Newspapers are short capsules full of things happening in and around human life. In today’s world, we are able to access newspapers virtually as well as digitally. In most of government schools as well as public schools of India, students are able to access free copies of newspapers designed exclusively for them. These newspapers can be used to make the experience of learning a second language such as English more long lasting and effective. The use of newspapers in ESL classrooms can in fact turn out to be the best way to integrate local knowledge with the English language, without giving it an elite/ foreign language status.
Needs of Young learners: Young learners have more physical energy in classrooms. They are more receptive towards the instructions given by the teacher. They are eager to follow the model that teacher produces. There is a never-ending flow of curiosity and zeal amongst them. They do not question the authority of the teacher in the classroom. They are not as restless and/or distracted as the adolescents. Hence the teacher can concentrate and succeed in forming right habits among the learners. What they need is maximum exposure to the right model using varied methods. Repetition of activities can lead to boredom so the teacher needs to develop their listening and speaking skills in the beginning and can slowly move on to the higher skills such as reading and writing.
ESL classrooms in India: ESL classrooms in India are mostly dull and mechanical, barring those in a few schools. The most popular method of instruction used by ESL teachers in India is the Grammar Translation Method. Learners lack exposure to the finer nuances of the English Language. Due to their over dependence on Mother Tongues, learners are not motivated and trained to think and respond in English. Focus is generally on learning rules governing utterances without being able to justify their relevance.
Teachers emphasize memorising poems and stories, but fail to assist learners to use the acquired vocabulary and structures in their daily life. As a result, the knowledge attained in a language classroom in India hardly gets extended to real life. The lack of regular use of the audio-visual aids such as dictionary, photographs, posters, songs or movies in addition to the textbooks further restricts the development of vocabulary. The focus is mostly on memorizing and/or reproducing the content printed in the textbooks. Hence, the only motivation for students to acquire the language is good grades.
Why use Newspapers? Although many purists desist the use of newspapers as the most appropriate learning aid for young ESL learners due to the prominence of shortened words / expressions used in them, one can’t deny that newspapers are one of the most economical and easy to use learning aid for most of the ESL teachers. Most of the popular newspapers publish school edition created exclusively for school students in India. These Newspapers are full of content which is appropriate for their age and interests. The harsh realities of outside world do not make headlines in these newspapers. Learners are able to know about new things happening in the world-events, functions, inventions, competitions and so on. The newspapers use short and precise language and photographs which is easy to understand for young learners. In order to improve the transfer value of classroom interaction newspapers can come handy. Learners can relate with these expressions and reproduce them in their daily life experiences.3 Activities using Newspapers: Easy activities using newspapers can be designed to develop all linguistic competencies in school students. The teachers need to be creative and unpredictable while planning these activities. Every day the newspapers should be used to develop a new competency. In this way, the use of newspapers will not turn out to be mundane. Curiosity must be used as a motivating factor for the young learners to make their learning experience worthwhile.
Activity 01: Word Hunts: Write five words with page numbers on the display board and ask the students to locate these words in the newspaper. Once everyone has located the words, ask each one of them to look up their meaning and usage in the dictionary. Tell some of them to come up to the board and write the meaning and usage of the words, one by one. If this is easy for learners, make it a time-bound activity.
Variations: Write five words related to one news snippet/ one specific field of news, say, sports, trade, political news and so on. Ask the learners to guess the field / area of news to which these words belong. This way the learners can be introduced to contextually related type of words.
With very young learners, such as that of primary classes, ask them to find words starting with a specific alphabet or sound pattern.
Circle some prominent easy words in the newspaper and ask the learners to tell you some more words rhyming with the circled ones.
Focus on the functions of the words in addition to their meaning and usage, for example ask learners to pick up any five naming words/ action words/ describing words and so on (adverbs/ nouns/ verbs/ adjectives).
Suitable Level: Beginners
Focus: Vocabulary
Activity 02: Breaking News: Choose some short news snippets on interesting topics related to the learners and ask them to read aloud in front of the whole class. Give special importance to the way they utter each word and say it in a connected sentence. Give a demonstration to the learners once at the beginning of the activity. Show them some news clippings from Television shows, if possible. Give them some standard introductory phrases and sentences such as: Good
_______, I am _______ and I will present the news for the day________. Do not correct them individually while they are delivering the news. Note down all the errors and give the corrections to the whole class. This way they will not be singled out and be motivated to correct their errors.
Suitable Level: Beginners
Focus: Pronunciation, Reading connected speech
Activity 03: Picture Perfect: This is a very interesting activity which can be used for developing many skills simultaneously, step by step. Pick some still Photographs from the newspapers and show them these photographs one by one. Ask them to write one word/ phrase which comes to their mind after looking at the snap.
