Teach students useful phrases for chatting or gossiping, e.g. For this activity it is best to use tabloid newspapers or articles involving a bit of scandal, perhaps about famous people.
This is an easy activity for helping students to summarise articles. Tell them to cut out their 'treasures' and glue them next to the appropriate word in the list (or make a note of the page number). Write a list of articles / words / pictures which the students need to find, and give teams a copy of the list. This can lead to interesting discussions about current issues.įor this activity you will need a pile of old newspapers, enough to distribute amongst teams of 4-5 students. Ask a different student at the end of each class to find an interesting newspaper article and to summarise it to the other students during the next class, explaining why they chose it.
To encourage students to read newspapers in English on a more regular basis, organise short presentations at the beginning of each class. The winning team is the first to find all the answers. Pin up the articles around the room and ask students to walk around the room trying to find the answers. Write a list of questions based on a selection of newspaper articles, and distribute the quiz to teams of 2-3 students. Partners need to try and guess which of the facts are true and which have been changed. Get students to read aloud their own versions - this can create a lot of laughs!Īsk students to select a short item of news and to summarise it to a partner / team, changing some of the details. When they have finished, read out / tell them about the original article. Ask students to work in teams of 3-4 to come up with a story including these words. Choose eight key words from the article and write them on the board. Select an interesting newspaper article, preferably one which involves an exciting / unusual story. Get everyone involved by holding a vote for the funniest / most original answer for each headline. Collect all the responses and give each team a point for any correct answer, and for the funniest answers. Ask each team to come up with two possible answers for each headline: the most likely word and the funniest word. Stick the incomplete headlines on a piece of paper, photocopy and distribute to teams of 3-4 students. For example, How often do they use a dictionary? Do they take notes, or jot down new vocabulary? Do they skim read to get a general idea of a text?Ĭut out a number of headlines and from each one remove an interesting word (e.g. It might be helpful to share strategies for reading. Talk to your students about reading and comprehension of English texts.Most newspapers have an online version, where you can print off articles, e.g. You don't need to have a great supply of newspapers in the classroom.If you are teaching in an area where English-language newspapers are produced for the local community, these may include articles and topics of particular interest and relevance to your students. Use different newspapers to suit your students' tastes.Encourage students to read newspapers outside the classroom, explaining that ongoing reading can help them to articulate/discuss ideas more fluently, as well as read and understand a whole variety of texts.Below are some tips and activities which I believe can help. If used in a more inspiring way, newspapers can help students to develop not only reading skills but also writing, grammar, vocabulary and speaking skills. There is a danger of putting students off reading newspapers if articles are used in the same way as course books, with tedious comprehension activities.