FORT BONIFACIO HIGH SCHOOL

Makati City

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

LEARNING ACTIVITY SHEET

QUARTER 1

NAME: ________________________________________________ GRADE: _________________

LEVEL: _______________________________________________ SECTION: _______________
DATE: ________________________________________________

NEWS WRITING AND REPORTING

Title

Learning Competency Code:

EN10LC-Ia-11.1 Use information from news reports, speeches, informative talks, panel discussions,
etc. in everyday life.

Background Info for Learners:

NEWS

What makes a good news story?

News reports are found in newspapers and their purpose is to inform readers of what is happening in the
world around them. News reports have a certain structure that you need to follow. This structure is
sometimes called the Inverted Pyramid. This is what it looks like:

Headline

Who What

When Where

Why

How
 1. News Reports begin with a catchy HEADLINE.

2. The LEAD PARAGRAPH informs the reader of the most important aspects of the story as soon as
possible. The LEAD PARAGRAPH is often the only part of the story that people read. Use the 5Ws rule:

 WHO (is involved)

 WHAT (took place)
 WHEN (did it take place)
 WHERE (did it take place)
 WHY (did it happen)
 HOW (did it happen) – only include this if there is space

3.The BODY of the News Report gives more details and provides more information about the WHY and
HOW of the story.

4. The TAIL contains the less important information which is often omitted by the newspaper editor if
there is not enough space left in the newspaper.

Hints

 Your News Report should be easy to understand; every news story should be able to be read
by a twelve year old!
Try to be fair – include both sides of the story and don’t let your personal opinion get in the way of
reporting the ‘facts’.

Key Components of a Good News Story

• Attention-getting headline
• A strong lead containing 5 Ws and H (who, what, when, where, why, and how)
• Use of quotes
• Real facts (truth and accuracy matter)
• A strong summary
• Organization of the news (presenting information from most to least important)

What makes a story newsworthy?

Some key elements when considering “newsworthiness” are:

• Timing: If it happened today, it is news, if it happened last week, it’s not; with 24-
hour news access, “breaking” news is important.
• Significance: How many people are affected?
• Proximity: The closer a story hits home, the more newsworthy it is.
• Prominence: When famous people are affected, the story matters (i.e., car accident
involving your family vs. a car accident involving the President).
• Human Interest: Because these stories are based on emotional appeal, they are
meant to be amusing or to generate empathy or other emotions. They often appear in
special sections of the newspaper or at the end of the newscast as a “feel good” story
or to draw attention to something particularly amusing, quirky, or off-beat.
Directions/Instructions:
Read and understand the text given above and do the exercises that follow.

Exercises/Activities
A. News.. News… News…
Find a newspaper and evaluate one article from the newspaper if it contains the
key components of a good story.

Is the article a good news story? Explain.

_______________________________________________________________

Title of the News Story:

_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
____
B. Write a News
Write a news story on how you face the challenges during this
pandemic. Fill up the chart to help in writing the first paragraph or the lead.

Who is/are
involved?

How did it What happened?

happen?

When did it
Why did it
happen?
happen?

Where did it
happen?
 Title of the News

Lead

Other Details

Summary

Organize the information of your news story from the most important to the least.
Then, rewrite the final news story on the space provided for

__________________________________________________________________________________________
Title of the News
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
 Rubrics for scoring for Scoring the News Article

4 3 2 1 SCORE
Excellent Good Needs Revision Needs Instruction
Title/Headline The article has a creative The article has a The article has an The article is lacking a
title/headline that somewhat creative uninteresting title/headline.
catches the reader's title/headline. title/headline
interest.
Lead/Summary Lead introduces subject Lead introduces topic Lead introduces topic. Lead vaguely introduces
and immediately and engages the Somewhat uses the topic. Does not use the
engages the reader's reader's interest, 5Ws and 1H. structure of a lead.
interest, impelling encouraging
continued reading. continued reading.
Effectively uses the 5Ws Mostly uses the 5Ws
and 1H. and 1H
Clear Focus and Focus of story is clear. Focus is fairly clear, Story lacks strong sense No clear angle. Story is
Unity (content) Nothing detracts from but one or two areas of unity and focus. rambling and awkward.
the primary focus. may detract from the Several areas seem to
Everything contributes primary angle. detract from angle.
to the overall angle.
Effective Story is organized and Story lacks strong Story is choppy.
Organization Story is in inverted most transitions and organization. Jumps Organization is unclear.
and Flow
pyramid form with info connections are clear, around too much or Few effective transitions.
in descending order of but either lacks effective Not in inverted pyramid.
importance. It should be organization is transitions. Not in
strongly organized with somewhat lacking or inverted pyramid.
clear transitions and the sense of flow is
logical connections that somewhat abrupt or
create a sense of being story is not in
tightly woven together. inverted pyramid.
TOTAL POINTS

References for Learners:

English Learner’s Material for Grade 10
https://www.rcampus.com/rubricshowc.cfm?sp=yes&code=KX39B5C&

Prepared by:
Cherry Rose P. Creencia
Master Teacher I

Note: Practice personal hygiene protocols at all times!