Theme: Current Events

Jamie Seaby

Field of Experience: Media

Experiential Goal: Create a newspaper

Steps:

1. Students will discuss as a class, any stories, magazine/newspaper articles, etc. that they have read in the past. How was the information displayed, formatted?

1. Students will discuss in small groups, what questions they will ask a journalist.

1. Students will interview a journalist and/or layout editor from a local newspaper.

2. Students will examine actual newspapers to become familiar with different layout styles, advertisements, etc.

3. Students will write an article from a list of the 5 W’s (ie. Who, When, Where, What, Why).

4. Students will compare how information is conveyed by newspaper and television.

5. Students will read an article headline only and write their interpretation of what they think the story is all about.

6. Students will work in groups to discuss what items they want to put in their group newspaper, brainstorming ideas and choosing who will complete specific tasks.

7. Students will create a story in their groups, each person adding to the story as you go around the group. The students can use this method to create some of the news articles if they wish.

8. Students will look at pictures and write a story of what they see. These stories and the method of development can be utilized in the final newspaper.

9. Students will organize and complete the newspaper.

Objectives (Students will . . .):

Communicative/Experiential:

1. Write questions to ask a member of a local newspaper publisher, concentrating on article formats and the overall layout of a newspaper.

2. Read and discuss with peers two articles that reflect on one event; Are they written from the same perspective? Which writer’s work is more credible?

3. Research many different newspaper sources (eg. The Globe and Mail, The Daily Gleaner).

4. Compare and contrast in a chart, how information is exhibited in newspapers and television.

5. Discuss and negotiate with group members using the target language.

Language:

1. Create a list of descriptive words that come from the articles read.

2. Orally use these descriptive words, with a partner, in a new unique sentence.

  1. Write a list of words that can be used when you interview the journalist or ask questions to the teacher.

Culture/Content:

1. Research sections of a newspaper that reflect different cultural aspects of society, create your own cultural section in your newspaper (referring to your own culture or that of the target language).

2. Create an article (or more) that describes a unique holiday, music, and/or form of entertainment of the target language.

General Language Education:

1. Teach to the different learning strategies in order for all of the students to accomplish language learning.

2. Students will be given the opportunity to relate their culture to the target language’s culture.

Assessment:

Criteria the students should consider when designing the newspaper:

- proper newspaper format and appearance, eye-catching too!

- general articles - local —> international current events

- advertisements for items (real or fictional)

- classified section

- entertainment, sports sections, etc.

- editorials, etc.

*Therefore, this newspaper is evaluated on the students’ ability to complete the above criteria.

Resources:

Anderson, Sheridan and Karen Roth. Writing Canadian English: Intermediate Teacher’s Handbook. Detselig Enterprises Ltd.: Calgary, AB. 1999.

Finocchiaro, Mary. English as a Second/Foreign Language. 4th edition. Prentice-Hall Inc.: Toronto. 1989.

Gibbons, Pauline. Learning to Learn in a Second Language. Primary English Teaching Association: Australia. 1991.

Richard-Amato, Patricia A. Making It Happen. 2nd edition. Addison-Wesley Publishing: White Plains, NY. 1996.

Shrum and Glisan. Teacher’s Handbook. Chapter 10 and pgs. 48-50. 1994.

National Core French Study Summary Report. Second Languages Bulletin. The Canadian Association of Second Language Teachers. June, 1999.

 

Lesson 1 - The Five W’s

Objectives:

— Students will be able to write an article from a list of the 5 W’s (ie. Who, When, Where, What, Why).

— Students will be able to work in a group setting.

Materials:

newspaper or magazine articles

Warm-up Activity:

• Ask the students if they know what the 5 W’s are, if they don’t know, explain them to the class.

• In groups, students will then read newspaper and magazine articles to identify the 5 W’s of each article.

Activity:

The students will stay in their groups of 3-5 people.

• Each member of a group will be assigned one of the 5 W’s.

• The students will then create a word or phrase that explains their ‘W.’

Eg. One student of the group is assigned to think of ‘What’ happens in a story. Another student is responsible for the ‘Where’ point of the story.

• The group members then put their ‘5 W’ words and phrases together, to form the resulting story.

Eg. What - a parade

Where - Cleveland, Ohio

When - December 12, 2000

Etc.

• This can lead to some interesting stories, revise them with the help of peers and the teacher and put them in the newspaper

Evaluation and Assessment:

• Ask the students; What did you learn from these activities? Do you think every article would include the 5 W’s in some form or another?

• Evaluate the students by: - their ability to work and communicate in groups

- their participation and completion of each task.

Lesson 2 - The Importance of Headlines

Objectives:

— Students will be able to create a story by listening and adding to their classmates’ ideas.

— Students will read a newspaper headline and write a story based on this one phrase.

Materials:

a story without a title

— a picture for each group

— article headlines from newspapers, magazines, etc.

Warm-up Activities:

The class will start off by asking the students what they have learned in their previous studies (eg. what the 5 W’s are).

• Discuss with the learners that the main idea of a story, article, or book can be portrayed in the title itself, which may only be a few words in length (Eg. Writing Canadian English).

• Have the students perform two warm-up activities

1) Students read a story once or twice and then assign a meaningful title to the story, they then discuss why they think the title suits the story.

2) Groups of students (3-5 people) are given a picture to which each student has to write a sentence relating to it. The students add their sentence one at a time and keep their ideas consistent with the previous student’s sentence. The students can pass it around the group until approximately half of a page is full.

Activity:

The students will now be given a headline from a newspaper, magazine, or other source (teacher’s imagination).

• Each student will then write a story based on their assigned headline.

• The 5 W’s (ie. Who, What, . . .) can be brain stormed and written out beforehand to guide them through the writing process.

• The students can then share their stories with classmates.

• The stories could then be edited by peers and the teacher so that the story can be compiled into the newspaper product.

Evaluation and Assessment:

Ask the students; what have you learned about the meanings of headlines/titles? What else did you learn from performing these activities?

• Evaluate students by: - their ability to work in a group setting

- their participation and completion of each task


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