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News-based English language activities from the global newspaper
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IATEFL Brighton 2011 Selecting news articles – what teachers can learn from newspaper editors Natalie Bennett Editor, Guardian Weekly Max de Lotbinière Editor, Learning English, Guardian Weekly Janet Hardy-Gould Writer, news-based classroom materials, Learning English
Abstract The editor of the Guardian Weekly international newspaper selects articles from a range of news sources every week. What are the key factors in the selection of an article and what can teachers learn from this process when they choose news texts to use in class? The focus is on making informed choices to help identify engaging and generative articles.
What is the Guardian Weekly? The Guardian Weekly is one of the world’s best-selling international weekly newspapers. It offers a unique blend of international news, politics, culture and comment, drawing on the considerable editorial resources of the Guardian, with selected features from the Observer, the Washington Post and Le Monde. It is read by more than 200,000 people in over 100 countries. As well as containing a diverse range of news and comment pieces, the Guardian Weekly includes sections on culture, science, book reviews and international development. Our monthly education supplement reports on the latest global developments in English-language teaching and provides lesson materials based on topical news stories. You can download our advanced and lower-intermediate level materials as classroom-ready worksheets at guardian.co.uk/education/series/classroom-materials
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News-based English language activities from the global newspaper
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IATEFL Brighton 2011 Selecting an article for the classroom 10 key questions “Newspaper editors have a clear idea of their “When presenting an article, editors always readers’ backgrounds and preferences through consider initial impact.” the use of surveys.” 4 Does the article have a strong visual and linguistic 1 Will the article grab my students? • The intrinsic interest of the article is vital. Will students learn something new? • Use informal activities to learn about the content that will appeal to students. • Involve your class in the selection process, for example: put eight possible articles on the wall, give students three “like” symbols (see below) to stick on articles that interest them. Use the most popular article in the lesson or subsequent lesson. • Trust your instincts. Would
you want to share a particular article with a friend, or link to it on Facebook or Twitter?
“Time sensitivity is a key issue for editors.” 2 What is the “shelf life” of the article? • Reflect on whether the events being reported are changing quickly. If this is the case, an article may not be relevant in a week’s time. • Choosing articles that explain the ‘why’ behind a story or have a clear angle, should increase the shelf life. • Older articles can regain relevancy if they share a theme or issue with a current news story.
“Editors aim to fill their newspaper with a range of “voices.” 3 Does the article provide variety in relation to other class texts? • Choose from a range of article types such as news stories, features, comment pieces, reviews or news-inbrief articles. • Select articles which support reading strategies that students may need to develop, for example: feature articles encourage inferring which is necessary for academic English.
impact? • The initial impact is often highly useful for prediction and schema raising activities. These can help to motivate learners and enable them to capitalize on existing knowledge to make the reading process more manageable. • Visual impact – look for: an inviting layout with text broken into chunks; photos rich in visual information or ambiguous images; information such as graphs or statistics in boxes. • Linguistic impact – look for: engaging headlines, an informative standfirst (or online trail) which contains key vocabulary; pull quotes with or without images.
“The quality of the article counts above all.” 5 Is the article well-structured and well-written? • Choose articles with a good “hook” – usually presented in the opening paragraph – which will draw readers in. • Look for a text that contains quotes which show different perspectives on the issue. These can be useful for teaching activities such as role-plays or debates.
“Editors like articles that generate debate and responses from readers.” 6 Will the article encourage discussion, debate or real-world tasks? • Articles that are likely to generate a response can form the basis of class discussions, debates, role plays or real-world tasks such as letter writing. • Remember the language generated may be more useful than the text itself.
