I’ve found that incorporating breaking news into your lessons can make learning more engaging, relevant, and thought-provoking. Maybe this is because of my journalistic background, but I’ve found it really works for my students. Whether you teach English, social studies, or media literacy, current events provide an authentic way to develop critical thinking, discussion skills, and real-world awareness. So, here’s how I design effective lessons using the latest news stories.

1. Selecting the Right News Stories

Not all news is suitable for the classroom. Consider these factors when choosing a topic:

• Relevance – Does the story relate to your student’s interests, curriculum, or current events they’re already discussing?
• Complexity – Can students grasp the main points without extensive background knowledge? Actually, I often have multiple articles lined up for the week depending on the level and topic. This is something to consider.
• Bias & Sensitivity – Is the topic appropriate for discussion? Avoid stories that are overly graphic or divisive unless you have a structured way to handle them. It’s also good to ask your students for their opinions – some want to talk about politics whereas some hate it.

2. Creating Engaging Activities

Once you have a news story, adapt it into engaging activities based on student level and lesson objectives. Here are some ideas:

A. Comprehension & Analysis

• Headline Prediction: Show only the headline and ask students to predict the story. This is a good way for them to practice prediction and creative skills in a new language.
• Key Facts Extraction: Provide a short news excerpt and have students identify the who, what, where, when, why, and how.
• Fact vs. Opinion: Identify statements in the article that are factual and those that express an opinion. I don’t do this often but it can be a fun little game sometimes.

B. Discussion & Debate

• Think-Pair-Share: Have students discuss the news topic in pairs before sharing it with the class. This is, of course, only relevant if there’s more than one student. If not, do this as a one-to-one session.
• Debate: Divide the class into two groups, assigning different perspectives on an issue. Alternatively, debate one on one.
• Ethical Dilemmas: Ask students how they would respond if they were the main figures in the story.
• Speaking Prompts: Last but not least, this is something I do with all my students. I have a list of speaking prompts lined up for them and we talk about it in depth.

You can also do writing tasks as homework, maybe an essay based on the article, for example.

3. Using Multimedia for Deeper Engagement

News isn’t limited to written articles and some students do not like reading.

• Videos: Short clips from news websites or YouTube provide engaging summaries. Even Ted Talks are good.
• Podcasts: Great for listening comprehension and exposing students to different perspectives. This is also good for introducing natural language and new accents.
• Infographics & Data Visualizations: Help students analyse statistics related to the news. I’ve simply brought up graphs in some lessons.

4. Adapting to Different Learning Levels

For younger students or lower language proficiency learners:

• Use simplified articles (e.g., BBC Learning English, Newsela). I’ve even simplified it myself sometimes.
• Provide glossaries of difficult vocabulary. I do this at the beginning of every article for all levels of students.

For advanced learners:

• Analyse editorial opinions.
• Discuss the global implications of the story.
• Compare coverage across different countries.