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EFL/ESL Resources
Copyright 2001-2011 Jason Renshaw / English Raven Educational Services PTY LTD. All rights reserved. ACN 123 251 927
World News for Kids!
Information for Teachers
DOVE
OWL
EAGLE
ALBATROSS
Welcome to World News for Kids! ~ a great new resource to use with your learners!
World News for Kids! is a simple but dynamic teaching and learning resource for learners in the 9-15 range. The basic idea is a range of carefully leveled current news articles presented online, geared toward the interests and subject-based needs of students in these age brackets.
World News for Kids! presents 4 news articles each month, one for each of four levels (Dove, Owl, Eagle, or Albatross). There is also a "News Extra" article accompanying each news story, which expands, adds to, or in some way enhances the topical content of the original article. Generally speaking, the levels are designed to match up with grade levels in the following way:
Lvl 1 (Dove) - Elementary/Primary grades 3-4
Lvl 2 (Owl) - Elementary/Primary grades 4-5
Lvl 3 (Eagle) - Grades 5-7
Lvl 4 (Albatross) - Grades 6-8
The language used in the articles is especially appropriate for English as a Second or Foreign Language learners, and also first language learners who may be struggling with essential literacy skills and/or general academic motivation.
Designed, written and recorded by Jason Renshaw from English Raven, these materials also match up very well with his 4-level skills series called the Boost! Longman Integrated Skills Series, published by Pearson Education.
Free Access for all Teachers and Learners!
The basic application of World News for Kids! is free and openly accessible to teachers and learners anywhere in the world ~ well, anywhere that an internet connection is available, anyway!
The simple URL here will take you to updated news stories each week:
http://www.englishraven.com/wnk.html
Pictures and clear audio recordings for each news story are provided, along with a link to an online Voxopop speaking talkgroup where students can respond to prompts with their own ideas and opinions. This is also fully free!
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Special Materials for English Raven Members
English Raven Members get access to a complete listing of all online pages for the audio-based news stories, plus the opportunity to download and print first-class learning materials that work in conjunction with the online articles.
Below is an overview of what these printable materials offer and cover, with examples from a study set for Owl level (titled Many sharks becoming extinct):
Article for reading practice
The news story from the online version is presented here in full text, and includes a photograph (and a clear link the online story if the learners want to listen while they read it).
The length of the articles vary by level (Dove = 50-100 words, Owl = 100-150 words, Eagle = 150-200 words, Albatross = 200-250 words). The language and vocabulary range is also carefully chosen to reflect the general level progression.
This written version of the news story can be useful for in-class reading practice, or as a homework sheet for students to refer to and prepare at home on their own.
A. Reading Skills
The second page in the study kit is designed to encourage vocabulary research (for key terms from the main text) and reading comprehension skills.
Alternatively, if the text version of the article (preceding page) is not used, technically this page can be used as a listening comprehension exercise, in conjunction with the audio version of the article on the main webpage.
The number and difficulty of vocabulary items and reading questions varies according to level. In addition, as levels progress, there is more emphasis on answering open-ended questions rather than just checking off options in multiple choice frames.
B. News Extra: Listening
This stage of the study kit makes the first foray into incorporating multiple or integrated skillwork into the overall approach, with an emphasis now on listening, but with material strongly linked (topically or thematically) with the previous news article.
For Dove, Owl and Eagle levels, this involves a listening gap fill, with the scope and difficulty increasing across the levels (single word gaps for Dove, two-word gaps for Owl, and phrase gaps for Eagle). At Albatross level, learners are asked to take notes for themselves, though with some guidance and some helpful words listed.
Following the listening and noting, there is a short true-false activity to check general comprehension.
C. Talk Time! (Speaking 1)
This is an innovative little speaking activity - again, continuing the topic and theme to facilitate more integration of skills.
Two speaking cards (featuring the same conversation with two actors) are provided, so two students can get up before the class and perform a short interactive dialogue. Following that, there are comprehension questions for them to ask to their classmates, to see how well they paid attention and how much they understood.
This is great for putting students "in control" of an activity, becoming more involved and more active. The dialogues feature a range of simple conversations, linking out of the materials already presented in reading and listening beforehand.
D. Class Discussion (Speaking 2)
Whereas Talk Time! was a controlled dialogue-based activity, this stage of the kit is more open and encourages free interaction between the students.
Basically, students have three conversational prompts relevant to the overall topic and theme explored so far. They answer the prompts themselves in writing, then talk with up to three other classmates to find out what their responses were (reporting in note-form what they find out).
This is a simplified application of the activity explained in Finding Out, and is included here to facilitate integrated skillwork and real interactive communication.
E. Write an email (Writing 1)
In this section, students are given some sort of communicative input (an email from a friend, a notice in a forum, or a simple online article, for example) and invited to respond to it by writing an email or forum post.
This is also directly related to the topical theme already explored earlier in the kit, but in a new way. It is also designed to facilitate more open, communicative and "real-world" feeling in terms of writing something.
F. Write about it (Writing 2)
This writing task is slightly more academic or "essay"-style in nature, with a simple prompt that continues to explore the central theme or topic. Students compose a response, hopefully encouraged and shown by the teacher how to create things like proper paragraphs. The prompts (depending on level) usually ask for an opinion or a set of suggestions or ideas.
G. Talk about it! (Speaking 3)
This extends the writing task in (F) above to speaking - in this case, online speaking using an internet-based recording network. For students who are shy or uncertain about speaking on a set topic, the writing task in (F) can become a script or outline for them.
Teacher's Notes
The final page of the kit features notes and answer keys for teachers.
These are not exhaustive, covering answers for the reading and listening questions (along with listening answer script), and occasionally featuring a note about cultural reception or something like that.
The teacher's notes are basically designed to be a quick reference for teachers when checking work or delivering or checking the listening script (from B above) with the learners.
The English Raven World News for Kids! study kits are designed to be simple but high-quality printable supplements for teachers to use in class either with or in place of the online-style audio-only news articles. They can be good news for teachers who want to incorporate more of all four basic skills (reading, listening, speaking and writing) into their classroom approach. They are also highly flexible, meaning that teachers can simply pick and choose which of the worksheets to use (without the feeling of being "bound" to cover everything, as is often the case with mainstream textbooks).
For teachers without ready access to regular, well-designed textbooks, the World News for Kids! study kits can become a textbook approach pretty much all on their own!
Note for English Raven Members:
Look for the list of downloadable WNK study kits in your private membership page, under the orange heading "World News for Kids". In addition to the downloads themselves, you also have quick and easy links to the relevant online news pages featuring the color pictures and audio recordings!
"So, what's been happening in the world?"
Add a new dimension to your classroom
by featuring weekly news articles for kids!
Full Samples for Download
Following is a set of full samples of study kits from each level of World News for Kids! (PDF format) for this online news page:
