Listening to the news by Sean Banville (Breaking News English)

Listening to the News
Sean Banville
www.BreakingNewsEnglish.com
(+10 other websites)

Listening to the News
1. Proof that news is great / important / a must …
2.

Why news is great for students (and teachers)

3. Problems students can have with listening to news
4. Some solutions
5. Many ideas for listening
6. Wrap-up


1.


1. Google search (26/11/2013) for:
news
English
business
love
movies
s_x
Barack Obama
money
present perfect
rap
grammar
vocabulary
ESL

2,950,000,000
2,410,000,000
1,660,000,000
1,390,000,000
878,000,000
692,000,000
645,000,000
619,000,000
277,000,000
156,000,000
40,700,000
26,900,000
16,700,000


1.
“Just wanted to let you know that I had a
major success today. I get the low level
readers as well as ESL. One of my students
is what one might politely call "behaviorally
challenged." He actually completed the
assignment on Hip Hop. This is the first
assignment he has ever completed. I did not
quite know how to react.”


1.
“Current events provide authentic learning
experiences for students at all grade levels....
In studying current events, students are
required to use a range of cognitive,
affective, critical thinking and research
skills.”
Haas, M.E. & and Laughlin M.A. ( 2000)
Teaching current events: its status in social studies today
(ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 440899)


1. Collocations: Everything in life!
International regional local world national
good bad sad bad tragic terrible happy
awesome incredible welcome brilliant crime
business sports traffic travel Hollywood
weird personal college school funny
breaking old emerging headline latest
gardening stamp-collecting jogging food
celebrity science technology health IT
Middle East financial property fashion
my your his her their our today’s…

1. Emotionally involved…
Motivationally involved.
interest disturbing pride anger pessimism
optimism hope doom dread belief inspiration
trepidation inquisitiveness hunger passion
thirst for knowledge belonging satisfaction
arousal wonder fire energy rage fury suffering
empathy caring delight xenophobia outrage
ambition confidence desperation wonder fear
anticipation dismay awe prejudice hurt elation
sadness euphoria misery…

1. Sources: Everywhere in life


1. Sources: Everywhere in life
Listening materials
television, radio, the Internet, Google News,
Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, newspapers,
giant TV screens at train stations and airports,
coffee shops, airplanes, outside hotel room doors,
overheard conversations at bus stops,
family and friends, colleagues, students,
on smart phones and tablets, and smart watches
and Google Glass……

2.


2. Why is news good for our students?
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.
i.

relevance / authenticity
magnitude and impact
informational and educational value
schemata from L1 (pre & post)
continuity (chances for follow-up)
emotional and intellectual interest
encourages conversation
the “prestige” factor
critical thinking / problem solving

d. schemata from L1

© 2013 http://www.asahi.com/articles/TKY201312100338.html?ref=reca


d. schemata from L1


e. continuity (chances for follow-up)

A major road-safety campaign is under way…
There was a major road-safety campaign in the UK…


e. continuity (chances for follow-up)

The charity Brake is also calling for motorists to…
The charity Brake called for motorists to …


3.


3. Problems with listening to news
a.
b.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.
i.

too fast
vocabulary / language
students might not be interested
topics (not language) too complex
insufficient background knowledge
easy to lose the plot
multiple accents
no script / difficult headlines / noise

4.


4. Some solutions
a. too fast
i. slow the text down
ii. put longer spaces to give students
extra processing time
iii. press pause


4. Some solutions
b. vocabulary / language
i. pre/while/post-listening activities
ii.grade and record the text yourself


4. Some solutions
c. students not interested
i.make them interested 
ii.ask them what areas of news they want
iii.personalise the news


iii. personalise the news
f. invent the headline news
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

The talking bus stop
Ten thousand pairs of jeans go missing in Russian town
Lions and zebras become good friends in Kenya
It’s raining pens and pencils in Chile
The remote control baby
Marriage proposals increase 300% in Brazilian city
The world’s computers’ space bars suddenly break
Harry Potter School of Magic opens at [name of your town]


