Teaching EFL/ESL using headlines

The basic idea is to use newspaper headlines n order to get students to ask questions and write the opening paragraph of a news story. This is aimed at intermediate students and above and will probably need 15 to 30 minute depending on the level of your students and the length of the article you choose.

Lesson Plan

1 Ask students what's the weirdest news story they heard recently. Student question each other about what the story is about.

2 Write a strange headline on the board (click here and here for some sites that have such stories every day). For example;

"Please don't invite us to your wedding, couple says"

3 Ask students what the story might be about.

4 Now explain that when a journalist writes a story the first paragraph has to answer five questions;

who
what
where
when
why

5 The students then write down their five questions, e.g. Who doesn't want to go to a wedding?"

6 They write down their own opening paragraph which answers their own questions.

7 Students check each others writing and make suggestions about how the story could be improved.

8 Give a photocopy of the original story and ask them to compare and contrast their version with the original.

"BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Fed up with spending too many weekends going to weddings, an Argentine couple took out a paid announcement on the social pages of a major newspaper expressing their desire for some social neglect."