Dr. Shree Deepa works with the University of Hyderabad.
English Text books are indispensable entities in the language class room. Newspapers are mere ‘aids’ or additional decorative material. Text books are printed and published in different editions and remain in print for years. One edition of the text book lasts for a particular period of time and to introduce new and spanking information is almost impossible and the syllabus designers need to wait to incorporate the latest notes. The situation hard to ignore is that all the prescribed text books are a collection of prose, short stories and some poetry. The skills of the language are taught drawing from these selected texts. These texts are often battered through the years and the ‘experienced’ teacher would have usually lost the interest in ‘teaching’ from such a text. The teaching process in such a class room is often monotonous and dull bereft of life.
For ages newspaper dailies have been used, misused and abused as a language learning tool by the English teachers. These dailies contain a variety of articles that can be used to teach English language as a skill subject. English is a skill rather than a content subject and this paper discusses and gives examples of using the dailies to teach the language skills drawing from the newspapers. These dailies are cost effective teaching tools. This paper is a humble effort to prove that the dailies can replace the conventional text books at school level and also discusses the ‘Newspaper in Education Programme’ conducted by the newspaper offices. The effectiveness of such programmes is also indisputable. In other words the usefulness of the dailies at the annual internal school curriculum and external promotional levels are to be deliberated.
The activities in this research paper are designed for students at secondary level.
1. Teaching (appendix 1) reading skills using newspaper (scanning):
Objective: To enable students to scan for a particular piece of information quickly.
Materials / Text: Any medium sized article from the day’s newspaper, preferably the classifieds column or the television listings.
Teaching, learning points will include appropriate questions asking for factual information dispersed in the whole text.
The same text can be used to impart, teach listening skills. The students will listen to the read out information instead of reading.
2. Teaching writing skills (appendix 2) using the newspaper:
Objective: To enable the students to express their opinion on a particular issue in the form of a formal letter.
Materials/ Text: Any major event or headline making news item.
The students will be asked to write a letter to the editor expressing their opinion.
3. Teaching speaking skills (appendix 3):
Objective: To enable students to express their opinion on a particular picture verbally and substantiate.
Materials/Text: Any picture from the newspaper.
In this manner all the language skills that are taught using a traditional textbook can be taught in the classroom with the help of the daily newspaper.
Approaches and Methods:
The approach will have to be interactive at various levels and student-centered;
The students interact with the teacher
The teacher interacts with the students and the text
The students interact with the text
The students act on the text and then react to the text.
The role of the Teacher:
In the Students centered teaching students are seen as active participants shaping their own learning, with the teacher cast in the role of a Resource Person or facilitator. Resource persons are not instructors but creators of an environment in which learners learn and learn how to learn. If learning is based on doing a task then Resource Person will have to involve the learners in selection of the task and solution of the task to sustain their motivation.
The role of the Student:
Students are the doers and take an active role in the learning process. Students are also encouraged to describe and evaluate the process they undergo, and to reflect upon whether the learning strategies, adopted were effective, and to consider their reactions to them. It invites learners to express how they feel about what they have been doing. Thus there is emphasis on self-evaluation. Learners are encouraged to examine and evaluate their complete assignments with the help of a friend or Resource person in order to see how they might be improved.
The other advantages of this approach:
- Brings freshness and novelty in teaching English language skills with the change in the text everyday.
- The texts are Realia.
- Trains the student in current affairs and prepares them for competitive examinations
- Cost effective compared to the textbooks
- Breaks Monotony
- Generates and sustains the interest of the teacher and the student.
- Element of surprise generated and sustained in the language class room.
Limitations of the approach:
- Training the teachers and changing their mind sets about text books.
- Some amount of chaos may be a part of the class room.
- Regarding the acquisition of text books.
Active participation of students can be achieved in Discussion method of teaching. Discussion is the most flexible and powerful form of teaching. More than any other method it is sensitive to the student’s needs and interest. Teaching through some form of dialogue, where it is a dialogue between two people or an interaction involving more than two, is a very ancient tradition. Discussion is a strategy of achieving instructional objectives that involves a group of persons usually in the roles of a Resource person and participants, who communicate with each other, using speaking, nonverbal and listening processes. The broad objectives of these methods are to allow students to articulate themselves in an organized manner on any topic. It helps students to achieve a practical understanding of group dynamics. Allows students to share in the responsibility of presenting, explaining and understanding ideas and enable them to have some measure of responsibilities of their own learning. Provide students the opportunity to discuss and try out different learning strategies and study habits. Identify and practice important skills. It gives students an opportunity to consolidate their knowledge of ideas and concepts by trying them out and using the relevant terminology in discussion with their friends and facilitators.
Sources consulted:
Gimson, AC. An Introduction to the Pronunciation of English. Revised Susan Ramsaran, 4’th Edition. Edward Arnold; London. 1989.
Jones, Daniel. English Pronouncing Dictionary. Ed Peter Roach and James Hartman; 15 ‘th edition, Cambridge UP, 1997.
O’ Connor, J D. Better English Pronunciation:Second Edition. Cambridge UP,2000.
Richards .C. Jack and Theodore S Rodgers. Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching: A Description and Analysis. Cambridge UP, 1995.
The Hindu, Hyderabad, 05-02-2008, Metro plus, pp-4 The Hindu, Hyderabad, 06-02-2008, pp-1.
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