TEFL TIPS – Teaching English with News

Ideas to “test the water” regarding students’ opinions towards news and current events stories. This writing also contains additional ideas to increase students’ motivation to study English using news stories.

1. THE NEWS HABIT: Encourage your students’ news reading / viewing / listening habits, whether it be in their L1 or in English. Keeping up with current events on a regular basis will provide the background knowledge for topics studied in the current affairs classroom. This should also make the transition into English mode a little smoother, a little less intimidating and perhaps less stressful.
2. THE INTERNET: Make use of the Internet to introduce current events ideas into your classroom. A few sites offering help with current events are:

1. BBC “Words in the News”: (http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/newsenglish/index.shtml) Listen to and learn news-related vocabulary from BBC World Service news stories. There is a weekly lesson complete with teaching notes and student worksheets.
2. New York Times: (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/index.html) Daily news lessons based on NY Times articles. Primarily for students at grades 9-12 but is also useful for more advanced ESL learners.
3. Voice Of America: (http://www.voanews.com/specialenglish/) A daily listening that is read at a slower pace. News articles centre on a core vocabulary of 1500 words, simple sentences, use of the active voice and no idioms.
4. onestopenglish.com: (http://www.onestopenglish.com/News/Magazine/News/news.htm) A free monthly lesson graded at three levels. Worksheets contain vocabulary, speaking, grammar and reading. News articles are from the UK’s quality ‘The Guardian’ broadsheet newspaper.
5. english-to-go.com: (http://www.english-to-go.com/index) Commercially produced lessons based on articles from Reuters News Agency. Lessons are at five levels and include pre-reading, reading and post-reading sections.
6. The School Times: (http://www.schooltimes.com/) Commercially produced monthly newspaper written in easy English. Comes with audio tapes and CDs. There are nine issues a year.
7. Breaking News English.com: (http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/) Daily current affairs lessons with listening, vocabulary, reading and discussion activities. Also has a podcast.

3. ADJUSTED LISTENING: Use the slower listening from sites that have graded versions of recordings. VOA uses language that is two-thirds the speed of regular native speed, while Breaking News English has two slower speeds. Alternatively, use a music player that allows you to control the play speed.
4. SHADOW SPEAKING: Encourage students to shadow-speak after the newscaster. They might pretend to be the caster or the reporter and try and copy the rhythm and stress.
5. BILINGUAL NEWS: Encourage students to watch bilingual news, with subtitles if necessary. Many national / state TV channels show the news both in the L1 and then again in English. Encourage students to watch the news in their L1 first to get the main ideas of the story, and then watch in English. The background knowledge from the L1 viewing should help comprehension in English.
6. LISTEN-CHECK-LISTEN: With news channels that contain the same news item in the students’ L1 and English, encourage students to listen in English first. They then check their understanding of the story by checking the same news item in their own language. Students then listen again in English.
7. REPEAT CONTACT: Encourage students to watch and listen to the same news item many times. Each listening should further attune the learner’s ear to the rhythm, intonation and pronunciation shortcuts that are vital for comprehension. Repeated listening will also allow students to hear items of vocabulary and grammar constructions they may have missed in any panic of a first time listening.
8. ACCENTS: Encourage students to listen to or visit sites that focus on the areas of pronunciation they are interested in.

1. For American English – http://www.manythings.org/pp/
2. For Australian English -http://www.flinders.edu.au/SLC/pronunciation_sites.html
3. For Canadian English – http://international.ouc.bc.ca/pronunciation/
4. For New Zealand English – http://www.ualberta.ca/~johnnewm/NZEnglish/sounds.html
5. For British English – http://www.learnenglish.de/pronunciation/pronunpage.htm

9. WORLD ENGLISHES: Encourage students to listen to Internet news stations from around the world. This will attune their ears to the many different accents they might encounter in their English listening lives. Radio stations can be found at:

1. Voice of America – http://www.voanews.com/specialenglish/
2. Australian Broadcasting Company – http://www.abc.net.au/
3. Radio Canada International – http://www.rcinet.ca/rci/en/
4. Radio New Zealand – http://www.radionz.co.nz/
5. Radio Telefon Eire (Ireland) – http://www.rte.ie/
6. British Broadcasting Corporation – http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/radio/index.shtml
7. For South African English – http://www.702.co.za/

10. PODCASTS: Subscribe to a daily news podcast.

1. To subscribe to a podcast students need a computer with iTunes, Media Player, QuickTime, etc. They can listen to the cast on their computer or download it onto a portable music player, such as Apple’s iPod, to take and listen to anywhere they want.
2. How to subscribe? Simply download the RSS software. I recommend http://www.ipodder.org.
3. Visit http://iteslj.org/links/ESL/Listening/Podcasts/ for carefully selected casts for ESL learners.
4. Subscribe to the mailing list at http://englishcaster.com/ to receive information on other podcasts for English language learners and native speakers.

