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Getting informed

It's in the news

Let us start by having a look at several newspapers. Your objective in this mission consists of presenting a brand-new newspaper containing several parts and sections.

Picture of newspapers
geralt. News (CC0)

At the end of this section, you will have...

  • Analized and compared different newspapers.
  • Learnt about the parts and sections in a newspaper.
  • Read and listened to several news.
  • Presented the launch of a new newspaper.

Leading activities: newspaper contents

The activities presented below will help you acquire key vocabulary and useful language to perform successfully your first mission within this project. They are your first steps towards the final challenge of this project: the creation and design of an online newspaper.

Activity 1: Checking the papers

Let us start by having a look at several papers. Does your school have a newspaper? If so, can you identify the sections and types of news that it contains? You can also enter The kpcnotebook.scholastic.com website and choose two or three online papers. Check the parts that each one contains.

You can get some useful information about newspapers and their main sections and parts on the Slide share presentation entitled Parts of a newspaper and on the Parts of a newspaper video.

With a classmate, comment on the following questions.
  • What types of news are published on the front page?
  • Read several headlines. Do you think they are bad or good news
  • What "soft news'' can you read in the newspapers?
  • In which section can you check the time for a film you want to watch tomorrow?
    Individually, take the quiz on the TV411.org page. 
    Activity 2: Listen and speak (about papers)

    Listen & Speak

    Let's see if you can identify different types of news. Enter the News in Levels website, read and listen to several news. With your class group, suggest the newspaper sections in which you can include each news story.

    Sign in at Canva and create a chart where you will include five parts or sections of a newspaper. Include a picture to illustrate each part  Share your chart with your classmates on  Pinterest. and publish it on a page that you will entitle 'My digital Resources' in your Weebly site.

    Activity 3: One step forward

    Individually, practise more newspaper-related vocabulary with the Parts of a Newspaper Quiz at the ProProfs website. It is important that you know the different parts and sections of a newspaper because you are going to use some of them in the mission below.

    Extra resources
    • Reading news stories is a good way to improve your English. We suggest that you visit web sites such as  Breaking News English site to broaden your English level.
    • Cultural notes: In the United Kingdom, there is a type of "yellow journalism" which is published in what is known as Tabloids. Enter the Quora site to find out about the difference between a tabloid and a newspaper.

    A newsy launch

    Let us see if you are able to perform successfully the mission consisting of playing the role of a group of moguls presenting a newspaper. We encourage you to use the vocabulary you have learnt in the previous section and the grammar structures included in the instructions below.

    Newspaper launch
    kaboompics. Periódico (CC0)
    Your work
    • Get together in groups of four students.
    • Show the students in your group the poster you have created in the previous section and agree on the sections for the new newspaper you all are about to launch.
    • Agree on the newspaper's name. Let the name sound attractive.
    • It is a good idea that you include a section based on local news in which you can refer to facts and stories that happen at your school or where you live.
    • Create a presentation with the sections on which you have agreed. Enter the News in Levels website and select adequate news as examples of news for each section of your newspaper.
    • Distribute the information among the members in your group and write a draft.
    • Practise as much as you can before your presentation.
    • On a fixed day, you will present your slideshow to let your classmates know about the parts and contents of your newspaper.
    Work Evaluation

    Your individual and group work will be assessed by your teacher taking into consideration the 'Rubric for assessing a presentation' (download in editable odt format, download in pdf). You will also have the chance to evaluate your classmates' work using the same rubric or other criteria that you and your teacher consider as appropriate for this mission.

    Work Promotion

    Publish your slideshow (copy and paste the URL link) on the page entitled 'My Digital Resources'  in your Weebly site. You can share the file with the rest of classmates on Pinterest. To do this, remember to accompany your post with an image.

    Tips and resources
    • Do not forget to insert an image to illustrate each section. There are several banks of images online where you can find nice pictures (with a Creative Common licence) for your newspaper. 
    • To prepare your presentation, use adequate vocabulary. Use some of the adjectives that are included in the Learn English with Africa website. Include useful language to introduce the contents of your paper: Use present simple structures such as It has got, There are (five) sections, You can read some...Practise these expressions at the Woodward English website and at the Englisch Hilfen site.
    • The announcement of your brand-new newspaper also lends itself to use future simple sentences such as Our newspaper will contain... We will include...). You can learn and practise these forms on the To Learn English Site.

    Important and powerful people in a particular activity or industry.

    Learning diary

    We hope you finished this first mission successfully.

    Make a new post on your blog/diary with the title 'Getting informed' and type/write your answers.

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