Last month I posted an article on using newspapers in the classroom. A number of you sent me follow-up suggestions, and I wanted to share your ideas with the rest of the English Forward community.
Sarah LeBlanc from Austin suggested The Times In Plain English as a great resource. The Times In Plain English takes articles from current newspapers (The New York Times, The Washington Post, etc.) and presents them in clear, readable English.
Others of you like to use the New Readers Press newspaper News For You. A subscription is required for the paper, but some of the articles are available on their online site for free.
Easy English Times is also popular. In addition to articles on current events, Easy English Times also publishes articles written by students themselves. There is a charge to subscribe to Easy English Times, but you can request a free sample copy on their website if you’re interested in checking it out.
Also check out VOA Learning English , and this site I just ran across – News in Levels. Both these sites include articles adapted to different levels. VOA English’s articles are more advanced, but News In Levels has four levels of the same article. The lowest level consists of just images and vocabulary, and could be used with even the lowest level students. What I like about this is that students in the same class can be working on the same article at different levels.
Sharon Sloan of the Carroll County Literacy Coalition asked for suggestions of how to use News For You in the English Forward classroom. I’ve included a few ideas below that align with English Forward and encourage student interaction. These suggestions apply not only to News For You, but to the other resources you all have shared.
**Find an article in the newspaper that corresponds to one of the Units in the English Forward curriculum and use it to supplement the lesson.
**Select an article on a topic of interest to students and use the lesson flow to write you own English Forward lesson.
**Establish a routine at the beginning of each class and talk about what’s new in the world. If a student brings up a world event that garners lots of interest and discussion, find a related article and investigate the event further as a class.
**Download an article on an issue that allows students take sides, for example animal rights or home schooling. Read the article together as a class and then share opinions. This could be as simple as asking students to survey each other and ask if they are for or against the issue. If you have more advanced students, they could work in pairs to make pro and con lists, or even have a debate in class.
Still want more? Check out this article from The New York Times on 10 ways to use the Times to support your students learning English. Some of the suggestions are based on reading, writing, & grammar, but there are also ideas for games, working with photos from the paper, class projects, and cultural activities.
What other ideas do you have for using newspapers in the English Forward classroom? Leave a comment below.