11. SELF STUDY: Encourage learners to form their own current events discussion groups. Some ideas:

1. Learners each bring news items of interest and lead their own discussions.
2. Discuss the homework or lesson material from a previous current events class.
3. An article from a magazine or newspaper is agreed upon in preparation for their next meeting.
4. A topic is agreed upon for the next meeting. Students find information on this topic by themselves.
5. A news item is listened to, watched or read without preparation. Students help each other understand it.

12. ADVICE: Establish an advice board, corner or file somewhere in the classroom for students to share their ideas on how best to study current events. Alternatively, conduct a five-minute ideas-sharing session at the beginning or end of each current events class. This may motivate learners to find and experiment with new strategies.
13. NEWS DETAILS: Students ask each other and describe in the tiniest of detail when, how, where etc they read, listen to or watch the news

NEWS DETAILS
How do you get your news? Where do you read, watch or listen to what’s happening in the world?
Ask your partner the following question:
Do you ever read, watch or listen to the news [ LOCATION ]? Every time your partner answers “yes”, ask at least five more questions. Ask about the tiny details. Make a table like below.

NEWS DETAILS

Location	Listen	watch	read
In bed
Eating breakfast
Going to work/school
In a bookstore
In an internet cafe
During your lunch period
In the toilet
In the bath
In the evening
Going to work/school

Change partners and share and compare what you heard from your first partner. How many of your news gathering habits are similar?

14. FUNCTION OF NEWS: Students ask each other about their reasons for following the news. Make a table like below.

NEWS FUNCTIONS 1

Reason	Value	Explanation
To feel intelligent
To stay informed
Because I'm a world citizen
News is fascinating
I love discussing current events
To kill time
To find out new things
The news is living history
It keeps my brain active
It's just a habit

15. VOCABULARY MAGNETS: Encourage students to be vocabulary magnets and write down new words, abbreviations, acronyms, phrases, etc. that they hear or read. They share their words with the class in the next lesson.
16. WHERE IN THE WORLD? Students ask each other about which areas of the world interests then most in terms of news.Make a table like below.

WHERE IN THE WORLD?

Category	Value	Explanation
My hometown
My country
USA
South America
Europe
Russia
China
Japan
Africa
Middle East
Thailand

17. WHAT KIND OF NEWS? Students ask each other what kind of news interests them most. Make a table like below.

WHAT KIND OF NEWS?

Category	Value	Explanation
World news
Domestic news
Gardening
Motoring
Politics
Sports
Science
Entertainment
Gossip
Business

18. WHAT’S NEWS? Students talk about and bring each other up to date on the news stories they read, heard or saw that morning or the previous day/week.
19. NEWS STRATEGIES: Students talk about the skills and strategies they use when trying to understand the news: Make a table like below.

NEWS STRATEGIES

1.	Do you look at, read or listen to the news every day?
2.	Do you use a vocabulary notebook?
3.	Do you watch, read, listen to the news in your own language first?
4.	Do you use own background knowledge of the subject?
5.	Do you look at, read or listen to the same news item many times?
6.	Do you try and get the gist of the news and then build up greater understanding?
7.	Do you watch, read or listen to the news in English first and then do the same in your own language?
8.	Do you read the news and translate everything with a dictionary?
9.	Do you try to understand but then give up after two minutes?

20. HOMETOWN NEWS: Students talk about the recent news in their hometowns. Example questions: Use the questions below to talk with your partner(s) about news of your hometown.
What kind of news is normal for your town?

1. What’s the biggest news ever to come from your town?
2. What are the local newspapers like?
3. Does your hometown have its own TV news channel?
4. How often do you receive / look at news of your town?
5. Have you ever seen pictures of your area on national or international television?
6. What news stories have hit the headlines recently in your hometown?
7. Have you ever been in the local newspapers or on TV?
8. Is there any big news coming up in your hometown?
9. Who has made the biggest headlines in your hometown?

