Introduction chapter L. The importance of vocabulary teaching in language teaching

CHAPTER 3. USING NEWS ARTICLES FOR B2 LEVEL STUDENTS

3.1. News articles when used for language teaching

Topical news stories are a great source of teaching material. This article presents different ways to exploit news reports in the classroom and focuses on raising the level of involvement and participation that the students have in the lesson.

Using news articles: reading article
Selection criteria
Before reading
First reading
Second reading
Language focus
Follow up
Sources
Selection criteria
It is important that you choose your news article wisely. You should consider the following criteria.
Appropriacy of topic
Will your students be interested in the topic? Will it be upsetting for some students? Is it suitable for the age group?
Length
Be careful to avoid articles that are particularly long. Reading a news report in a second language is demanding, and if the article is too long it will discourage students. If the news report is lengthy, do not be afraid of editing. The style of news articles often means that entire paragraphs can be omitted without affecting the overall sense of the piece.
Language content
Besides the general interest in the topic, this may well be the most important selection criteria. Does the article contain a useful lexical set (crime, money)? Are there some good grammar exponents (past perfect, reported speech) or interesting syntax and sentence style? These will provide the basis of your language work on the text, how can the language be exploited?
Generative?
Can you think of a good way to follow up the basic textual work? Does the topic lend itself to discussion or role play? Can you practise the language further?
Task suitability
When working with authentic material there are issues concerning the authenticity of the tasks. The most authentic task is for students to simply read the article. Although we usually look to exploit the text a little more in the classroom, it is important to keep tasks as realistic as possible.
Before reading
There are many things to do before students begin reading to generate interest, build confidence and to facilitate comprehension.
Introduction exercises
These are used to raise awareness of the topic, activate knowledge and current language. The following activities could be used.
Discussion questionnaire
Students discuss questions related to the topic
Quiz
This can test their knowledge of the topic or people/places featured in the article
Pictures
Describing or discussing pictures that relate to the topic
Pre-reading Activities
These are activities that are directly related to the text, rather than the topic in general
Students predict the story from the headline
The students may need dictionaries and you should be careful of puns and double meanings. Students should work in pairs, and feed back ideas to the board/teacher.
Students predict the story from a picture accompanying the article
Predict vocabulary
Once students know the topic of the article, they predict words that they think they will read. Again, feed back these predictions to the board. As students read, they should tick the words they find. Which pair predicted the most words?
Vocabulary selection/sort
In this activity, the students are given a group of words, some of which are from the article, others are not. The students decide which ones are from the article. Obviously, they need to know the topic of the article.
Sentence selection
This is the same as vocabulary selection, but students sort sentences instead.
First reading
The first reading activities should avoid a large number of detailed questions. By the end of the reading the students should be able to give a brief summary of what the article is about, what the main points are.
Check pre-reading ideas (story/vocabulary prediction)
Ask one or two questions for general understanding
These questions should focus on the main point of the article
Put the text in order
Students are given the article which has been cut into sections. Working with a partner they have to reassemble the article. Be sure to make sensible cuts, so that either the sense of the piece or the language syntax can be used to put the story in order. News texts can often be put in several possible orders, so be careful - utilise dependent prepositions, pronouns and clauses.
Gap fill
Remove lexis or clauses from the text. Students try to put the words in the correct places
Second reading
The second reading should lead to a detailed understanding of the article.
Ask more detailed comprehension questions
True or false
Choose the best answer, a, b or c
Which paragraph says…
What do these numbers refer to?
What do these people think?
Information Transfer
Students complete a table or chart with information from the article
Make questions
Students read the article and write comprehension questions for other students to answer. This is best done in pairs.
Language focus
This is the time to exploit the article for its language content. News articles are rich sources of vocabulary, and also provide good grammar exponents.