If the city or country you are working in is in the international news for any reason (hopefully a positive one), this is an ideal opportunity to create a reading activity for all your students which should be highly motivating and interesting for them.
Here's how: Go to the on-line newspaper of your choice (there are links to these sites here). Choose an article which you think your students will be interested in, then use the mouse to highlight the text. Right click and choose 'copy', then open up your word processing program (I use Microsoft Word). In a new file, right click and select 'paste'.
You will probably see lots of strange symbols above and below the text. These are links on the newspaper site. You can remove them by highlighting them, right clicking and selecting 'cut'. When you are happy with the format (and it fits on one page if you want to save photocopies), go to page two and create your activity.
If you'd like to see how one article can be used for students of all levels of English, take a look at the links below to Viv's end of year newspaper reading activity. This article appeared on the Guardian web site and it was about the police occupation of a shanty-town in the city where Viv is working - Rio.
When creating reading activities based on real-life materials, it's important the ADAPT THE EXERCISE TO THE STUDENT, and not change the original article. Below you can see how Viv used the same article to produce different exercises for students at six different levels of English, simply by increasing the number of gaps in the original text and saving the article each time at the new level.
This is how he used the materials:
Preparation: Viv made enough copies for the activity so that each student had a version adequate for his or her own level of English.
Activity 1:
1. We practiced saying the numbers on page 2 and revised articles and prepositions if already organised in the students' notebooks.
2. In class we reviewed all the vocabulary items on page 2, writing the translation (and pronunciation) for new words in the spaces provided.
3. On page 1, we then looked at the headline and saw how the vocabulary necessary to understand it was already on page 2. Then we completed the gaps in paragraph 1 together, so that the student could practice dealing with both types of gaps (dotted and underlined). Where appropriate, attention was drawn to the numbers in brackets after the articles and prepositions. These show the number of times this word has been removed from the text.
4. The remaining gaps were set for homework.
5. Viv checked the exercise, circling the mistakes, then reviewed it in class with the student.
Newspaper reading activity - The Guardian website (December 2010).
Version of elementary students
Version for pre-intermediate students
Version for intermediate students
Version for upper-intermediate students
Activity 2:
1. Practiced identifying new words by identifying part of speech and context.(see Viv's learning new vocabulary worksheet).
2. Presented the pronunciation of the words at the top of the page and then did the matching exercise (identifying parts of speech)
3. Revised prepostions in their student notebooks and set the prepositions gap fill exercise for homework.
4. Corrected worksheets and had a discussion on lowering the age of criminal responsibiliy.
5. Presentation of how to write a 'pros and cons' composition. Students wrote their pros and cons composition on this subject.
Newspaper reading activity - The Guardian website (April 2015).
Version for pre-intermediate students
Version for intermediate students
Version for upper-intermediate students
Ideas for a composition (newspaper article in Portuguese)
Activity 3:
1. Ask students to switch on their mobile phones and work in pairs to try to identify the translation of the words in the first exercise.
2. Deal with any pronunciation problems together.
3. Students at beginner level complete the exercise at home, using a dictionary if necessary.
4. Intermediate students do the word order activity in their pairs..
5. Upper and advanced students start the rconstruction exercise in pairs and try to complete it at home.
Oyster Visitor Card reading activity - Internet web site (October 2015).
Version for beginners, elementary and pre-int students
Version for intermediate students