- Didactic Guidelines -

Didactic proposal

This resource, entitled Writing a Newspaper, is the fifth one within What a Digital World!, an OER series which is addressed to EFL students of the 2nd year of CSE. However, as a teacher, you can implement this material on other levels by adapting or modifying its contents.

Here, apart form acquiring linguistic knowledge of the English Language, students will have the chance to know relevant contents about the profession of a journalist. They will become also able to distinguish the different sections in a newspaper and will go into the process of finding information to write a news story.

This project will enable students to learn and develop contents, procedures and attitudes related to the basic knowledge areas of communication, multilingualism and intercultural values of the new educational curriculum.

Writing a Newspaper-Canvas — *Download this Didactic Guideline in editable format or in PDF.*

By working on this resource, students will face some individual activities, but also some collaborative tasks and a final project in which they will use all their knowledge and will demonstrate how able they are to develop and consolidate some specific and key competences in several learning situations similar to those in which people may get involved in real life.

Writing a Newspaper has been designed to achieve the following objectives:

to learn while working on a project.
to encourage collaborative work, since most assignments require information sharing and interaction with other students.
to foster students' self-learning process by using IT resources.
to reinforce students' communicative skills through activities of listening and reading comprehension, but above all, through tasks in which they must produce their own oral and written messages.

The project includes several stages that students will need to go through to eventually do the final challenge based on the edition and promotion of an online newspaper. Within this learning resource, relevant language contents can be practised and a wide range of tasks (named missions in this OER) is presented so that students get encouraged to practise and improve the linguistic skills required for their final output.

About the project is the first section of the project containing information about the channels that students will use to publish and share all their work as we think that they will be happy to showcase their outputs to both, familiy and classmates. From the wide range of websites and social networks available, we suggest that students have their own site at weebly.com, just like a portfolio, where they can post all their work and complete a Learning diary that will help them reflect on their own learning process.

Encourage students to design their site following a clear structure. Their site must contain at least these pages:

Homepage, the first and main page which must include a title, index, images and a description of the project.
My writing guide. This page will include all the student's writing tasks and tips for good writing.
Key vocabulary . Students will include here links to the wordmaps and charts that they create using key vocabulary.
My digital resources.. On this page, students will publish the links to the digital material that they will have created in their tasks like the format of a newspaper and the design a flyer on a future event.

On the other hand, students can use Pinterest to share their outcome with the people they like. Google drive apps will be also used for writing texts and preparing presentations collaborativelly. Besides, students can collect and add notes about vocabulary and grammar using online tools such as Cacoo and Canva.

The other stages of this resource are listed in the Learning Path section of this didactic guideline. In this section, we include the learning objectives as well as the recommended timing for each stage of the project.

Curricular Framework

Competencias clave

Competencia en comunicación lingüística (CCL)
Competencia Plurilingüe (CP)
Competencia en conciencia y expresiones culturales (CEC)
Competencia digital (CD)
Competencia personal, social y de aprender a aprender (CPSAA)
Competencia ciudadana (CC)
Competencia emprendedora (CE)