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News-based English language activities from the global newspaper
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IATEFL Brighton 2011 Selecting an article for the classroom 10 key questions “Editors need to cut articles to fit spaces.” 7 Is the article a suitable length for my purposes? If not, is it the type of article that is quick and easy to edit? • Don’t be afraid to edit but always keep the writer’s original intention. • First analyse the overall text type. A news article will be much easier to edit – the important information should be in the first few paragraphs so you can often cut “from the bottom up”. Keep any spare paragraphs for possible differentiation in class – give them to students who finish early. • Feature articles can be harder to edit because their structure can be more complex, for example key themes might be introduced at different points or referenced later on. If class time is too short for a feature, give all or part of it for homework. • Use the “nibs” (news-in-brief articles). The job of cutting has already been done for you.
“Articles that appear in print and online are not always identical.” 8 Is there any advantage in using the online or print version? • Online headlines are usually more straightforward with fewer word-plays. They contain a high number of key topic words to ensure they are easy to search online. They are therefore ideal for prediction and preteaching of key vocabulary. • Note word-plays in print headlines are useful to analyse with advanced learners.
• The online trail (introduction that follows the
headline) usually contain more key words which can be useful for teaching. • Online articles may have links to audio, videos or picture galleries, ideal for extension work.
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News-based English language activities from the global newspaper
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IATEFL Brighton 2011 Glossary of newspaper terms “News content for international readers can’t be too culturally embedded.” 9 Does the article have a lot of specific cultural references? If yes, how easy is it to give learners explanations or support? • Don’t be afraid to adapt minor cultural references. • Prior to reading, give students adequate preparation for the cultural content. • Provide students with a cultural glossary.
“Complex language is not generally an issue for editors.” 10 Will my students cope with the level of difficulty of the language in the article? • Consider using only the headline, photo and first paragraph of the article. • Use a reduced number of paragraphs with a very simple task or outcome. • Provide linguistic support with pre-teaching of vocabulary plus bilingual dictionaries or online dictionaries. • Select texts from a bank of adapted news articles, for example from the Learning English section of the Guardian Weekly website.
Useful links Free Classroom Materials Download photocopiable worksheets from Learning English at: guardian.co.uk/education/series/classroom-materials Share your ideas If you have tips for using news content that you would like to share with other teachers send them to the editor of Learning English and we will put them up on our website:
[email protected] Subscribe to Guardian Weekly Save up to 33% on a subscription and have the Guardian Weekly delivered to your door: www.guardian.co.uk/weekly/subscribe
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the focus of a news story the name of the writer and sometimes their location at the beginning or end of an article comment an article that gives the writer’s opinion on a particular issue in the news copy the main text of a news article, also known as “body copy” cutout picture that appears outside a frame or picture box, often within text end note brief information at the end of an article about the writer or a reference from the article feature a longer, in-depth article which is different to the chronological format of a news story. It often starts with a scenario designed to grab the reader’s attention, and will only later focus on the main facts of a story, before building to a climax in the final paragraph. headline a short sentence that captures the reader’s attention and tells them what the article is about; usually using active verbs hook the hook in an article draws a person in; it makes the news story relevant and interesting to the reader indent a space before the start of text on a line, usually used at the beginning of a paragraph intro the first part of an article where the writer presents the theme or issues and gains the reader’s attention justified text when an article is presented with straight sides so that the text fills each line to the full width of the column or article space nibs one-paragraph news articles giving the latest key information on a story [news-in-briefs] news story an article which explains the “who, what, when, where and why” of a story (the Five Ws). It contains this information in the first few paragraphs. This type of structure is sometimes called the “inverted pyramid”, to refer to the decreasing importance of information in subsequent paragraphs. picture story a short article that accompanies a strong picture or image and headline, similar to a long picture caption pull quote a short sentence or direct quote from the article presented in large type and used to break up text and attract the reader’s eye ragged text when an article is presented with lines of uneven length, usually on the right side of the column sidebar a box presented along side an article containing specific additional information or a summary, often with its own brief headline standfirst a short introduction to an article that is separate from the main body copy trail introduction to an online article appearing under the headline and sometimes acting as a link to the full article
