rice crackers
5. Rice cakes
6. Rice balls with a pickled plum inside
7. Paella / risotto / gratin
8. Sake
9. Rice baked in milk and sugar (English dessert)
10. A strawberry encased in sweetened pounded rice (Japanese sweet)
11. Other

“IS THIS YOU?” Write some scenarios related to the article on the board. Students must ask each other: “Is this you?” Students then answer the question and discuss whether the scenarios are in any way representative of their feelings, thoughts, opinions, etc. This is an example from the lesson “Two dead, 10 injured in Cairo attacks” – (http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/0505/050501-cairo.html).

• IS THIS YOU? Read one of the comments below to your partner and follow the comment with the question, “Is this you?” Your partner can use one of the following responses, before providing more details:

1. “Yes. That’s me through and through.”
2. “Yes. That’s me down to a T.”
3. “Yes. That’s most definitely me.”
4. “Yes. That’s me. That’s me.”
5. “Yes. That’s me sometimes.”
6. “Hmmm… That’s not really me.”
7. “No. That’s not me. Not at all”

• COMMENTS:

1. I’m on a constant state of alert. I worry about terrorism all the time.
2. I never worry about terrorism. It’s a waste of energy.
3. If I see an unattended bag at the train station, I move away from it”.
4. I get suspicious when I see foreigners in groups talking to each other.
5. Terrorists or no terrorists, I’ll go where I want in the world.
6. I check every Internet site for safety alerts before deciding where to go on vacation.
7. I like adventure. I want to visit the places other people think are dangerous.
8. I’m 100% safe. Terrorism will never affect my life.
9. Terrorists don’t frighten me. I’ll wear a T-Shirt with my country’s flag on it anywhere in the world.
10. At the airport I can’t stop looking at suitcases and wondering what’s inside.

SCANDALMONGERS: If the article is about a scandal of some sort, students talk to each other and add to the scandal, speculating and embellishing on the “facts”. Change partners. Share and compare gossip and add more to the scandal. After the students have finished milling around, seat them in pairs / groups. They then talk about the gossip they heard and discuss the likelihood of there being any truth in it.

WHAT IS IT? If the article is about an abstract topic, create some examples of that topic for students to talk about. This is an example from the lesson “Chimpanzee art up for sale” – (http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/0505/050513-chimpanzee.html).

• ART: What kind of art is your cup of tea? Are you interested in modern art? Do you painting? Do you have any paintings on your wall? What is art? Look at this list and decide which of these pieces of modern art is art:

1. A pile of house bricks arranged in a rectangular shape
2. Different colored photographs of a can of soup
3. Foul language painted on a vase
4. Splashes and lines of color made by a chimpanzee
5. A dead cow cut in half and preserved in a transparent plastic case
6. An empty room in which the ceiling light turns on and off at random intervals
7. A cartoon comic strip
8. An all black painting

THE YOUNG: Students talk about the news in the article and what it means for today’s children and their future.

1. Will this news be continuing when today’s children grow up?
2. How will this news affect today’s children?
3. What legacies of this news will children have to deal with when they grow up?
4. Will today’s children harbor the same fears, insecurities and animosities that their parents and grandparents felt?
5. Will today’s children make a better world for the future?
6. What kind of world will today’s children inherit when they are adults?
7. Will today’s children forgive the present generation of adults?
8. Will today’s children be more sensible than the present generation of world leaders?
9. etc.

MINI-PRESENTATIONS: Students have 5 minutes to put together a mini presentation based on the theme of the article. Present mini-presentations to the rest of the class. Have a question and answer session after each presentation. In pairs / groups, students talk about each of the presentations and vote on which one they thought was best. In plenary, a pair / group spokesperson tells the class which presentation was best and why.

IMAGE CONJURING: Put a list of keywords related to the article on cards, face down on the table. In pairs / groups, students turn over one card and read it to their partners, who have to write down the first thing that comes into their mind. Students then look at the things that were written and talk about the relationships or meanings of the associations.

WHAT THEY CAN DO: Write down the names of some world famous people. Students must talk about what these people could do to help in a particular situation or problem.

1. The humanitarian crisis in Darfur
2. Global warming
3. AIDs
4. The threat of nuclear proliferation
5. The price of oil
6. The fact that high profile US religious leaders can openly call for the assassination of democratically elected world leaders and not be punished.
7. The impasse over the Iraqi constitution
8. etc.

PARTNERSHIPS: Write down a list of world famous people. Students talk about how effective a partnership between any of these people might be in resolving the subject matter of the article. How could they resolve a dispute or make a situation better?

REPORTER WARM UPS: Students pretend to be reporters at the scene of the events taking place in the article. They talk to each other the conditions, what’s happened, who they’ve met, any dangers they’ve encountered, etc.

