Breaking News English Lesson: Working At Home

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Twitter employees can work at home forever (15th May, 2020)

The Reading / Listening - Working At Home - Level 3

The boss of Twitter has told many of his employees that they can work from home forever if they want to. CEO Jack Dorsey told many workers on Tuesday that they will be allowed to work from home even after the coronavirus pandemic ends. A Twitter spokesperson said: "Opening offices will be our decision. When and if our employees come back, will be their [decision]." Twitter was one of the first companies to allow workers to work from home after the COVID-19 pandemic started. The spokesperson said it would not be, "one of the first to return to offices". Twitter said most of its offices would not open before September. It added when they do open, it would be "careful, intentional, office by office and gradual".

Twitter said it was in a good position to have many of its workers working from their home. It is an online company so many employees and bosses can contact each other on video conferencing platforms like Zoom. The company said: "We were uniquely positioned to respond quickly and allow folks to work from home, given our emphasis on decentralization and supporting a distributed workforce capable of working from anywhere." It added: "The past few months have proven we can make [working from home] work. If our employees are in a role and situation that enables them to work from home and they want to continue to do so forever, we will make that happen."

Try the same news story at these easier levels:

Working At Home - Level 0, Working At Home - Level 1 or Working At Home - Level 2

Sources

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/twitter-employees-can-work-home-forever-ceo-says-n1205346
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/12/twitter-tells-employees-they-can-work-from-home-forever.html
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-52628119

Make sure you try all of the online activities for this reading and listening - There are dictations, multiple choice, drag and drop activities, crosswords, hangman, flash cards, matching activities and a whole lot more. Please enjoy :-)

Warm-ups

1. WORKING AT HOME: Students walk around the class and talk to other students about working at home. Change partners often and share your findings.
2. CHAT: In pairs / groups, talk about these topics or words from the article. What will the article say about them? What can you say about these words and your life?
boss / employees / coronavirus / decision / company / pandemic / office / careful /
position / online / video conferencing / emphasis / home / role / situation / forever
Have a chat about the topics you liked. Change topics and partners frequently.
3. REMOTE WORKING: Students A strongly believe remote working (working from home) is better than working in the workplace; Students B strongly believe the opposite. Change partners again and talk about your conversations.
4. AT HOME: What are the good and bad things about working at home? How could you overcome problems? Complete this table with your partner(s). Change partners often and share what you wrote.

	Good Things	Bad Things	Problems
Meetings
Phone calls
Photocopying
Space
Family
Commuting

MY e-BOOK

ESL resource book with copiable worksheets and handouts - 1,000 Ideas and Activities for Language Teachers / English teachers

See a sample

5. WORKER: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word "worker". Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories.
6. HOME: Rank these with your partner. Put the best things about your home at the top. Change partners often and share your rankings.

The furniture
Wifi connection
The smell
The outside
The kitchen
The bathroom
Your room
The location

Vocabulary

Paragraph 1

1.	boss	a.	A person who says important things for a company to the public, newspapers or television.
2.	allowed	b.	A disease that is over a whole country or the world.
3.	pandemic	c.	Let someone do something.
4.	decision	d.	Happening slowly.
5.	spokesperson	e.	The leader / top person of a company.
6.	intentional	f.	A choice you make after thinking about what to do.
7.	gradual	g.	Done on purpose; deliberate; not by accident.

Paragraph 2

8.	position	h.	Say something in reply.
9.	contact	i.	Showed that something is true.
10.	platform	j.	Special importance on something.
11.	respond	k.	Communicate with someone.
12.	emphasis	l.	Makes possible.
13.	proven	m.	Place.
14.	enables	n.	A computer system that can run all kinds of software.

Before reading / listening

1. TRUE / FALSE: Read the headline. Guess if 1-8 below are true (T) or false (F).

The boss of Twitter said he would work at home forever. T / F
Twitter said its workers must return to work after the pandemic ends. T / F
Twitter was the very first company to let workers work from home. T / F
Twitter said it would open office by office. T / F
Bosses and employees only use mail and phones to contact each other. T / F
Twitter said it was in a unique position to let staff work at home. T / F
Twitter has proven working at home works. T / F
Twitter said if employees want to work at home forever, they can. T / F

2. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article.

boss
allowed
ends
come back
gradual
position
respond
emphasis
workforce
forever

importance
return
permitted
react
for good
head
step-by-step
employees
is over
situation

3. PHRASE MATCH: (Sometimes more than one choice is possible.)

they can work from home forever
they will be
Opening offices will be our
it would not be one
office
Twitter said it was in
employees and bosses can contact
We were uniquely positioned
capable of working from
they want to continue to do

by office
of the first
so forever
each other
decision
if they want to
anywhere
a good position
allowed to work from home
to respond quickly

