Newspapers can be very inexpensive and compelling "textbooks" for adult literacy development. For the newly arrived refugee or immigrant, the newspaper provides an introduction to the political, social, and business aspects of the local community. The newspaper can assist newcomers in finding a job, buying a car, taking advantage of sales, and choosing local entertainment. Incorporating newspapers into the English-as-a-second-language (ESL) literacy classroom offers the teacher authentic, practical, and easily accessible materials.
Adapting the newspaper to classroom instruction is a natural way to introduce students to these cultural and linguistic concepts. In the past, creative teachers developed their own lessons around the newspaper; however, they often restricted this practice to advanced learners of English. In this way, beginning level students missed out on a natural source of meaningful linguistic and cultural "news."
But the newspaper can be used for ESL learners of all levels. For beginning students, the large-print headlines, recognizable symbols and numbers, and many color and black-and-white photographs can convey information that students understand. At an intermediate level, the newspaper provides exposure to print, to graphic devices, and to punctuation. Advanced students can read newspapers much as a native speaker would, skimming some articles, reading others completely, and discarding those parts of the newspaper of little interest to them. Many practitioners (Chavira, 1990; Hess, 1987; Salas-Isnardi, n.d.; Toben, 1987) have compiled detailed and level-appropriate lists of classroom activities for using the newspaper as text.
ACTIVITIES FOR BEGINNING STUDENTS
--Have students cut out pictures of things they like in the newspaper and then write sentences about the pictures. --Read a few scores from the sports page and have students write them down. --Find numbers in newspaper advertisements that deal with money and have students practice reading the prices aloud. --Using pictures found in the newspaper, have students write sentences about the pictures using prepositions to describe the spatial relationships. --Discuss an issue found in an editorial that may be pertinent to students' lives.
ACTIVITIES FOR INTERMEDIATE STUDENTS
--Have students circle words they do not understand and ask them to try to figure out the meaning from the context or look up the definition in the dictionary. --Cut out headlines from various articles and have students match headlines with stories. Cut photo captions from photographs and have students match captions with photos. --Analyze advertisements to discuss the way prices vary from store to store. Students may report their findings by writing a paragraph. --Collect newspaper photographs of people and have students make up stories about the people.
ACTIVITIES FOR ADVANCED STUDENTS
--Cut out several photographs of people and have students write descriptions of the people; let other students match the photographs with the descriptions. --Work as a group to write a letter to the editor; more advanced students might write letters on their own. --Follow a news item over a period of time and discuss the events that occur. --Have students read an article that describes a problem and discuss the problem's cause and effects. --Have students work in pairs, interviewing each other about an article in the newspaper.
"The Houston Chronicle: Your ESL Source. A Source Guide for Adults Learning English as a Second Language," a curriculum developed by the Houston Chronicle, contains lessons for listening, reading, speaking, and writing in English, and requires no special materials other than the local newspaper (Winters & Orr, 1989).
The Los Angeles Daily News has developed a program for ESL and amnesty preparation that uses the newspaper as curriculum. Each section of the curriculum contains three levels of difficulty, so teachers may choose those tasks that are most appropriate for their students.
The Syracuse Newspaper's "Curriculum Modification for English as a Second Language" focuses on points of grammar in newspaper copy. It, too, is designed to assist in reading and language arts skill areas for students at various levels of literacy.
Fifty adults are enrolled in a computer-assisted literacy project designed by the Los Angeles Times for its employees, their families, and individuals from the surrounding community. The Providence Journal in Providence, RI, offers a workplace literacy program for its employees seeking the General Equivalency Diploma (GED), releasing them for one hour twice a week to attend class.
The Patriot Ledger in Quincy, MA, assists a local human services agency in sponsoring an English class for Asian adults in the community. The class, "New Americans: Learning English, Becoming American," prepares students for the U.S. citizenship examination while teaching them English.
The Miami Herald publishes a Spanish language newspaper to appeal to the large Spanish-speaking community in Miami. To attract readers in Spanish-speaking homes, El Nuevo Herald is provided free with a subscription to the Miami Herald.