4. Some solutions
c. students not interested
i.make them interested 
ii.ask them what areas of news they want
iii.personalise the news
iv.rap the news


4. Some solutions
d. topics too complicated


4. Some solutions
e. insufficient background knowledge


4. Some solutions
f. easy to lose the plot


4. Some solutions
g. multiple accents


4. Some solutions
h. repeated playings
“Practice makes perfect: the more they will listen, the easier for them
to understand the general context ...”
(Fakhreddine)


4. Some solutions
i. use www.BreakingNewsEnglish.com


5. www.BreakingNewsEnglish.com
1,810 lessons

(as of Dec 16, 2013)


Every 2 days


7 levels


26 page PDF with 40 all-skills activities


2-page mini-lesson PDF


multi-speed scrolled reading


5-speed listening
“Slowest is 10%
slower than “Slower”
“Slower” is 10%
slower than “Medium
“Medium” is 10%
slower than “Faster”
“Faster” is 10%
slower than ….

5-speed listening


25+ online activities


Dictation


Spelling


20 Questions


Reassemble the text


Grammar cloze


Articles cloze


Prepositions cloze


Sentence jumble


Whole-text reconstruction


Choose the correct word


Quiz


Initials only


Vowels only


Insert the spaces


40 all-skills activities


Listen for the missing word(s)


Fill in the gaps


Comprehension questions


Vocabulary multiple choice


Text jumble


Separate the words


•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

1810 lessons (16 Dec, 2013)
Every 2 days
7 graded levels (elementary to upper int)
5-speed listening
British / North-American English
4-speed scrolled reading
26-page, 40-activity handout
2-page printable mini-lesson
25+ online activities
Very interesting, up-to-date topics
FREE


My websites
http://www.BreakingNewsEnglish.com
http://www.ESLDiscussions.com
http://www.ESLHolidayLessons.com
http://www.FamousPeopleLessons.com
http://www.ListenAMinute.com
http://www.BusinessEnglishMaterials.com
http://www.LessonsOnAmericanPresidents.com
http://www.LessonsOnMovies.com
http://www.FreeESLMaterials.com
http://www.NewsEnglishLessons.com
https://www.facebook.com/SeanBanville
https://twitter.com/SeanBanville
http://seanbanville.com
How it all started (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3)
( http://seanbanville.com/2009/12/05/life-savings-bright-ideas-and-milk/ )

http://vocaroo.com/
http://audioboo.fm/

Record, upload, comment

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

Talking to Yourself in
English: an Alternative
Approach to E.F.L.
Chris Sion

The BreakingNewsEnglish.com Rap

The Jade Rabbit Rap

Hello folks from all over the place
Hi to Sylvia, Nellie and Jase
You may know my name but just in case
This is Seany Sean from cyberspace

China has deployed its lunar rover

Doing a class for WizIQ
Coming from Japan to talk to you

The name of the rover is the Jade Rabbit

My class is called Listening to the News
I hope to hear your thoughts and views

Of exploring space for mankind

On how to teach using current events
And how to motivate students

What ‘ll they find, we must wait and see

And you know what that means, the space race ain’t over
Right now it’s on the surface of the moon
And for China’s scientists that’s quite a boon
And China’s gonna make a habit
Just to see what they can find
This is the moon reporter from the BBC

I’ll look at why news is a must
And show you my site, a site you can trust



There’s discussion and spelling and dictation
And online quizzes for education
There are easy-to-use activities
In 7 levels for you to use with ease
We’ll look at news and many a thing
Like multi-level speed reading
And spelling and writing and of course speaking
But the number one aim is listening
I’m so glad you came, you can say that you heard
BreakingNewsEnglish with the WORD
© 2013 Seany Sean

THANK YOU
FOR
LISTENING


Listening to the news by Sean Banville (Breaking News English)

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