Which newspaper would Tony Blair or Margaret Thatcher read?
What is in page three in The Sun newspaper?
What is the difference between a news story and a feature story?
After taking part in this WebQuest, you will be able to answer these and many more questions about British newspapers.

Introduction

British newspapers are a good source of information about British culture and people. But students often find newspapers difficult to understand. By learning the conventions, structures and language features of British newspapers you will be able to enlarge your knowledge of English autonomously through reading authentic texts in printed or online newspapers.

For this reason the English Department has organised a seminar about the press in Britain and the students have applied to participate in various activities.

We congratulate you because, among more than one hundred applicants, you have been selected for taking part in these activities concerning newspapers and therefore, it will be expected that by the end of the seminar, you will be familiarised with this literary genre.

Task

What are the main stories in this week's newspapers?
That all depends on what newspaper you read!

- First, you are going to participate in several activities including a workshop about newspapers in Britain.

- After the workshop, you will take part in a competition to show which team has learnt more by doing the following task:

  Process

Find a partner to work with and go through the following stages in the order presented here:

. Activating expectations and reinforcing background knowledge. To do these activities you should only use the resources provided on the pages.

Discuss these questions in pairs or in groups. (5 to 10 minutes) - What do you know about British newspapers? - What kind of topics and vocabulary do you think we are going to find in the news during the next week? Write a short list of topics and words in your notebook.

Use your knowledge to write each of the words or phrases on this list (click) under the corresponding heading (do the activity in your notebook and also in pairs): Sections in a Newspaper Newspaper Structure Components Types of Newspaper click here to see the answer

Click here to have access to a Treasure Hunt about newspapers. You will learn: a. What types of newspaper there are in Britain. b. How information is gathered and presented differently by them. c.The language and structure of news writing: how to interpret the verbal and visual features of a newspaper.

When you finish the treasure hunt, do the workshop in the second part of the process. Do not forget to read the evaluation section in this WebQuest, before doing the workshop.

. Reading and vocabulary workshop where you will:

a. Have a look at the types of newspaper in Britain.
b. Analyse the structure and style of news writing.
c. Learn vocabulary used in headlines and news articles.
d. Learn how to read the press more effectively, increasing your comprehension and reading rate.

Click here to have access to the workshop. It consists of a set of practical exercises that:

• will help you consolidate the knowledge acquired in the Treasure Hunt,
• will reinforce and develop your vocabulary and reading skills,

The final part of the exercises in this workshop can be done at the same time as the next stage of the process.This way you will put into practice the reading skills that you are developing.

 

. The competition: preparing the task

Read all the instructions before you start this third part of the process including the evaluation section. Use only the proposed resources which you will find bellow. Contact your teacher in the forum or e-mail us if you need any help.

• Decide who is going to be Student A or Student B and plan your work together.
• Student A will read mainly right-wing papers and Student B will pay more attention to left-wing papers.
• Your objective is to choose news from the newspapers selected here, tabloids and quality newspapers, to compose two different front pages.
• During the week, you are going to visit the sites of the papers (use only the six newspapers which are linked below).
• Whenever you find a news article that could be appropriate for your front pages, save it on a floppy disk.

Remember that you can go through this stage while you are doing the exercises in the workshop.

  Resources:

Political views of newspapers in the UK

Daily Telegraph The Guardian Independent

The Sun Daily Express Daily Mirror

 

. The Competition: completing the task

• Discuss the selection with your partner, that is, have a look at all the news articles that you have selected during the week and decide which ones will be the best choice.
• Compose the front pages with a word processor or a web page editor. Don't write the news. You only need to copy and paste on the document the texts and the images that you chose . Don't forget to read this page with the instructions and tips to help you compose the front pages. You can use these templates as a guide.

  Templates

• Write a paragraph justifying your selection (between ten and twenty lines).
• Save your front pages and your composition on a floppy and give it to the teacher.

Evaluation

Each team will create two front pages and a short text justifying their choices. Students' writing should be clear and concise. Spelling and grammar should be correct.

Students will be evaluated on different items according to the following criteria:

Click on the image to open it in a new window

Conclusion

You have now learnt a number of things about British newspapers including linguistic and cultural aspects. In addition, you have practised and developed your reading skills and you have learnt a lot of new words. And, what is more important, after taking part in this WebQuest, you probably feel better able to read the news as well as other difficult types of text.

Quality Front Pages

Tabloid Front Pages

 

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Copyright©2000-2005
Isabel Perez Torres