So you want to teach a language, but don’t want to use the millions of apps or textbooks. Or maybe you have used up all the apps and textbooks and now want to provide a real-world experience to your students.
Language learning is always the most effective for students when acquired by immersion. When faced with a sink or swim situation, the human instinct for survival kicks in and students are forced to use the little they know to communicate and get around. But what if that option was not available to teach your students in the target country?
How and why do you teach a language via news? As you search for authentic news sources in your target language, set up a graphic organizer for your students to capture vocabulary.
Easy access
The first point is that news is easily accessible. Nowadays, the news is available not only in newspapers, magazines, television but it is literally at your fingertips in the form of a cell phone.
Authentic Resource
The news is written or spoken in authentic target languages or dialects for the native population. It differs from a textbook wherein a text will be prepared specifically to teach. The news is not prepared specifically for teaching and therefore provides more real-world language.
Use of Modalities
Secondly, all modalities of learning are tested – reading, speaking, writing, and listening. At the touch of an app, you can get audio, video, and text to test the different modalities of learning: reading and listening. Go one step further and you can comment, using your writing skills as well as join in on a podcast by calling in, thereby using your speaking skills.
Clear Language
Anchors use standard language that is recognized and comprehensible. They enunciate their words clearly although they may be fast sometimes. Most news articles or videos are on a level 2 which is from low intermediate to high intermediate on the ILR scale which is a US Interagency Language Roundtable scale of measuring efficacy in language.
Cultural Awareness Increases
As time goes by with the daily intake of news, the student develops their cultural awareness by understanding not only the events that are happening but also the cultural ramifications and implications of the events.
Unlimited Resource
Reading a textbook has its limitations. Once you come to the end of the textbook it stops being a fresh resource for learning. Not so with the news. It is an unending source.