21. WHAT’S HAPPENING IN / WITH? Each student (or pair) writes down one current news item. It is their job to ask other students about that news. Once everyone has found out his / her information, sit down in pairs / groups, exchange the information and talk about the news. Encourage students to use the following exponents:

1. Do you know what’s happening in…?
2. What’s the latest news on …
3. What’s happening in / with…?
4. Can you bring me up to date on …
5. Have you heard the latest on …
6. Did you catch the news about …?
7. Are you following the news on / in …

22. NEWSPAPERS: Provide some pages from the day’s newspapers. In pairs / groups, students must chat about the stories or pictures on the pages. Change partners and report what previous partners said.
23. SHOW AND TELL: Students bring in newspapers and magazines from their own languages to show students of other nationalities (in a multilingual class).
24. VIDEO: Show the students video clips of the news item to be studied in that lesson (facilities permitting). Students watch the video and talk about it after. The teacher can stop and start every few seconds for students to continue or start new conversations.
25. NEWS CHANNELS: Students must compare different news channels – the ones in their own country and the international channels. Encourage them to talk about their opinions of news stations from other countries.
26. NEWSPAPER QUALITY: Students talk about the quality of the newspapers they read and which ones are best in their country. If they can, talk also about the newspapers from other countries. Make a table like below.

NEWSPAPER QUALITY

Category	Value	Explanation
Price
Size
Number of pages
Color photos
Cartoons
Free gifts
Supplements
Lengthy editorials
Guest columnists
Quality analysis
Fun items

27. CLIPPINGS: Students come to class with a short news item from a newspaper. They share what they have read and talk to other students about it. Other students ask questions. Students must explain their reasons for choosing the clippings.
28. NEWS ON THE MOON: Ask students to talk about the latest news from strange and wacky locations or places that might have out of the ordinary populations. Interesting places from which to talk about news might include:

1. The moon
2. The bottom of the sea
3. In the treetops
4. Inside the refrigerator
5. On top of Mt. Everest
6. The center of the Earth
7. Elevator #17 at the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur
8. In the cracks on the sidewalk
9. The White House bathroom in Washington DC
10. Inside their stomachs

29. ANIMAL NEWS: Students talk about what’s news with frogs, elephants, or any other animal or any inanimate objects. They could create the whole front page of a newspaper, complete with headlines and other information. They could also vote on the name of the newspaper (E.g. “Frog Daily”).
30. NEWS CATEGORY CALLOUT: Students face their partner and wait for the teacher’s cue. The teacher calls out a news category (Sports, Entertainment, Motoring, Computers…). Students have one minute to talk about the latest news on this category. At the next cue, students have to find a new partner and talk about news of the next category.
31. GOOD NEWS / BAD NEWS: Students have to tell their partner(s) about three pieces of good news that happened that day or week and three pieces of bad news. Change partners and report on what was discussed in their initial pairs / groups.
32. WAITING FOR NEWS: Almost everyone is waiting to hear news about something or someone. Students talk about the news they are waiting for this week.
33. ARE YOU WAITING? Teacher writes some hints on the board for students to talk about the news they might be waiting on:

1. Family wedding
2. Lottery winning numbers
3. Peace talks in Aceh, Indonesia
4. Someone in Iraq
5. A medical breakthrough
6. Will the star of the team be fit for the next game?
7. Weather news
8. My brother who’s backpacking through the Amazon jungle
9. The new 1,000 GB Apple iPod
10. Will interest rates rise or fall?

34. COLLOCATIONAL NEWS: The teacher writes different adjectives on the board. In pairs / groups, students must think of a recent news item that fits the adjective and then talk about why it fits. Other students could take a vote on how well the news matches the adjective.

1. Alarming
2. Dramatic
3. Encouraging
4. Gloomy
5. Happy
6. Importan
7. Ominous
8. Sad
9. Sensational
10. Shattering
11. Shocking
12. Startling
13. Surprising
14. Thrilling
15. Tragic
16. Unbelievable
17. Unexpected
18. Welcome…

35. ADJECTIVE NEWS: Teacher writes some adjectives on the board – perhaps pre-teach some that are in that day’s lesson article, or use those above. Pairs / groups of students have to make up a news story based around that adjective. Change partners and tell each other your news stories.
36. BIG NEWS: Students chat about their big news. Talk with your partner about the biggest news…

1. they’ve heard since their last lesson.
2. in their lifetime.
3. that has affected their life.
4. they have been part of.
5. that has emerged from their town.
6. this week.
7. they wish had never happened.
8. they are glad happened.
9. that has happened to their family or friends.
10. they are waiting for.