Competencias específicas y criterios de evaluación

Competencia específica 1: Comprender e interpretar el sentido general y los detalles más relevantes de textos expresados de forma clara y en la lengua estándar
Criterios de evaluación 1.1. Interpretar y analizar el sentido global y la información específica y explícita de textos orales, escritos y multimodales breves y sencillos sobre temas frecuentes y cotidianos, de relevancia personal y próximos a la experiencia del alumnado 1.2. Seleccionar, organizar y aplicar de forma guiada las estrategias y conocimientos más adecuados en situaciones comunicativas cotidianas para comprender el sentido general, la información esencial y los detalles más relevantes de los textos.
Competencia específica 2: Producir textos originales, de extensión media, sencillos y con una organización clara, usando estrategias tales como la planificación, la compensación o la autorreparación, para expresar de forma creativa, adecuada y coherente mensajes relevantes y responder a propósitos comunicativos concretos.
Criterios de evaluación 2.1. Expresar oralmente textos breves, sencillos, estructurados, comprensibles y adecuados a la situación comunicativa sobre asuntos cotidianos y frecuentes, de relevancia para el alumnado 2.2. Organizar y redactar textos breves y comprensibles con aceptable claridad, coherencia, cohesión y adecuación a la situación comunicativa propuesta, siguiendo pautas establecidas, a través de herramientas analógicas y digitales. 2.3. Seleccionar, organizar y aplicar de forma guiada conocimientos y estrategias para planificar, producir y revisar textos comprensibles, coherentes y adecuados a las intenciones comunicativas.
Competencia específica 3: Interactuar con otras personas con creciente autonomía, usando estrategias de cooperación y empleando recursos analógicos y digitales, para responder a propósitos comunicativos concretos en intercambios respetuosos con las normas de cortesía.
Criterios de evaluación 3.1. Planificar y participar en situaciones interactivas breves y sencillas sobre temas cotidianos, de relevancia personal y próximos a la experiencia del alumnado. 3.2. Seleccionar y utilizar, de forma guiada y en entornos próximos, estrategias elementales para saludar, despedirse y presentarse; expresar mensajes sencillos y breves; y formular y contestar preguntas básicas para la comunicación.
Competencia específica 4: Mediar en situaciones cotidianas entre distintas lenguas, usando estrategias y conocimientos sencillos orientados a explicar conceptos o simplificar mensajes, para transmitir información de manera eficaz, clara y responsable.
Criterios de evaluación 4.1 Inferir y explicar textos, conceptos y comunicaciones breves y sencillas en situaciones en las que atender a la diversidad, mostrando respeto y empatía por interlocutores e interlocutoras y por las lenguas empleadas, e interés por participar en la solución de problemas de intercomprensión y de entendimiento en el entorno próximo, apoyándose en diversos recursos y soportes. 4.2. Aplicar, de forma guiada, estrategias que ayuden a crear puentes y faciliten la comprensión y producción de información y la comunicación, adecuadas a las intenciones comunicativas, usando recursos y apoyos físicos o digitales en función de las necesidades de cada momento.
Competencia específica 5: Ampliar y usar los repertorios lingüísticos personales entre distintas lenguas, reflexionando de forma crítica sobre su funcionamiento y tomando conciencia de las estrategias y conocimientos propios, para mejorar la respuesta a necesidades comunicativas concretas.
Criterios de evaluación 5.1. Comparar y contrastar las semejanzas y diferencias entre distintas lenguas reflexionando de manera progresivamente autónoma sobre su funcionamiento. 5.2. Utilizar y diferenciar los conocimientos y estrategias de mejora de la capacidad de comunicar y de aprender la lengua extranjera con apoyo de otros participantes y de soportes analógicos y digitales. 5.3. Identificar y registrar, siguiendo modelos, los progresos y dificultades de aprendizaje de la lengua extranjera, seleccionando de forma guiada las estrategias más eficaces para superar esas dificultades y progresar en el aprendizaje, realizando actividades de autoevaluación y coevaluación.
Competencia específica 6: Valorar críticamente y adecuarse a la diversidad lingüística, cultural y artística a partir de la lengua extranjera, identificando y compartiendo las semejanzas y las diferencias entre lenguas y culturas, para actuar de forma empática y respetuosa en situaciones interculturales.
Criterios de evaluación 6.1. Actuar de forma empática y respetuosa en situaciones interculturales construyendo vínculos entre las diferentes lenguas y culturas. 6.2. Aceptar y adecuarse a la diversidad lingüística, cultural y artística propia de países donde se habla la lengua extranjera, reconociéndola como fuente de enriquecimiento personal. 6.3 Aplicar, de forma guiada, estrategias para explicar y apreciar la diversidad lingüística, cultural y artística, atendiendo a valores ecosociales y democráticos y respetando los principios de justicia, equidad e igualdad.

Saberes básicos

A. Comunicación

Autoconfianza. El error como instrumento de mejora y propuesta de reparación.
Estrategias básicas para la planificación, ejecución, control y reparación de la comprensión, la producción y la coproducción de textos orales, escritos y multimodales.
Conocimientos, destrezas y actitudes que permitan detectar y colaborar en actividades de mediación en situaciones cotidianas sencillas.
Funciones comunicativas básicas adecuadas al ámbito y al contexto comunicativo: explicar las diferentes partes y secciones de un periódico, preguntar para averiguar información relevante sobre un suceso, redactar una noticia siguiendo los 5 principios de conducta de un buen periodista,, narrar de manera oral y escrita una noticia sobre un hecho pasado, informar sobre un acontecimiento futuro.
Modelos contextuales y géneros discursivos básicos en la comprensión, producción y coproducción de textos orales, escritos y multimodales, breves y sencillos, literarios y no literarios: características y reconocimiento del contexto (participantes y situación), expectativas generadas por el contexto; organización y estructuración según el género y la función textual.
Unidades lingüísticas básicas y significados asociados a dichas unidades tales el espacio y las relaciones espaciales, tiempos verbales en presente y en pasado, preguntas abiertas, tiempo futuro con WILL.
Léxico de uso común y de interés para el alumnado: partes y secciones de un periódico, tareas de un reportero, adjetivos de opinión, temas de actualidad, el medioambiente.
Patrones sonoros, acentuales, rítmicos y de entonación básicos, y significados e intenciones comunicativas generales asociadas a dichos patrones.
Convenciones ortográficas básicas y significados e intenciones comunicativas asociados a los formatos, patrones y elementos gráficos.
Convenciones y estrategias conversacionales básicas, en formato síncrono o asíncrono, para iniciar, mantener y terminar la comunicación, tomar y ceder la palabra, pedir y dar aclaraciones y explicaciones, reformular, comparar y contrastar, resumir, colaborar, debatir, etc.
Recursos para el aprendizaje y estrategias básicas de búsqueda de información: diccionarios, libros de consulta, bibliotecas, recursos digitales e informáticos, etc.
Identificación de la autoría de las fuentes consultadas y los contenidos utilizados.
Herramientas analógicas y digitales básicas para la comprensión, producción y coproducción oral, escrita y multimodal; y plataformas virtuales de interacción, cooperación y colaboración educativa (aulas virtuales, videoconferencias, herramientas digitales colaborativas, etc.) para el aprendizaje, la comunicación y el desarrollo de proyectos con hablantes o estudiantes de la lengua extranjera.

