Ghada Shawki Ghada Shawki

Writing a news report
Intermediate level

Description

In this lesson Ss will learn how to write a news report about a crime. They will develop the skill of picking the important factual information in an article or document. The lesson is designed as a guide to help Ss work in a communicative classroom environment making connections with different aspects of crime that blends listening, speaking, reading, and writing. In this lesson, Ss will have the opportunity to extract relevant information and rephrase it in a news style writing. Ss will present their reports without directly reading. Ss will present the work they did and the process that led to the conclusions they have reached. In this manner, they will present clues, use various verbs in the active and passive forms as well as include adjectives. Ss will answer questions about their case posed by other Ss, and they will highlight TL. Subsequently, Ss will exercise controlled, semi-controlled activities that will lead up to the free presentation in the end.

Materials

Abc Handout: handwritten notes by a detective
Abc Pictures of crimes
Abc Handout: exercise with verbs

Main Aims

  • To use TL in socially and culturally appropriate ways: Ss will distinguish between factual information and personal interpolation.
  • To use TL to communicate in public settings: Ss will use learning strategies to extend their communicative competence.
  • To use TL to achieve to obtain, process, construct, and provide subject matter information in spoken and written form.
  • Ss will create mental linkages by: grouping, associating/elaborating, and placing new words into a context. Ss will practice, recombine, and analyse with reasoning. Ss will overcoming limitations in speaking and writing.

Subsidiary Aims

  • Speaking: To provide fluency speaking practice in a explaining a situation, clarifying the cause and effect in the context of solving a crime.
  • Reading: Ss will read a crime report, three profiles of suspects, handwritten notes by a detective. Ss will be handed a list of information in the form of questions that will be a guide for them on the facts to extract.
  • Writing: To provide a brief news report on the crime. Ss will practice writing the past simple tense and the past perfect tense. Ss will get the change to express ideas in a coherent manner demonstrating cause and effect.

Procedure

Warmer/Lead-in (3-5 minutes) • To set lesson context and engage students

Write five jumbled words on the board and give the students two minutes to decipher them (Do one as an example so that student have the crime context in mind. Be prepared with pictures to elicit words if they are unable to figure out the words) 1. Iiahkingj=hijacking 2. ailj=jail 3. redurm=murder 4. stinglea=stealing 5. hefit=thief

Exposure (8-10 minutes) • To provide a model of the task and highlight useful words and phrases

1. Tell the students your own personal story about seeing a crime 2. Pair students off and give them two minutes to discuss if they have seen a crime . . . then nominate students to share 3. Elicit answers from the students and write them on the board. 4. Dictation- Dictate any words that students did not come up with 5. Handout Crime Sheets and explain what each is (three sets for three groups of students) 6. Ask students what each sheet is and ask them to highlight keywords 7. Pronunciation drills- first drill crime words chorally and then drill words to individual students 8. Read an example of the crime on the paper and ask the students to write (on a blank piece of paper) which crime they think it is, who did it, where and a short description of the circumstance that led up to the crime.

News report preparation (10-15 minutes) • To provide an opportunity to practice target productive skills

Ss are to prepare in their groups the news report. Each group will be given 10 minutes to present their report to the other two groups. They will be given the opportunity to use any facilities including drawing, pictures from the internet, using presentations and having other members from their group act out the crime.

Group Presentation of Reports (15-20 minutes) • To provide an opportunity to Ss to collaborate together into demonstrating language skills and understanding

One student from each group will be the narrator who will read out loud the report. The other members of the group will be assistants and/or actors of the crime scene.

Report (4-5 minutes) • To allow students to report on how they did the task and how it went

Ask each of the other two groups about the group that presented CCQs. Get feedback from each group on the activity, how they did on it and what they would have liked to have or do for improvement on the activity. Ask each group to hang news report and/or any drawings or illustrations they produced on the wall of the classroom.

Language Analysis (3-4 minutes) • To clarify the meaning, form and pronunciation of the task language

Present using the document display/scanner sentences that the groups had written that include past tense, past perfect and passive. Those are select sentences that the teacher wrote during the presentations. Ask student to read out the sentence and point out the verb and the voice.

Wrap-up (3-5 minutes) • To provide students with a top view of the lesson and instigate interest for after the lesson is over

Ask Ss what was the crime they faced the most in their work? Split Ss in pairs and give each pair a piece of paper with some verbs that were used in the lesson. Ss are to mark each verb with Past or Past Perfect and Active or Passive.

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