By ESL MADE EASY - If you’re teaching English as a Second Language, using standard textbooks can get tiring after a while. Students may see the scenarios you ask them to discuss as contrived or not representative of real life language applications, and teachers often get bored using the same lessons over and over.
However,
there’s one source of material that will never run dry, and that’s current
events. With so much happening in the world around us, there’s very little
reason to use the discussion sections in printed textbooks to strengthen your
students’ conversational skills. Need more convincing? Here are five compelling
reasons to use the news as a teaching tool in an ESL class.
1. The newspaper is an authentic
text.
Unlike the
awkward scenarios in most textbooks, the news is real (forget the biases) — it's authentic.
Students can actually take what they learn in class and have an actual
conversation, in English, with friends, family, acquaintances, and co-workers
about the same subjects.
2. It helps students build vocabulary
and learn idioms.
There are
some words that come up frequently in current news articles and nowhere else.
By using the news to teach, students can learn these words. Also, as students
learn idioms that are used in reporting and in everyday conversation, they’ll
feel more and more comfortable with the language.
3. It helps students learn what is
going on in their new country.
Many English
learners are new to Canada and therefore may not be familiar with the country’s
current hot button issues, key figures, or political climate. Using the news as
a teaching tool in class not only helps your students the language — it teaches
them important nuances about their new home.
4. It gets students in the habit of
keeping up with the news.
Once
students are comfortable picking up an English language newspaper or watching
an English language news broadcast, they’re more likely to continue the
practice long after your class is done. This is a great habit for them to get
into - they might learn to paraphrase all the crazy hoopla that's been happening with the US election coverage on CNN too!
5. It makes your job more
interesting!
The news is
always changing, which means that there’s always something new to talk about in
class. And while it’s true that you won’t be able to rely on last term’s
class prep to get you through your current class, your new lessons will take
the monotony out of teaching the same material from one term to the next,
and it will help you grow as a teacher.
Using
newspapers and news broadcasts in your ESL class as a teaching tool is an idea
that you should consider if you haven't already been doing it. You and your students will reap the benefits
mentioned above, and you’ll find yourself becoming much more knowledgeable
about what’s going on in the world around you.