37. MY CATEGORY NEWS: The teacher puts some news categories on the board. Students have to relate the categories to their own lives and talk about anything that might have happened to them. Categories could include:

1. Sports
2. Finance
3. Motoring
4. Gardening
5. Property
6. Entertainment
7. Travel
8. Gossip
9. Space and Science
10. Business

38. NEWS ON THIS DAY: Take in the news that happened on this day 5, 10, 15, 20 years ago. Students talk about whether they can remember or know about the news and piece together what happened. Visit
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/ to access archives from the BBC.
39. HAVE YOU EVER? Students ask each other about their involvement with the news.
HAVE YOU EVER….? Discuss the following questions with your partner(s).
Have you ever…

1. worked on a school newsletter?
2. wanted to be a journalist?
3. been in the news?
4. worked as a newspaper delivery person?
5. written a letter to a newspaper?
6. got really angry with something you saw on the news?
7. seen a friend on national TV or a national newspaper?
8. seen a major news story being filmed by journalists and camera crews?
9. been angry with a newspaper or journalist?
10. cried at anything you saw on the news?

40. REPORTER THIS WEEK: Students pretend they are journalists working for an international news agency. They talk about where they would like to be and what story they’d like to be reporting on this week. The teacher puts a list of countries and stories on the board (prominent and obscure stories). Be sure to include the story to be introduced in that day’s lesson.
41. WORLD CHANNELS: In pairs / groups, students talk about their images of what kinds of stories are reported on the TV news in the countries below. Change partners to hear more ideas. Students could also talk about the kind of music that introduces the news, the presentation style, the newscaster’s fashion, etc.

1. USA
2. Brazil
3. Nigeria
4. Pakistan
5. Indonesia
6. Japan
7. Iceland
8. Saudi Arabia
9. Bhutan
10. North Korea

42. MEDIA: Students discuss which is the best media for news – TV, radio, newspapers, magazines, the Web or podcasts.

MEDIA

Points	TV	Radio	Newspaper	Internet	Magazines	Podcasts
Speed of reporting
Quality of reporting
Convenience
Background information
The news in English
Accessibility
Impact
Chance to get the news again
Other

43. MEDIA JOURNALIST: Students talk to each other about the pros and cons of working in the different news media in the above “Media” activity.
44. NEWS JOBS: Students talk about what kind of media job they think is best – camera operator, photojournalist, editor, newscaster, newspaper columnist, gossip columnist, Hollywood reporter…

JOURNALISM JOBS

	Glamour	Adventure	Money	Danger	Satisfaction	Importance
Reporter
Photographer
Editor
Newscaster
Columnist
Newspaper delivery person
Web designer
Radio commentator
Other

45. EVERYDAY NEWS: Students ask each other about the latest on different issues in their lives.
EVERYDAY NEWS – Talk with your partners about the news of everyday things in their lives. E.g.

1. Hair
2. Partners
3. Diets
4. Pets
5. Family
6. Shopping
7. Sleeping
8. Breakfast
9. Homework
10. Taking the train
11. Bicycle
12. Other

Change partners and report what you heard from your first partners.
46. YOUR NEWS: Students try to guess each other’s news. Use the topics from the above activity.
47. MY FAVORITE NEWS: Students talk about news of their favorite people and things. If they are not sure, ask them to make it up.

1. Sports player or team
2. Actor
3. Politician
4. Singer
5. Animal
6. Cartoon character
7. Country
8. Town
9. Environmental issue
10. Scandal

48. NEWS IDIOMS: Put a list of news idioms on the board for students to talk about

1. No news is good news
2. What’s news?
3. Catch up with the news
4. etc.

49. NEWSMAKERS: Brainstorm some people in the news and let students talk about them. Ask students to think of adjectives related to each news maker. Write the words on the board. Students must talk about each adjective in relation to each newsmaker. Some of the following adjectives might be useful:

1. Tired
2. Fed up
3. Stupid
4. Gorgeous
5. Evil
6. Angelic
7. Boring
8. Inspirational
9. Amazing
10. Sensational

50. BETTER STUDYING: In pairs / groups, think of ways you can make better use of your time to study current events in English more.
SITUATION HOW TO UTILIZE TIME TO STUDY ENGLISH MORE

1. Breakfast
2. Going to work / school
3. Watching TV
4. Walking around town
5. Surfing the Internet
6. Bedtime

After you have finished, change partners and tell each other about your ideas. Give each other advice on how to make your ideas better. Return to your original partner and incorporate the advice you received into making your ideas better.
51. MY ENGLISH NEWS: Students talk about the news of their studies. The teacher writes the following on the board for students to talk about:

1. Vocabulary
2. Grammar
3. Pronunciation
4. Listening
5. Homework
6. Textbook
7. Reading
8. Lessons
9. Studying ideas
10. News
11. Other

52. E-MAIL NEWS: Students talk about the news they have received from friends in e-mails or letters in the past week or two. Questions might include:

1. Were you happy to get that news?
2. Was it a long letter / E-mail?
3. Where did you read it?
4. How did it make you feel?
5. Did you reply straight away?
6. What expressions did you have on your face as you read the news?
7. What else did the letter / mail say?
8. What were your feelings just before you opened the mail?
9. What were your feelings when you saw you had mail / a letter from that person?
10. Does that person often write to you?
11. Do you reply to mail / letters quickly?

53. PHOTO NEWS: If students have a mobile phone or digital camera and have taken photos recently, they could update their partner(s) on the stories (and news) behind the photos.
54. TV NEWS: Students watch the TV news with the sound turned down. They have to talk with their partner(s) about the content of that news. This duplicates what a lot of people do naturally when looking at the news in the company of others.
55. PRESS CONFERENCE: In groups, one student at a time is interviewed by other students about what they did that week. Students must write down a set of questions they want to ask beforehand.
56. COUNTRY IN THE HEADLINES: Students talk about what their own country is most often in the headlines for and who the major news makers are.
57. NEWS TENNIS: Students ask each other for news on any topic they can think of. Their partner must respond with a news story related to that request – real or invented.
58. NICER NEWS: Students talk about recent news but change things to ensure the news is a lot happier. Students change partners and compare their happier news and vote for the happiest stories.
59. HAPPY OR BAD? Students talk about what kind of news they prefer – stories of disasters and war and the usual bad things, or happy news. This list of news events could be used for students to talk about:

1. Airplane disaster
2. Famine in Africa
3. Cloning of first human
4. Successful US Space Shuttle missions
5. Rescue of trapped submariners
6. An observed ceasefire in a war zone
7. The capture of an internationally wanted terrorist
8. An outbreak of a deadly disease
9. The price of oil reaching record highs
10. A woman giving birth to eight healthy babies

60. HAPPY NEWS: Students brainstorm happy news stories and talk about them. They must compare them with the more serious news and talk about which they prefer and why.
61. NEWS IN ENGLISH: Students talk about their experiences of watching / listening to or reading the news in English. Make a table like below.

NEWS IN ENGLISH

	TV	Radio	Papers	Web
First time
Last time
How often
Problems
Solutions to problems
Biggest success
What stories
Study hints
How different to your language’s media?
Other

62. ENGLISH NEWS VS. MY COUNTRY’S NEWS: Students talk about the differences in news and reporting styles of English-speaking countries and their own country’s media.

ENGLISH MEDIA / MY MEDIA

	TV	Radio	Papers	Web
Quality
Number
Bias
Propaganda
Primary focus
Commercials
Humor
Truth
Entertainment
Other

63. NEWSPAPER ANATOMY: Students describe to their partners their newspaper reading habits. The following questions might be useful:

1. How do you read a newspaper?
2. Which part of the newspaper do you start with?
3. How do you feel when you start?
4. Do you always read the paper from cover to cover?
5. Where do you usually sit?
6. Do you have a drink while you read?
7. Do you share the news with anyone?
8. Where do you finish?
9. Which sections do you skip?
10. Which parts do you really look forward to?

64. IS IT IMPORTANT? Students discuss the importance of news in their lives.
HOW IMPORTANT IS THE NEWS TO YOU? Discuss the following questions with your partner(s).

1. Why is the news important to you?
2. Do you need to know?
3. Why?
4. How do you feel if you miss the news?
5. Is the news more important than watching TV dramas or reading books?
6. How does the news change your feelings?
7. What kind of news is most important to you?
8. What region’s news is most important to you?
9. What region’s news is most interesting to you?
10. Do you feel different if you’re up-to-date with the news?
11. How often does the news make you angry?
12. How does the news change your perspective on life and the world?

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