Breaking News English
ESL / EFL Lesson Plans For Teaching Current Events

About the Site

• The lessons are free.
• Each lesson has 26 pages of printable activities / handouts.
• There is a new lesson every two days.
• The lessons alternate between pre-intermediate and intermediate (plus).
• All lessons are based on stories currently in the news - as the world's news breaks, teach it.
• All lessons are also downloadable PDF format.
• There are 30+ online quizzes for each lesson.
• Listening files can be downloaded in mp3 format or subscribed to via a podcast.
• Classroom handouts are readily reproducible.
• There are graded listenings with each lesson.
• Thousands of teachers and students say they love using the news lessons.

History

So… half way through a Master’s in TEFL/TESL with Birmingham University, I was reading a wonderful book called "Appropriate Methodology and Social Context"*. This got me thinking about what would really interest students on a daily basis, which got me thinking about daily news, which got me thinking about having a cup of tea and a sit down, which then got me thinking about a website offering news English lessons the same day the news breaks.

Eighteen months and one dissertation later, I started my new project. I called it "Breaking News English.com".

Why did I start this? Well… years of producing news materials for my language school in Japan; too many teachers to mention telling me to write a textbook; dozens of other teachers telling me my news materials worked well for them; my experience as a teacher-trainer; a lovely iMac computer; a stupendously supportive and wonderful wife; and a horribly loud alarm clock delicately balanced on the top stair outside my bedroom. What better recipe for success?

And so onto successes… and many have there so far been. Just getting everything online was a huge one; each pre-toast-and-marmalade lesson upload; wonderful E-mails of encouragement - fuel for fingertips at keyboard; lots of support and encouragement from other ESL sites; seeing my site in #1 position for many searches on various search engines; and lots, lots more. Small though these successes may be, I hope my materials will in some way contribute to the world of ELT and help students learn more about English and their world.

*Adrian Holliday, 1994, Cambridge University Press.

Help Support and Promote This Website

• Recommend my site on blogs, forums and other sites.
• E-mail me to say "hi" and give me feedback.
• Consider buying my 1,000 Ideas and Activities book.
• Consider contributing via a donation.

Information to Link to this Site

Title:
Breaking News English.com

URL:
http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/

Description:
Free ready-to-use EFL / ESL lesson plans. 26-page handout, graded news articles at pre-intermediate and intermediate-plus, listenings, online quizzes, podcast and communicative activities.

The whole thing in HTML (to open in a new window):

<a href="http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/" target="a"> Breaking News English.com</a> - Free ready-to-use EFL / ESL lesson plans. 26-page handout, graded news articles at pre-intermediate and intermediate-plus, listenings, online quizzes, podcast and communicative activities.