B. Plurilingüismo

Estrategias y técnicas para responder eficazmente a una necesidad comunicativa básica y concreta de forma comprensible, a pesar de las limitaciones derivadas del nivel de competencia en la lengua extranjera y en las demás lenguas del repertorio lingüístico propio.
Estrategias básicas para identificar, organizar, retener, recuperar y utilizar creativamente unidades lingüísticas (léxico, morfosintaxis, patrones sonoros, etc.) a partir de la comparación de las lenguas y variedades que conforman el repertorio lingüístico personal.
Estrategias y herramientas básicas de autoevaluación y coevaluación, analógicas y digitales, individuales y cooperativas.
Léxico y expresiones de uso común para comprender enunciados sobre la comunicación, la lengua, el aprendizaje y las herramientas de comunicación y aprendizaje (metalenguaje).
Comparación básica entre lenguas a partir de elementos de la lengua extranjera y otras lenguas: origen y parentescos.

C. Interculturalidad

La lengua extranjera como medio de comunicación interpersonal e internacional, como fuente de información y como herramienta para el enriquecimiento personal.
Interés e iniciativa en la realización de intercambios comunicativos a través de diferentes medios con hablantes o estudiantes de la lengua extranjera.
Aspectos socioculturales y sociolingüísticos básicos relativos a la vida cotidiana, las condiciones de vida y las relaciones interpersonales; convenciones sociales básicas; lenguaje no verbal, cortesía lingüística y etiqueta digital; cultura, costumbres y valores propios de países donde se habla la lengua extranjera.
Estrategias básicas para entender y apreciar la diversidad lingüística, cultural y artística, atendiendo a valores ecosociales y democráticos.
Estrategias básicas de detección y actuación ante usos discriminatorios del lenguaje verbal y no verbal.

	Writing a Newspaper (Intro to resource)	About the project	Getting informed	A Reporter's Life	Developing your News Report	In Brief	Breaking the News
CCL	-		X	X	X	X	X
CP	-	X	X	X	X	X	X
STEM	-			X	X	X
CD	-	X	X	X	X	X	X
CPSAA	-	X	X	X	X	X	X
CC	-			X
CE	-		X			X	X
CCEC	-			X		X	X
Competencia en comunicación lingüística (CCL), Competencia plurilingüe (CP), Competencia matemática, ciencia, tecnología, ingeniería (STEM), Competencia digital (CD), Competencia personal, social y de aprender a aprender (CPSAA), Competencia ciudadana(CC), Competencia emprendedora (CE), Competencia en conciencia y expresión culturales (CCEC)

Learning Path

Section	Objectives	Sessions
Writing a Newspaper	Introduce the topic to students.	1 session
About the Project	Make students become familiar with the structure of the project and the tools they will use to perform, publish and self-assess the tasks and the final challenge.	1 session
Getting Informed	Analize and compare different newspapers. Learn about the parts and sections in a newspaper. Read and listen to several news. Present the launch of a new newspaper.	2 sessions
A Reporter's Life	Learn about some kid reporters' fact files. Learn about how to gather information to write a news story. Practise open questions. Create and present a video report.	2 sessions
Developing your News Report	Learn about relevant contents in a news story. Write a news story. Design a timeline. Present a news report about a fact or person in history.	2 sessions
In Brief	Watch a video on Earth day. Revise and learn environment-related vocabulary. Practise the future simple tense WILL. Design a flyer promoting activities to celebrate an international day at school.	1 session
Breaking the News	Gather and organize the information students have collected. Design the format of a newspaper. Produce and edit the different parts of the newspaper. Promote students' newspaper on the web and social networks.	2 sessions

The tasks and the final challenge in this resource can be approached from several didactic departments working in a collaborative way. Here, we suggest some ways in which different departments could contribute.

