ACADEMIC SKILLS ENGLISH FOR THE 21st CENTURY

Teacher’s notes
Distinguish facts and opinions Levels 3 and 4

Warm up
Ask the students if they know what ‘fake news’ is. Have a whole-class discussion about their answers and link it
to the difference between facts and opinions.

Using the Factsheet

There are three possible ways to use the Factsheet:
1 Give students the Factsheet before the lesson, so they can read it at home and come to the lesson prepared to do
the Worksheet. If you use this approach, start the lesson by checking that all students have read and understood the
Factsheet and answer any questions.
2 Give students the Factsheet at the beginning of the lesson and start by working through it with the students.
3 Focus on the Worksheet in the lesson, then give students the Factsheet at the end of the lesson, so they can take it home
and keep it as a reference or revision tool.

Theory to practice
Students’ own answers
Students’ answers will vary. Make sure they are clear about which statements they have completed with a fact and which they
have completed with an opinion. They could work in pairs, taking turns to read their sentences and have their partner say
whether it expresses a fact or an opinion each time.

Using the Worksheet

Practice
1 You are going to read a text and see if you can separate the facts from the writer’s opinion. Before you read,
discuss your ideas as a class.
• Tell the students they are going to read a text and see if they can separate the facts from the writer’s opinion.
Before they read, have a whole-class discussion about whether they know how to separate the two.
• If students have already done the Factsheet ask them to call out the differences between facts and opinions.
• The main points from the Factsheet are:
– F acts can be proved either by written documents or sometimes oral statements from reliable people who saw
the event. There must be proof or evidence for facts.
– Factual statements are often specific and use numbers such as dates or percentages.
– Facts will often refer to an outside reference. According to the United Nations …
– Opinions often use descriptive words such as adjectives. The profits are enormous.
– Opinions are often general or less clear than facts. People are always buying new clothes.
– Opinions often use expressions such as I think or I believe that.

2 Look again at the Factsheet in your pairs and discuss the different ways you can see the differences between
facts and opinions in a reading text. Make some notes here to help you remember.
• Ask the students to look again at the Worksheet in their pairs and to discuss the ways they can see the differences
between facts and opinions in a reading text. Encourage them to make some notes to help them remember.
This activity will consolidate the discussion above.

3 Read the text below, which is from the Faculty of Arts, and look at the highlighted sections. Mark them as
fact (F) or opinion (O).
• Ask students to read the text on their own. Students mark each section as fact or opinion.
Answers
William Shakespeare was a British playwright F
is generally considered to be one of the finest writers ever, but not everyone agrees O
Dante, who was from the city of Florence F
Alfred Hitchcock, who was British F

Academic Skills: Teacher’s notes • Levels 3 and 4: Distinguish facts and opinions Copyright © Garnet Publishing Ltd 2019 1
ACADEMIC SKILLS ENGLISH FOR THE 21st CENTURY

Levels 3 and 4

was the best O

Many people say the best music comes from the UK O
It's impossible to judge and is perhaps just a personal thing. F

4 Compare your answers to Exercise 3 with your partner. Are they the same? Discuss any differences.
• Ask students to compare answers in pairs. Encourage them to discuss similarities and differences in detail.
Monitor and provide support to pairs as needed.
Students’ own answers
5 With your partner, write down a list of how you decided if the statements in the text in Exercise 3 were
fact or opinion. What did you look for?
• Ask pairs to write down a list of how they decided if each item in the text in Exercise 3 was fact or opinion.
Make sure they explain what they looked for each time.
Students’ own answers
(Make sure students have used different techniques to mark different parts of the text.)

6 Discuss your list from Exercise 5 with the class.

• Lead a whole-class discussion that covers each of the fact/opinion choices in the text, ensuring that all students
have understood the different techniques that can be used to assess whether information is a fact or an opinion.
Take this opportunity to answer questions and provide clarification where needed.

7 If you had to give five tips on separating facts and opinions, what would they be? Write them here and add
some examples if you can.
• Walk round the class while the students complete the activity. Monitor their work and provide support where needed.

Reflect
8 Have you ever had to separate fact and opinion in a text? Think about how you did it.
• Students can either do this activity in class, or they may prefer to have more time to think about it, in which case they
can do it at home and discuss their ideas in the next lesson.

Academic Skills: Teacher’s notes • Levels 3 and 4: Distinguish facts and opinions Copyright © Garnet Publishing Ltd 2019 2