Gap fill

Put these words into the spaces in the paragraph below.

offices
allowed
gradual
back
forever
added
started
pandemic

The boss of Twitter has told many of his employees that they can work from home (1) ____________ if they want to. CEO Jack Dorsey told many workers on Tuesday that they will be (2) ____________ to work from home even after the coronavirus (3) ____________ ends. A Twitter spokesperson said: "Opening offices will be our decision. When and if our employees come (4) ____________, will be their [decision]." Twitter was one of the first companies to allow workers to work from home after the COVID-19 pandemic (5) ____________. The spokesperson said it would not be, "one of the first to return to (6) ____________". Twitter said most of its offices would not open before September. It (7) ____________ when they do open, it would be "careful, intentional, office by office and (8) ____________ ".

Put these words into the spaces in the paragraph below.

bosses
few
emphasis
happen
position
role
platforms
anywhere

Twitter said it was in a good (9) ____________ to have many of its workers working from their home. It is an online company so many employees and (10) ____________ can contact each other on video conferencing (11) ____________ like Zoom. The company said: "We were uniquely positioned to respond quickly and allow folks to work from home, given our (12) ____________ on decentralization and supporting a distributed workforce capable of working from (13) ____________." It added: "The past (14) ____________ months have proven we can make [working from home] work. If our employees are in a (15) ____________ and situation that enables them to work from home and they want to continue to do so forever, we will make that (16) ____________."

Listening — Guess the answers. Listen to check.

1) many of his employees that they can work from home forever if ______
     a. they want too
     b. they want to
     c. they want two
     d. they won two
2) CEO Jack Dorsey told many workers on Tuesday that they will ______
     a. be aloud to
     b. be a lowed to
     c. be all owed to
     d. be allowed to
3) A Twitter spokesperson said: "Opening offices will ______"
     a. be our derision
     b. be our decision
     c. be our deciding
     d. be our incision
4) The spokesperson said it would not be one of the ______
     a. fast to return
     b. fist to return
     c. flirts to return
     d. first to return
5) it would be careful, intentional, office by ______
     a. official and gradual
     b. office and gradual
     c. office and graduate
     d. offices and gradually

6) It is an online company so many employees and bosses can ______
     a. contact each other
     b. contact teach another
     c. contact each others
     d. contact teach other
7) The company said: "We were uniquely positioned ______"
     a. to respond quickly
     b. to response quickly
     c. to respond quick
     d. to respond quicken
8) supporting a distributed workforce capable of ______
     a. work in from anywhere
     b. work kin from anywhere
     c. were king from anywhere
     d. walking from anywhere
9) The past few months have proven we can make working ______
    a. from homework
     b. from home works
     c. from homes work
     d. from home work
10) enables them to work from home and they want to continue to ______
     a. does forever
     b. do sew forever
     c. do so forever
     d. do sow forever

Listening — Listen and fill in the gaps

The boss of Twitter has told many of (1) ___________________ they can work from home forever if they want to. CEO Jack Dorsey told many workers on Tuesday that they will (2) ___________________ work from home even after the coronavirus pandemic ends. A Twitter spokesperson said: "Opening offices will (3) ___________________. When and if our employees come back, will be their [decision]." Twitter was one of the first companies to (4) ___________________ work from home after the COVID-19 pandemic started. The spokesperson said it would not be, "one of the (5) ___________________ to offices". Twitter said most of its offices would not open before September. It added when they do open, it would be "careful, intentional, office by (6) ___________________ ".

Twitter said it was in (7) ___________________ to have many of its workers working from their home. It is an online company so many employees and bosses (8) ___________________ other on video conferencing platforms like Zoom. The company said: "We were (9) ___________________ respond quickly and allow folks to work from home, given our emphasis on decentralization and supporting a distributed (10) ___________________ working from anywhere." It added: "The past few months have (11) ___________________ make [working from home] work. If our employees are in a role and situation that enables them to work from home and they want to continue to (12) ___________________, we will make that happen."

Comprehension questions

Who is Jack Dorsey?
Who will decide when workers go back to work in Twitter's offices?
What was Twitter one of the first companies to do after COVID-19?
What did Twitter say it would not be one of the first companies to do?
When is the earliest Twitter will reopen its offices?
What kind of position did Twitter say it was in?
Who did the article say could contact each other on platforms like Zoom?
What did Twitter say it was uniquely positioned to do?
What have the past few weeks proven that Twitter can do?
What did Twitter sat it would make happen?