We consider Multilingualism as really important as we think that students can enrich their linguistic learning and acquire intercultural values more easily if they develop their communicative competence not only in the official language/-s from where they live, but also in the foreign language/-s that they study. A way in which both, the English teacher and the Spanish teacher can coordinate their work together is by making students gather all the key words and expressions and write them in both languages so that they identify any English linguistic loans or linguistic calques and reflect on the big influence of the English language on the Spanish language.
The ITC Departmetn can help students on the use of the different tools and apps that are required to carry out the students' outputs.
In History, the teacher may encourage students to search for some important historical facts so that students write about and include them in a section about the past in the newspaper. This section could be entitled Did you know...?
Considering a didactic approach to this resource from the Science department, the teacher could foster the preparation of a list of eco-friendly measures that could be included in a newspaper section about environmental matters to promote and celebrate the Earth's day.

One way or another, all the didactic departments can take action on the contents of this resource, think them over and suggest other optional tasks that facilitate students the acquisition of the linguistic contents included and the development of the key and specific competences contemplated in the curriculum of the English subject.

Assessment

We highlight the formative character of the evaluation process within this resource. Along the project, teachers will be observing and monitoring the students' work and will use a system of rubrics to assess their performance in every task. These rubrics contain relevant criteria to detect any difficulties in the students' competential development and, with the feedback that these tools provide, teachers can readjust contents and take action in one way or another to help students perform their work successfully.

The evaluation process will also have both, a diagnostic nature and a summative nature.. All in all, the students' work will be assessed throughout the whole learning process. Find below some more information about the stages in the assessment process.

At the beginning of the resource

Diagnostic assessment. Teachers can get some feedback from students by asking them some prompt questions so that they can check the students' previous knowledge about the topic of this resource. Also, at this stage, teachers should inform students about the tools that will be used to assess their work, that is, rubrics, learning diary to assess students' own work and assessment sheets to evaluate their peers' work.

During the process

Teachers will assess their students' work by observation in class and they will use the rubrics listed below. These rubrics contain the relevant criteria to identify progress or difficulties in the students' leaning process. Each rubric is associated with a task in each section.

Rubric for assessing a presentation.
Rubric for assessing a questionnaire.
Rubric for assessing a video in the classroom.
Rubric for assessing an informative text.
Rubric for assessing a timeline.
Rubric for assessing a digital poster.
Rubric for assessing your digital site. This refers to Weebly site where students will publish all their work of this and other projects.

Apart from the rubrics, students will be able to self-assess their work by completing a learning diary with which they can reflect on how well they are doing.

Peer evaluation. Throughout the project, students will be able to assess their classmates' work with an assessment sheet with the items that they consider as relevant. This assessing tool can enrich the learning process since students are required to take on a critical point of view and so they can contribute to improve their classmates' outputs.

At the end of the process

Summative evaluation. Considering that the final challenge of the project must gather the main contents that students have learnt and practiced, this OER includes a final project rubric containing the necessary items so that teachers check to what extent students are able to cope with the learning situation suggested in the last stage: the edition and promotion of an online newspaper.

Tips for teachers

As a teacher, you may feel free to use the entire resource or just the sections that best match your teaching demands and the real conditions of your class group. Notwithstanding, if you decide to use this resource in its totality, we recommend that you consider the guidelines below before your students start working on the contents.

Info about structure & contents

Each section features the learning objectives, the contents and the activities that students must do to eventually be able to perform a task. Make sure your students know about the nature of the different tasks and of the final challenge they will be carrying out. You can devote one or two lessons to clarify the different stages throughout the resource and the tools and apps which students are required to use to produce and promote their work.

Assessment info

Raise students' awareness about how and what you will consider to evaluate their work. Focus their attention on the rubrics of the different tasks and of the final challenge so that they get to know about the way their performance will be assessed.

Encourage students to use their learnig diary so that they can reflect on how well they are performing in their learning process.This learning diary may help students themselves detect some learning difficulties that can be overcome with reinforcement activities facilitated by the teacher.

Within this resource, students can become teachers for a while and assess their classmates' outputs by designing and completing an assessment sheet with items that provide them with some feedback about their peers' performance. After completing this assessment sheet, you can have a class discussion with your students to analize the most common errors and the main difficulties that your class group has detected while analizing their peers' work.

Info about tools

Clearly, this resource fosters the use of digital devices and includes a wide range of apps to produce and share the students' outputs. However, in case that your students or school suffer from a digital divide, we encourage you to use this resource as a guide and make students work in an analogic way by using cardboards instead of digital posters, notebooks for writing tasks and as learning diaries or your classroom notice board, which can be used to publish and share your pupils' work.

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