Media Smarts
The Newspaper Front Page
Hot off the presses! A perfect instructional activity idea for a journalism class or even a language arts class looking to incorporate some informational texts. Young writers analyze the front pages of various newspapers to determine the...
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The Rooms in a Home
Enhance your foreign language students' skills to describe a house. After reading a description of rooms in a house in their target language, they work to answer corresponding questions correctly. Additionally, they view a PowerPoint...
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Sports Personalities in Advertising
During a series of four activities, class members examine and deconstruct advertising that features famous athletes. They determine target audiences, analyze ads, explore "emotional climate," and role play a meeting between a sports...
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Writing a News Story
Students practice using their target language by writing a news article. In this foreign language writing instructional activity, students create a fictional "hero" in their city which they write a fictional news article about in their...
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Media Awareness: Key Concepts in Advertising
Learners examine the basic concepts of advertising. In this media awareness lesson, students discuss target audience, art, and purpose in advertising to determine what makes an advertisement effective or ineffective. Learners evaluate...
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Persuasive Writing
Use a quick bell-ringer to interest your class in the art of persuasion. They brainstorm where they find examples of persuasion in their lives and identify who is trying to persuade them. Then they either fish through magazines or look...
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Jeopardy Game
Students practice discovering a target language by playing a game of Jeopardy. For this foreign language lesson, students utilize their target language vocabulary to answer Jeopardy style questions they prepared the day before....
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Expressions of Frequency
Students practice discussing timely manners in a target language. In this foreign language lesson, students discuss words that represent frequency such as never or often. Students create a timeline illustrating how often they perform...
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Let's Read the Newspaper
Students investigate the format of a typical newspaper. In this journalism lesson, students read a newspaper from a target language and discover the vocabulary associated with the news. Students work together as a newspaper group each...
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Passing Down Family History Through Oral Tradition: Corridos
Learners create and perform Corridos which are oral tradition ballads. In this Passing Down Family History Through Oral Tradition instructional activity, students interview family members using a predetermined list of questions. In...
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Media Awareness: Helping a Product Cross the Finish Line
Students develop critical thinking skills to understand and create advertisements. In this journalism lesson, students analyze the elements necessary for effective advertisements and work in cooperative groups to create and present...
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Television News
Different media sources portray news in a variety of ways. In groups of three, learners look at different news sources, bringing in all the findings the next day. Three handouts help scholars compare sources, define specific terms used...
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Basic Paragraph
Explore basic paragraphs. Young writers compose a topic sentence, supporting sentences, and a concluding sentence. This lesson is intended for use with a SMART Board, a software technology web link is induced.
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Kids' Newsbreaks
Group learners together to identify a question relating to an issue and create a 60-second kids news break highlighting information that begins to answer the question. They research and answer issue questions in a news story format.
College Board
Evaluating Sources: How Credible Are They?
How can learners evaluate research sources for authority, accuracy, and credibility? By completing readings, discussions, and graphic organizers, scholars learn how to properly evaluate sources to find credible information. Additionally,...
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Baseball Stories, Cards and Interviews
Everyone can be an MVP! Young learners create their own baseball cards about themselves in this autobiographical lesson. They use information about their lives to create a baseball trading card. They make flash cards using baseball...
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The Teen Scene
Pupils explore the methods used by teen magazines to attract a variety of teenagers. They evaluate existing magazines and in small groups, students create their own magazine that is geared toward specific teen demographics.
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Writing a Commercial
Students create a product and write a commercial to sell the product. They discuss the differences between ads for television and radio and ads for print. They discuss the persuasion techniques used by ad writers.
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Taking a Closer Look (Critical Viewing)
Students explore persuasive writing in advertisements. In this advertisements lesson, students evaluate tobacco advertisements for persuasion techniques. Students then create a counter advertisement against smoking.