The Austin American-Statesman has produced a bilingual adult literacy handbook, Roads to Literacy/Caminos Hacia La Alfabetizacion, that contains listings in both Spanish and English of county literacy projects, instructional agencies, and community contacts for special literacy services.
Five adult literacy centers that offer tutoring, tutor training, tutor recruitment, and referrals to language-minority adults have been established by the Rio Grande Valley Group Newspapers (Harlingen, TX) of the Freedom Newspapers Group. Additionally, this group sponsors a "Ready to Read" workshop, using the newspaper as a text. In Brownsville, TX, a class meets twice weekly using this approach. The Rio Grande Valley Group Newspapers also produce a monthly newsletter and public service announcements and are involved in symposia and curricula design.
The editorial staff of the Times-Herald Record in Middletown, NY, conducts writing workshops in ESL classrooms. Students participate in a writing contest, with the winning entry published in a special supplement to the paper.
On a local level, newspapers cover literacy activities, provide free advertising space, and set up community-wide coalitions. Local newspapers also work closely with national groups in literacy campaigns, such as Project Literacy U.S. (PLUS) and the General Federation of Women's Clubs.
Newspapers, a cultural and community constant in American life, can help newcomers acquire literacy skills and useful information at the same time.
(1989). "Newspapers and literacy...that all may read."
Washington, DC: Author.
Chavira, R. (1990, February). "Newsletter of the El Paso
Community College." (Available from the Communications
Division, P.O. Box 20500, El Paso, TX, 79998, 915-594-2296.)
*Educational Testing Service (ETS). (1989). "Reducing illiteracy
in California: Review of effective practices in adult literacy
programs." Final report submitted to the California State
Department of Education, Pasadena, CA.
Fenholt, J. (1987). "Ready to Read." Cincinnati, OH: South-Western
Publishing.
Hess, N. (1987). Newspapers in the English classroom: Stressing
sociolinguistic communicative competence in an authentic
framework. "English Teachers Journal, 35," 70-71.
*Salas-Isnardi, F. (n.d.). "Some ideas for the use of a newspaper
in the E.L.A.P. class." Unpublished manuscript.
Toben, M. (1987). Using the newspaper in the classroom: A check
list for intermediate and advanced classes. "English Teachers
Journal, 35," 79-82.
Winters, P., & Orr, S. (1989). "The Houston Chronicle: Your ESL
source. A source guide for adults learning English as a second
language." (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 256 845)
American Newspaper Publishers Association (ANPA) Foundation.
(1987). "Newspapers meet the challenge." Washington, DC:
Author. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 300 835)
American Newspaper Publishers Association (ANPA) Foundation.
(1983). "The Newspaper as an effective teaching tool."
Washington, DC: Author. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service
No. ED 236 690)
Ebel Chandler, C. (1988). Newspapers are major promoters of
literacy through "Press to Read" and other efforts. "Presstime,
10," 29-31.
Fitzgerald, M. (1989). Newspaper in Education reaches out to
minorities, immigrants. "Editor & Publisher," 26-27.
Gedye, K. (1982). The newspaper in ESL. "TESL Talk, 13," 19-30.
(ERIC Journal No. EJ 258 099)
Patrie, J. (1988). Comprehensible text: The daily newspaper at
the beginning level. "TESL Talk, 18," 135-141. (ERIC Journal
No. EJ 369 022)
---- *Citations with an asterisk are currently being incorporated into the ERIC database by the National Clearinghouse on Literacy Education. Citations with an ED number may be obtained from the ERIC Document Reproduction Service (EDRS), 3900 Wheeler Avenue, Alexandria, VA 22304-6409, (800) 227-3742.
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The National Clearinghouse on Literacy Education (NCLE), an Adjunct
ERIC Clearinghouse, is operated by the Center for Applied
Linguistics (CAL) with funding from the Office of Educational
Research and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education, under contract no. RI8916601. The opinions expressed in this report do not necessarily reflect the positions or policies of OERI or ED.
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