Breaking English news listening is an important skill for all learners. Fortunately, there are many resources to learn about and practice this vital skill. These include writing exercises, warm-up activities, collaboration, and more.
Warm-up activities
It’s hard to think of a better way to start a class than to do some warm-up activities. You can use this time to review previous lessons or to get students used to speaking and listening in English. And while these may seem like small things, they’re actually pretty important.
One of the most fun and effective warm-up activities involves playing a game. Students should be divided into pairs or small groups. Each pair should have a specific letter to work with, and the winner is the one that correctly answers the question.
Another 5-minute activity is the concentration memory game. This a fun and challenging game that will improve students’ attention to new terms and definitions.
A hot potato is also a great warm-up, but you can make it more engaging by having students take turns asking questions or demonstrating skills. Similarly, you can give them a few clues and let them guess what the answer is.
A fun and educational ELL listening activity that’s perfect for intermediate or high-level learners involves comparing two short sentences and telling what’s different about them.
BBC World Service news report
The BBC World Service is the international radio service of the British Broadcasting Corporation. Its mission is to connect audiences with fascinating stories and information. Known for its sober, global news, it provides impartial coverage of international affairs in 27 languages. In addition to English, it broadcasts in French, Spanish, Arabic, Russian, Chinese, Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Vietnamese, Polish, Portuguese, Turkish, Greek, Romanian, Czech, German, Ukrainian and Maltese.
The BBC World Service is headquartered in London and includes overseas language services. It is the largest broadcaster of analysis programmes. Despite its international status, the BBC retains editorial control.
BBC News is available in the UK on a variety of formats, including online, AM radio, satellite, cable, shortwave, and digital radio. All programmes are produced by the BBC. They are accessible on the Internet via a free audio player. There are also podcasts that can be downloaded from the BBC website.
BBC World Service is a 24-hour international radio network that has broadcast in English since 1965. Its English programme covers the Middle East, South Asia, West and Central Africa, and Australia and New Zealand.
Writing exercises
One way to improve your vocabulary is to read or listen to news in English. It can be as simple as using your highlighter pen to skim through an article. You can also use your English dictionary if you’re not sure what a word means.
There are plenty of websites and apps to help you out. Among them is Breaking News English. The site offers a variety of lesson plans, podcasts, and other educational resources. These can be downloaded as printable PDFs with study material and exercises.
They also have a useful videos section. For example, there are a couple of videos to show off the latest technologies. Some of the more snazzy ones involve a video clip and audio recording. Unlike a textbook, you can download the material on the go.
You can also sign up for a free subscription. That’s not to say the site is cheap. However, they do offer a few lesson plans for free. Most are designed for the intermediate level student.
Collaboration
Collaboration in Breaking English News Listening consists of several activities that promote engagement in the language. The activities require students to develop logical reasoning skills and take positions, based on the news items they have read. They also prompt students to consider related issues and to think about the dangers and solutions to them.
Some of the activities in Breaking English News Listening are accompanied by warm-up exercises. These exercises are designed to promote engagement, and they include reading, writing, listening and talking. Depending on the context, these activities may be adapted for face-to-face or remote learning.
Other activities incorporate collaboration in a problem-solving approach. Specifically, these involve students working together to complete a worksheet. This allows all members of the group to contribute and thereby practise their vocabulary. Moreover, the collaborative task requires students to negotiate and share their ideas and opinions. This also facilitates learning through activating prior knowledge.
Overall, the Breaking News English Website is a well-rounded resource for teachers looking to incorporate more collaboration in their classes. However, it does not exploit the full scope of the collaboration process.