VICTIMS REPORTERS: Students pretend to be victims-turned-reporters. They tell the story from their side, explaining the history, the feelings of the people, what the outside world should do, etc.

PERPETRATOR REPORTERS: Students pretend to be the perpetrator of any wrongdoing in the article. That person is now a reporter and is reporting on his/her version of events. He/She talks about the differing opinions the world has on him/her.

DELEGATE: The teacher decides on a variety of jobs directly related to the news story. Students have to delegate different jobs to different students in the class. They must discuss who would be best in the particular roles. Once the jobs have been assigned, the delegated students says whether or not he / she would be good at the job.

RECORDS: If the news item is connected with record setting, create an activity in which students talk about various records.

• EXAMPLE: In pairs / groups, talk about the difficulties involved in breaking the following “longest time” records. Which ones would you like to try and why?

1. Being in space
2. Kissing
3. Not sleeping
4. Being alone
5. Being married
6. Speaking English only
7. Away from your country
8. Other

PERCENT STATEMENTS: In pairs / groups, students give a percentage to statements on a given topic, to show how far they agree with them. This is an example from the lesson “World record 80 years of marriage” – (http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/0506/050602-married.html).

• PERCENT STATEMENTS: In pairs/ groups, give a percentage to each of these statements to show how far you agree with them. (E.g. “I 80 per cent agree with the first one”; “I only 10 per cent agree with the last one.” etc.)

1. I would totally, totally love to be married for 80 years.
2. Eighty different partners in 80 years would be nice.
3. I would get sick to death of being with the same person for 80 years.
4. Marriage sounds like / is too much hard work. Staying free and single is the way to go.
5. I want a congratulatory card from the British Queen.
6. After 80 years of marriage, there’s nothing new to discover. How boring.
7. Staying married for 80 years means a match made in heaven.
8. Love is the most important thing in the world.

TIME FRAMES: Provide students with a range of time frames. They have to talk about an item of language from the article with reference to that time frame and their own lives, as in this lesson on marriage and feeling “Everest wedding” – (http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/0506/050604- everest.html).

• ON TOP OF THE WORLD: In pairs/ groups, tell each other a time you were on top of the world (or just very happy)….

1. Earlier today
2. Yesterday
3. Last week
4. Last month
5. Last year

WHAT MAKES YOU XXX ABOUT XXX? Students talk about their feelings about a particular issue. Provide a variety of adjectives and issues.

RUNNING THROUGH ONE’S MIND: Give students things that would run through their minds if they were in a particular situation, as in the lesson on a kidnapping, “Italian hostage freed in Iraq” – (http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/0506/050610-hostage.html).

• HOSTAGE: Pairs / Groups. What would it be like to be kidnapped? What kinds of feelings would you have? What kinds of thoughts would run through your mind? What would you think about these things: My future / My past / My government / Sleep / Pain / My family / Food / Freedom.

STAGES: Outline the different stages in the development of an issue, person’s career, political situation, etc. for students to talk about.

REASONS: The teacher provides a number of reasons or justifications for why something has happened. They have to talk about them or rank them in order of credibility.

NATIONALITY HYPOTHESES / STEREOTYPES: Teacher writes the situation of the article on the board. Students hypothesize about what people of different nationalities might think of the situation.

PERCEPTIONS AND REALITY: Students talk about the common perceptions of the subject of the article, (or the teacher writes them down) such as old age, homelessness, Americans, etc. Students discuss these perceptions with regard to how real they are. Students discuss how far a gap there is between the perceptions and realities.

THE BEST WAY: Teacher provides a list of the best ways of doing something. Students could also discuss the best way(s) of doing something and then share and compare their ideas. Students must then rank or discuss the pros and cons of the items on the list. This is an example from the lesson “Tom Cruise proposes in Paris” – (http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/0506/050618-cruise.html).

• PROPOSALS: Talk with your partner(s) about the best way to propose / be proposed to. Agree on a score from 1 – 10 (10 is best) for each of the following. Try talking to both male and female students. And then talk about reality and what happened to you / might happen to you regarding proposing.

1. At the Eiffel Tower
2. In moonlight
3. With champagne
4. And chocolates and strawberries
5. The guy down on one knee
6. A rented string quartet playing slushy music in the background
7. A huge diamond engagement ring at the ready
8. Fireworks when she/he says yes
9. A stroll along the Champs Elysees
10. A penthouse hotel suite after

BEST COUNTRY: Students talk about or compare which country is/ has / produces / etc. the best / worst of something connected with the article.

