The Positive Newspaper

This ESL lesson plan is designed around a short video titled The Newspaper Devoted to Telling Positive Stories and the themes of news, newspapers and focusing on positive news. Students learn vocabulary related to news and newspapers, talk about news and newspapers, predict the content of a short video, watch a short video, answer comprehension questions, analyse a short video, write about what they have learned from viewing a short video, develop critical thinking skills by exploring issues raised in a short video, perform a roleplay, read an article titled Young People Changing the World: Stories of Hope, answer comprehension questions, discuss topics raised in an article, write about what they have learned from reading an article, and reflect on the lesson.

Language level: Pre-intermediate (A2) – Intermediate (B1)

Learner type: Teens and adults

Topic: News, newspapers and focusing on positive news

Language: Vocabulary related to news and newspapers

Time: 90–120 minutes

Objectives:

• To introduce students to the concept of positive journalism.
• To expand vocabulary related to news and newspapers.
• To develop students’ viewing, listening and reading comprehension skills.
• To improve students’ speaking skills through discussions and roleplay, and use of new vocabulary.
• To practise critical thinking through discussion and reflection on media choices.
• To develop students’ writing skills through creative tasks and use of new vocabulary.
• To develop students’ visual representing skills though multimodal composition homework tasks

Watch the short video.