Reading is one of the most important skills to practice in the language classroom! If I could have my students spend 50% of class time reading a book, I would be so happy; but alas, they also have to learn other knowledge and skills.. In addition, I want them to learn about other text types too, and one such text type is the newspaper article! Below I will share with you how I use newspaper in my reading skills lessons.
1. Teach about news article conventions
Understanding what newspaper articles look like (headline, picture, byline with author and location), how they are structured (headline, intro with who, what, where, when, why and how, conclusion), and what their purpose is (informing the reader = objective) helps students recognize news articles as such and knowing what source they're dealing with. I get them to practice writing their own news article using an interesting picture prompt which is a super active way of learning!
With my 14-year-olds, we create our own front page of a newspaper (tabloid or quality), and it's always great fun!
2. Reading comprehension
I like to create questions about the text they are reading. I mix multiple choice, open, true/false and gap questions. Very often I will get students to create questions for their classmates. On of the exams for English is a horrible reading comprehension test, and I think it's good if they understand the type of questions that will be asked beforehand. They always love creating questions for their classmates, such it's fun for them too!
3. Summarizing
Summarizing is a good skill to practice as well, especially when they go off to college. I often get them to summarize a news article. I will refer them back to the 5W+H questions (who, what, where, when, why and how).
4. Sequencing
At times, I will cut up the paragraphs of a longer article, jumble up the pieces, and ask students to put the parts back the way they were meant to be. What should come first, in the middle, and last? How can you tell that two paragraphs are related? I will teach about flow and linking words, as well as purpose of paragraphs.
5. Teach about text type
Next to news articles, newspapers contain other types of texts: opinion columns, letters to the editor, reviews, the weather forecast, etc. It's interesting and useful for students to learn about the workings of these types of articles and their specific purposes. We also practice writing for these different purposes, and I always love reading their opinion columns and reviews the most!
I hope you try out these ways to use newspapers in your reading skills lessons! I always enjoy it so much!
Would you like some ideas on using other text types, like Menus, Recipes, Brochures, or Magazines in your lessons? Check the links to find my blog posts on them as well!
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