1000 Ideas and Activities for Language Teachers – Sean Banville
2. NEWS Ideas to “test the water” regarding students’ opinions towards news and current events stories. This section 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: 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. 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. 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 idiom Breaking News English.com: http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/
Current affairs lessons with listening, vocabulary, reading and discussion activities. The site offers a 26-page printable handout and a 2-page mini-lesson as well as over 40 online activities and a podcast.
http://www.BreakingNewsEnglish.com 4