Breaking News

Materials

• Worksheet (provided)

How to do the Activity

1. If necessary, review the grammar you want to use. This should be either "(be) going to" or "will" to talk about future events.
   
2. Split the class into pairs and give each student a copy of the worksheet. Depending on the level of your class, you could consider splitting them into groups instead.
   
3. Go over the given names and actions. Make sure that the students know who each person is, understand the actions, and know how to read the names and actions.
   
4. Give an example news story of your own. Make sure that it's interesting so it'll put the students in the right head space.
5. Explain that the students are going to make a news story. They have to use the grammar, but they can write whatever they want. They don't have to use the given names and actions, those are just examples. Each sentence should begin with the grammar. Assuming the students are okay with it, they could even write a story about their fellow classmates.
   
6. Give them at least 10 minutes to write their news report. While they're working on it, help them with the writing. I put it on the worksheet, but they should be thinking about the w-questions. They probably don't know "because," yet, so I didn't include "why" in the list, but they can think about that too.
7. If any pairs finish early, have them practice reading their report. After the 10 minutes (or however long you gave them), have each pair come to the front of the classroom and present their report. If they didn't get a chance to practice, tell them to just alternate reading sentences.
   
8. After each presentation, check for understanding with the other pairs. Make sure that they were actually listening to the presentation.
   

Other Notes

• Try to help the students make interesting stories. I think it works well if they try to incorporate many people together. These stories are also usually closer to fantasies than news stories. Let the students be creative.
  
• I put ALT and JTE on the worksheet, so you'll have to put in the corresponding names. If there's any other names you want to use, feel free to change the examples.
  
• Depending on the time and flow of the class, it's okay if not all the stories are finished. Just try to help everyone to write at least three or four sentences.
  

Files:

Small files

Breaking News.docx (289 KB)