16.

Writing Students compose a letter or write an article giving their opinion of the issues raised
in the news story.
17. Discussion Help your students prepare for a classroom discussion on the News story by
writing a list of discussion issues / topics. Give them a few minutes to prepare ideas and
language in pairs or small groups, before opening out the discussion to the class. You can
follow up the discussion by having student write a summary of the main issues under discussion
and giving their own opinion.
18. In their shoes This is an exercise which helps students think about things from another
person's viewpoint. Have them write a commentary about the News story from the point of
view of one of the people mentioned in the story. For example, if someone has committed a
crime, the student would write (in the first person) about why the person did what they did, how
they feel about it now, what they felt while they were doing it, whether they regret it now, what
they think will happen next etc. Another student could write about the same story from the
point of view of the victim, another from the point of view of a police officer etc. They should
try to incorporate some of the key language from the story if possible.

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Words in the News

bbclearningenglish.com

BBC Learning English 2008

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