Some tips to exploit real newspaper headlines in the English classroom

1. HEADLINES in the English Class
José Antonio Alcalde
I always try hard to find different uses of realia in my English lessons (be it posters, facts, curiosities,
cartoons, brochures, etc.) Here are some examples in case you are interested (Cartoons in the English
Classroom, What a map!, Today in History, and It's a small world). Besides, I like to include some short
activities in my lessons to change activities, warm up, end the lesson, wake up my students, provoke debate
and discussion, etc.
Why now headlines? At first sight, headlines may look simple and short but, in fact, they are rather
complicated for foreign students as they tend to use a very reduced variety of language full of abbreviations,
acronyms, avoidance of articles, prepositions, etc. However, bringing current issues to the intermediate-
advanced classroom is quite motivating, content-based, appealing and useful for my students. Thus, the
school boundaries are broken and we connect with the real world outside. The typology is so diverse
(politics, economy, culture, nature, arts, society, media, technology, etc.) that vocabulary enhancement is
guaranteed. Although the output can be either written or spoken, actually, I prefer speaking for a more
dynamic and interactive procedure with my students.
This kind of activity is perfect because it means very little work for me (just finding the headlines) and more
transforming work for my students. After all, they are the ones who need the practice. The approach I follow
is this. I write the headline on the board and give my students some minutes to think about it in pairs. Then
they have to expand the headline “in full”, give some context, that is, elaborate the newsarticle a little bit.
From there, we move on to a class debate where students have their say, take positions, express their
opinions, etc. The activity can run as long as we think students are interested and new things are coming up.
Otherwise, we should stop and change activity. The first couple of times we do it together and later I give
them free rein to see how they go.
Thanks to the Internet finding headlines on virtually any topic is a walk in the park. There is always
something of interest. In fact, it is more a matter of choosing rather than finding. We can visit on-line editions
of international newspapers or go directly to news agencies like Reuters, UPI, Press Association, etc.
Once students get into the habit, they can even get involved and search for / bring to class their headlines
for the rest of their peers.
Here are some examples to kick off:
DRIVERLESS CARS DON'T
EQUAL MORE ACCIDENTS
GIANT PANDAS ARE NO LONGER
“ENDANGERED”
HALF OF GRADUATES
WORKING IN UNSKILLED,
LOW-PAID JOBS
PLUS-SIZE MODEL COMES IN SECOND
IN MISS ITALY CONTEST
BEE DECLINE COULD CAUSE
HUGE FOOD PRODUCTION
PROBLEMS
POORER COUNTRIES NEED
RAPID ACCESS TO GENERIC
DRUGS
SPANISH POLICE RESCUE
MIGRANTS HIDDEN IN
MINIVAN
SAMSUNG TO REPLACE 1M
DAMAGED GALAXY NOTE 7
FIRST CHILD DIES BY
EUTHANASIA IN BELGIUM