Variation: Show them photographs where some human beings can be seen displaying definite emotions and/or in action can be seen. Ask the learners to describe the emotions they feel are visible in the photographs. Ask them to describe the actions/ events taking place in the photos. If you find the learners enjoying this activity go one step further and ask them to build imaginary slogans, headlines and or stories around these photographs.
Conduct a debate where the learners take a stand related to the news based on the photograph. Let some of them speak against the issue or in favour of the issue. Teach them to agree/ disagree politely with the views expressed by others. Remember to choose a topic relevant to their age group and interests. Say for example: looking at this picture, they can debate whether cheating in exams can be dealt with capital punishment in schools.
Conduct a debate where the learners take a stand related to the news based on the photograph. Let some of them speak against the issue or in favour of the issue. Teach them to agree/ disagree politely with the views expressed by others. Remember to choose a topic relevant to their age group and interests. Say for example: looking at this picture, they can debate whether cheating in exams can be dealt with capital punishment in schools. In case of very young learners(primary classes), show them some
pictures of animals or objects and then you can introduce them to the sounds these animals make, the houses they live in and the places where the objects are found.
Try playing a guessing game in teams/ pairs where you show the picture to one of the learner and s/he tells three things about the bird/object and the others guess what this thing is.
Focus on drawing their attention to certain grammatical forms such as Use of past tense, Narration, use of adjectives to describe people, emotions and events.
Suitable Level: Beginners, Intermediate
Focus: Describing people and events; expressing agreement/ disagreement politely, Speaking and Writing Skills; Creative Writing
Activity 04: Reporting News:You can link this activity with all the activities given above in order to train the learners and /or at times to evaluate them as well. Show the students a photograph and ask them to prepare a news snippet using specific words (you have given them). Tell them that the news snippet needs to cover certain fundamental points such as: Headline, Byline and Source of news; date and place line and Sequence of events in the form of main body. Remind them about
the principles that govern / distinguish a news snippet from a paragraph/ summary of events: Accuracy, Brevity and Clarity of Information.
Variation: Give the learners a Headline and ask them to create a news snippet around it, imagining all the other necessary facts. Ask them to read aloud the news that they have created in front of the class. Applaud them on their effort and give corrections, if any required.
Suitable Level:Advanced
Focus: Critical Thinking, Ability to put events in sequence, Writing (short sentence construction, Reported Speech, Correct use of verbs) and Speaking Skills
Activity 05: Different Strokes: Cut out examples of different types of writings from a newspaper and distribute them amongst learners. Ask them what they think about the writing styles of each news. Discuss with them the differences/ similarities in these news items. Then introduce the learners to various kinds of writing one can find in newspapers:factual reports, advertisements, notices,obituaries, information about lost and found/ wanted items, cartoons/ caricatures, jobs vacancies, editorials and views on articles.
Assist them to try each kind of news one by one within a span of a week or so. At the end, ask them to create a newspaper for their school, with an example of each type of news.
Suitable Level: Advanced
Focus: Expressing Opinions fluently, Creative Writing Skills
i love this good post
thank you.
I needed to draft you one little bit of observation so as to say thanks once again for your lovely opinions you’ve documented in this article. It is quite remarkably generous of people like you to deliver openly exactly what a number of us could possibly have marketed as an e book to end up making some cash for themselves, most importantly given that you could possibly have done it if you ever decided. These inspiring ideas also served like the fantastic way to comprehend other people have similar eagerness like my own to know great deal more on the topic of this issue. I am certain there are millions of more fun opportunities in the future for individuals who look over your blog post.
I am only writing to make you understand what a remarkable experience our princess undergone viewing your webblog. She picked up some things, which included what it is like to possess an ideal teaching spirit to make the mediocre ones without difficulty master specified tortuous things. You undoubtedly surpassed readers’ expected results. Thanks for rendering those useful, trustworthy, revealing as well as unique tips on your topic to Mary.
