Curated OER
A News Story of Your Own: Sentence and Lexical Variety
Given the two-sentence skeleton of a news story about a car theft/joy ride, budding writers create their own version of the story varying diction and sentence structure to heighten interest and complexity in their writing. Resource...
Curated OER
Writing a News Story
Students practice using their target language by writing a news article. In this foreign language writing lesson plan, students create a fictional "hero" in their city which they write a fictional news article about in their new...
Curated OER
Words In The News
A complete resource from BBC World Service provides informational text for English or ESL classes to teach vocabulary, grammar, and reading skills. Learners participate in small group work, whole class discussions, and role-plays to...
Curated OER
Press Review
How can word choice affect a political speech? Middle and high schoolers examine the text of the 1999 State of the Union Address, and then determine how newspaper articles and television reports describe and analyze the event. Use this...
Curated OER
Is Social Media a Trustworthy News Outlet?
Examine the role of social media in social and political uprisings. Pupils listen to NPR audio clips about social media and the Arab Spring and read an article that proposes the idea that revolution will not happen through social media....
Curated OER
Who Am I?
Your budding journalists need to understand the five W's for writing a news story. They read a story, complete several graphic organizers to help them organize and write their article, and then use a self-assessment activity to edit and...
Curated OER
Writing a News Report
Students explore journalism by analyzing current events. In this news report lesson, students identify important questions to ask during an interview and discuss a fictitious news story about a missing teacher. Students read published...
American Press Institute
High Five: Media Literacy and Newspapers
Teach the five different types of media with the first of three in a media literacy unit. Learners create and propose a final newspaper project, which must address information covered throughout the unit.
EngageNY
Grade 9 ELA Module 2, Unit 3, Lesson 1
"True-crime stories, murder mysteries, up-to-the-minute online news reports, and (as always) rumor and innuendo grab our attention faster than any call for justice, human rights, or ceasefires." Or so says Walter Mosley in his Newsweek...
Curated OER
Adjective? What's an Adjective?
Mount a variety of pictures (fantasy, rustic, portraits, action) on large sheets of paper and post them around the classroom. Groups rotate from poster to poster, adding adjectives to describe each of the pictures. Writers use these word...
Curated OER
Breaking News English: Apple Suing Samsung
Why is Apple suing Samsung? Give your English language learners a bit of reading comprehension practice. First, they read the short passage provided, and then they complete 10 activities. There are true or false questions, matching...
Curated OER
Writing Skills: Fables
Use fables as a fun way for English Language Learners to gain confidence and fluency in their reading and speaking skills. After reading a fable in class, they retell their story to a group of their peers. When this jigsaw activity is...
Curated OER
Anonymous Sources in the Media
When do people ask for anonymity? Why? After reading the New York Times article "For a Reporter and a Source, Echoes of Broken Promise," young readers participate in a roundtable discussion focusing on freedom of the press and the use of...
Curated OER
Words In the News Carnival Celebrations
Pupils complete vocabulary building and verb tense activities before reading an online article. They complete worksheets and an online quiz before writing a story about a hypothetical situation in which they have money stolen.
The New York Times
Stress Less: Understanding How Your Mind and Body Respond to Anxiety
What could be more relevant to teens and preteens than experiencing stress? Use an article from the New York Times website to practice valuable Common Core skills for informational text reading, and also get a discussion going in your...
Curated OER
Heaven or Ground Hog Day?
Learners discover the ideas of enlightenment by reading historical poetry. In this philosophical lesson plan, students read poems by Sir Walter Scott and Sergeant Joyce Kilmer while discussing the themes of the writing with classmates....
Curated OER
Comma and Semicolon: Test Yourself
A pair of complex sentences, drawn from a New York Times article about a police writing class, are punctuated differently with commas and semicolons. There's only one question, but it's a good one to press your grammarians to increase...
Curated OER
Examining newspapers
Students compare and contrast tabloid and broadsheet papers. In this journalism lesson plan, students examine how techniques and form differs from one type of publication to the other. The culminating activity is for students to take...
Curated OER
Grammar: Subject-Verb Agreement
High schoolers review basics of subject and verb agreement, and write sentences in which the subject and verb are in agreement.
The New York Times
Great Debate: Developing Argumentation Skills
"Advertising has no impact on whether people buy something." "Looting is morally permissible during national disasters and emergencies." "Gay teenagers should be allowed to take dates to the prom." Considering a class debate? Check out...
San José State University
Count and Non Count Nouns
Students can review the concept of count and non count nouns in this activity. Using this resource with an overview of the use of count and non count nouns and a short activity, learners can practice this concept.
Curated OER
Enough About I — Let’s Talk About Me
Students review parts of speech and share informative usage presentations to their classmates. In this grammar activity, students discuss the importance of using appropriate speech and then read "The I's Have It." Students create their...