EVERYDAY EXPEDITIONS: Tell students they are going on an everyday expedition – shopping, to the library, to a sports event (anything related to the article). They have to talk about the details – Who with? Where? Which? What to do first? etc.

EXTREMES: Present students with a list of extremes (extreme weather, poverty, hunger, etc.). They must talk about or rank teacher-provided conditions regarding these extremes

ABSURDITIES: Present students with a list of absurdities related to the theme of the article. Students must talk about these. Examples:

1. Snow in the dessert
2. Everlasting chocolate bars
3. People learn to fly
4. Sexual equality realized
5. Men can now give birth
6. Time travel invented
7. No more war
8. Pollution: A thing of the past
9. Money grows on trees
10. USA follows United Nations

CONTROVERSIAL BENEFITS: Teacher writes down a list of possible “benefits” of a controversial issue. Students A play devil’s advocate in supporting these. Students B argue against the “benefits”. Change partners and roles. After doing this for a second time, students talk in pairs / groups (not in roles) about how much of what they talked about they actually believed.

POLAR DIFFERENCES: In pairs / groups, talk about the opinions people from the opposite ends of different might have on the article’s subject matter. Example groups may be based on:

1. North / South divide
2. Religion (Christians and Muslims)
3. Race (Blacks and Whites)
4. Class (Working class and the aristocracy)
5. Linguistic differences
6. Haves and have-nots
7. Ethnic background (mainstream and minority)
8. Education (highly educated and those who left school at fifteen)
9. Gender

THINGS: Put a list of “things” on the board for students to talk about (scary things, furry things, fake things…).

VERSUS: Students A are given one thing to argue for. Students B are given another thing to argue for. Students chat to as many people as they can, trying to defend their given “thing”.

OK OR NOT OK: Teacher writes a list of things that students must argue are OK or not OK. This is an example from the lesson “Spain legalizes same sex marriage” – (http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/0507/050701- samesex.html).

• SAME SEX SOCIETY: In pairs / groups, talk about which of these things are “OK” for same sex partners to do in your society.

1. Get married
2. Kiss in public
3. Adopt children
4. Hold hands in public
5. Live together
6. Tell people they are a gay couple
7. Wear matching clothes
8. Join the army together
9. Inherit property
10. Other

MY SITUATION: Students talk about the advantages and disadvantages of their own situation compared to the one described in the article. They must write down and then talk about five ways in which they are better off than the situation described in the article. They must then write down five ways in which they could help the people in the article to improve on their situation. Students change partners and compare ideas.

The Exercise in Action: Ask the class to form two concentric circles, with each person facing a partner. With the first partner, they share their answers to this question: “What is a skill you learned that you still do well?” Once each partner has given an answer, the inner circle rotates one person clockwise, and the new partners discuss a second question: “What is a skill you learned that you can’t do well now?” They rotate again and answer a third question: “Why did you retain that skill?” They rotate to new partners once more and answer: “Why did you lose that skill?” Finally, in small groups, ask participants to generate a series of
learning points to help them retain the skills they learn from that particular class.

The Exercise in Action: break the class into small groups, display a prepared flipchart page with the alphabet written vertically on it. ask a participant to share a random sample sentence from a newspaper or other piece of written material and spell out that sentence vertically next to the alphabet, creating random pairs of letters, stopping the process when the 26th letter of the sentence matches the letter “z.”  The groups are then asked to come up with names of famous people or fictional characters that match the random initials—for example, AN = Alfred Nobel; BO = Brian Orser—using each set of letters once and only
once. The team with the most names wins a small prize. (Note: This exercise is not as easy as it sounds.)

Virtually all security experts (as well as myself) are counseling users to switch to any other web browser — none of the others are affected, including Firefox, Chrome, and Opera — at least for the time being, though Microsoft has stubbornly said it “cannot recommend people switch due to this one flaw.” Microsoft adds that it is working on a fix but has offered no ETA on when that might happen. Meanwhile it offers some suggestions for a temporary patch, including setting your Internet security zone settings to “high” and offering some complicated workarounds. (Some reports state, however, that the fixes do not actually work.)

Expedient patching or switching are essential. Security pros fear that the attack will soon spread beyond the theft of gaming passwords and into more criminal arenas, as the malicious code can be placed on any website and can be adapted to steal any password stored or entered using the browser. It’s now down to the issue of time: Will Microsoft repair the problem and distribute a patch quickly enough to head off the tsunami of fraud that’s about to hit or will it come too late to do any good?

Meanwhile, I’ll reiterate my recommendation: Switch from Internet Explorer as soon as you can. You can always switch back once the threat is eliminated. (To clarify: You don’t need to uninstall IE, just don’t use it for the time being.)

Story from – Yahoo

This is not TEFL related, but a serious problem for computer users.