what is tadalafil generic tadalafil
tadalafil gel
buy cheap prescription drugs online buy cheap prescription drugs online
generic pills for ed generic pills for ed
generic drugs without doctor’s prescription: https://genericwdp.com/ medications without a doctor’s prescription
overseas pharmacies shipping to usa: https://genericwdp.com/ generic pills without a doctor prescription
price of viagra viagra cost
viagra over the counter
viagra online usa where to buy viagra
viagra 100mg price
100mg viagra viagra from india
over the counter viagra
viagra from canada buy viagra online canada
price of viagra
order viagra online when will viagra be generic
buy real viagra online
viagra from canada best over the counter viagra
viagra without a doctor prescription usa
best place to buy viagra online over the counter viagra
viagra cost
viagra online usa viagra amazon
cheap viagra online
online doctor prescription for viagra viagra cost
how much is viagra
generic viagra walmart buy viagra online usa
viagra 100mg price
how much is generic valtrex cost of valtrex rx
drugs causing ed
zithromax online usa no prescription generic zithromax medicine
zithromax online zithromax pill
pumps for ed
zithromax price south africa buy zithromax canada
where can i buy viagra over the counter https://viagrapills100.com/ viagra online usa
viagra 100mg price https://viagrapills100.com/ viagra online usa
where to buy viagra https://viagrapills100.com/ buy viagra online canada
tadalafil buy – tadalafil meaning in urdu buy tadalafil generic online
buy viagra online canada https://viagrapills100.com/ viagra from india
how much is viagra https://viagrapills100.com/ buy generic 100mg viagra online
buying viagra online https://viagrapills100.com/ 100mg viagra
order ed pills drug store online
ed pills online
male ed drugs ed pills without a doctor prescription
cheap ed pills
order ed pills order ed pills
cheap ed pills
Ohtlsy – ivermectin new zealand Tfgvyi lrfsgn
cheap ed pills from canada ed pills online
cheap ed pills in mexico
Pkyhno – vardenafil usa Ciaphq rcolig
Mvmope – furosemide uses Ffkzas hwkloz
neurontin 1000 mg: buy gabapentin – neurontin 300 mg coupon
http://prednisonest.com/# prednisone pack
hydroxychloroquine 90mg: buy plaquenil – hydroxychloroquine 200 mg price
Htqrxb – kamapls.com Jltrhb ysmjhy
http://gabapentinst.com/# neurontin 150 mg
zithromax 500 mg: buy zithromax – zithromax buy
Zmtkvv – 5 mg cialis Ocxtpk ozuegv
neurontin 600 mg cost: cheap neurontin – neurontin price comparison
Pffzff – over the counter viagra india Cycfca rohwxm
https://zithromaxproff.com/# generic zithromax over the counter
zithromax 1000 mg online
https://zithromaxproff.com/# zithromax canadian pharmacy
where to get zithromax
http://zithromaxproff.com/# zithromax cost uk
zithromax capsules australia
Klpahf – essay buy Kykroo tzkddr
http://zithromaxproff.com/# how much is zithromax 250 mg
zithromax capsules 250mg
Oabypy – how much is the cost of viagra Fiuydh esvjll
generic bactrim: order zithromax
terramycin price
order augmentin: ampicillin capsules
order doxycycline online
roxithromycin generic: minocin capsules
buy trimox generic
Rgcfqs – persuasive essay help Oabaug vfedip
cefixime capsules: augmentin tablets
cefixime online
Feiffd – who makes generic propecia Hraigf rugben
indian online pharmacies review: india pharmacies shipping to usa trusted india online pharmacies
Kjgxna – viagra pilule bleu Xlqmmw xiewbw
trusted india online pharmacies: order prescription drugs from india usa pharmacy india
online indian pharmacies: usa pharmacy india india pharmacies online
online medications from india: india pharmacy without dr prescriptions buy medication online from india
Jhwhak – buy finasteride 1mg online india Ffjkij fsbfgy
india pharmacy without dr prescriptions: india pharmacy without dr prescriptions india pharmacies online
erectile dysfunction pills: cialis pills over the counter ed medication
viagra pills: best erectile dysfunction pills review viagra pills online
viagra pills: kamagra pills kamagra pills
Yzdcjp – argumentative essay powerpoint Hqoeml izxvmy
order erectile dysfunction pills: erectile pills canada male erectile pills
viagra pills online: ed meds levitra pills
Nihfco – sildenafil dogs Prviqz tzjwow
online pharmacy viagra viagra without a prescription viagra without prescription
when will viagra be generic viagra without a doctor prescription viagra without a doctor prescription canada
is there a generic for viagra viagra without a doctor prescription usa viagra online without prescription
Ednlwv – custom written dissertations Nbvswg jqoyav
buy viagra viagra no prescription viagra without a doctor prescription
Gibxhr – furosemidelasixx.com Xxhdwq nahsut
https://doxycyclinest.com/# price of doxycycline
http://amoxilst.com/# medicine amoxicillin 500mg
http://diflucanst.com/# how to buy diflucan online
online pharmacies legitimate
mail order prescription drugs from canada
Wmjyij – buy brand name vardenafil online Pgajrz hawcey
https://clomidst.com/# clomid price
http://doxycyclinest.com/# doxycycline
buy viagra