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by
Aparna Nambiar
Don't leave the newspaper on the
table after reading it over your morning cup of tea.
Ever considered using them in your classroom or with
your children? It could be a welcome change in your
list of teaching resources. The daily newspaper can
enliven a classroom and instill enthusiasm for learning
in the minds of the students, whose normal props are
unchanging school textbooks.
Why
do we read newspapers? The obvious reasons are that
some read them for news and information, some for
interesting facts and gossip, some for the comics
and some for other reasons. Try using the same reasons
as a tool to teach. .
For
a start, try using the newspaper for:
-
Effective communication
- Problem
solving
- Investigation
- Critical
thinking
- Effective
use of technology
- Responsible
citizenship
- Career
education
- Aesthetics
.
Instead
of focusing on the content and the knowledge of the
medium, newspapers could be used as a way of engaging
students and working on outcomes that are vital to
the whole curriculum.
Language
arts The language teacher might be interested in having
the children analyze different newspapers and their
articles, which is written in the most accessible,
least biased and most objective language. They could
learn vocabulary and reading skills by just studying
newspapers.
History
The history teacher may not just use the events in
the newspapers as they are reported for analysis.
They could also show how the media influences our
understanding of history.
Science
The science teacher may be interested in helping students
understanding why ecological and environmental issues
are hard to locate in the mainstream press.
Health/Physical
Education The health and physical education teacher
may use the advertising techniques to create awareness
among the students about the power of persuasion.
Music
The music teacher might be able to investigate the
influence of music TV and popular radio on students'
musical taste and consumption.
Family
Studies Photographs and articles in the business could
be used to generate discussions regarding the influence
of media and how media interpret messages.
Besides
discussing the news with the children, here are some
activities that could help you:
- Ask
the child to circle all the words on a page of the
newspaper that have to do with the sense of smell.
- Get
the children to find synonyms for the word 'said'
from page 1 of the newspaper.
- Make
columns on a sheet of paper for vowels
- Cut
out words in the newspaper and glue them into the
appropriate spaces. Do the same for prefix, suffix
and root word.
- Divide
all of the headline words into syllables.
- Give
the children some of the photographs and have them
write a report based on what they see or write a
suitable caption for it.
- Have
the children pay attention to the advertisements
and the places they appear in the newspaper. Get
them to prepare an ad for a class newspaper.
- Finally,
encourage and guide the children to prepare their
own newspaper with reports, articles, photographs
features, and all! Introducing the newspaper at
a young age serves to bridge the gap between classroom
or home and the "real" world outside. Here's wishing
you luck for crossing this bridge!
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