Multiple choice quiz

1) Who is Jack Dorsey?
a) an office worker
b) Twitter's CEO
c) someone banned on Twitter
d) an actor
2) Who will decide when workers go back to work in Twitter's offices?
a) the government
b) the managers
c) the boss
d) the workers
3) What was Twitter one of the first companies to do after COVID-19?
a) sent tweets
b) give workers masks
c) let workers work from home
d) test workers
4) What did Twitter say it would not be one of the first companies to do?
a) return to offices
b) hire new workers
c) make a profit
d) give up
5) When is the earliest Twitter will reopen its offices?
a) October
b) September
c) January
d) 2023

6) What kind of position did Twitter say it was in?
a) a good position
b) a difficult position
c) the number one position
d) last
7) Who did the article say could contact each other on platforms like Zoom?
a) tweeters
b) everyone
c) employees and bosses
d) staff and tweeters
8) What did Twitter say it was uniquely positioned to do?
a) respond quickly
b) tweet
c) hire new workers
d) make money
9) What have the past few weeks proven that Twitter can do?
a) make people happy
b) survive
c) keep a great service
d) make working from home work
10) What did Twitter sat it would make happen?
a) the future
b) a safe workplace
c) allow workers to work at home forever
d) tweets

Role play

Role A – The Furniture
You think the furniture is the most important thing in a home. Tell the others three reasons why. Tell them what is wrong with their things. Also, tell the others which is the least important of these (and why): the kitchen, the location or the smell.

Role B – The Kitchen
You think the kitchen is the most important thing in a home. Tell the others three reasons why. Tell them what is wrong with their things. Also, tell the others which is the least important of these (and why): the furniture, the location or the smell.

Role C – The Location
You think the location is the most important thing in a home. Tell the others three reasons why. Tell them what is wrong with their things. Also, tell the others which is the least important of these (and why): the kitchen, the furniture or the smell.

Role D – The Smell
You think the smell is the most important thing in a home. Tell the others three reasons why. Tell them what is wrong with their things. Also, tell the others which is the least important of these (and why): the kitchen, the location or the furniture.

After reading / listening

1. WORD SEARCH: Look in your dictionary / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … for the words...

'work'

________________

________________

________________

________________

________________

________________

________________

________________

and 'home'.
________________

________________

________________

________________

________________

________________

________________

________________

• Share your findings with your partners.

• Make questions using the words you found.

• Ask your partner / group your questions.

2. ARTICLE QUESTIONS: Look back at the article and write down some questions you would like to ask the class about the text.

•Share your questions with other classmates / groups. •Ask your partner / group your questions.

3. GAP FILL: In pairs / groups, compare your answers to this exercise. Check your answers. Talk about the words from the activity. Were they new, interesting, worth learning…?

4. VOCABULARY: Circle any words you do not understand. In groups, pool unknown words and use dictionaries to find their meanings.

5. TEST EACH OTHER: Look at the words below. With your partner, try to recall how they were used in the text:

boss

even

if

started

first

careful

position

contact

quickly

anywhere

role

happen

Student survey

Write five GOOD questions about this topic in the table. Do this in pairs. Each student must write the questions on his / her own paper. When you have finished, interview other students. Write down their answers.

(Please look at page 12 of the PDF to see a photocopiable example of this activity.)

Discussion - Working At Home

STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)

What did you think when you read the headline?
What images are in your mind when you hear the word 'employee'?
What do you think of Twitter?
What do you think of working from home?
Would you like to work from home forever?
What do you think of working in an office?
Do people do more work when working from home?
How will COVID-19 change the way people work?
Where is your perfect work location?
Is it better to be an employee or employer?

STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)

Did you like reading this article? Why/not?
What do you think of when you hear the word 'home'?
What do you think about what you read?
What do you think working for Twitter would be like?
What are the best things about working from home?
What are the worst things about working from home?
Is video conferencing better than face-to-face meetings?
How good a worker are you?
Would you be a good boss?
What questions would you like to ask Twitter's CEO?

Discussion — Write your own questions

STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)

(a) ________________

(b) ________________

(c) ________________

(d) ________________

(e) ________________

STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)

(f) ________________

(g) ________________

(h) ________________

(i) ________________

(j) ________________

Language — Cloze (Gap-fill)

The boss of Twitter has told many (1) ____ his employees that they can work from home forever if they want (2) ____. CEO Jack Dorsey told many workers on Tuesday that they will be allowed to work from home even after the coronavirus pandemic ends. A Twitter spokesperson said: "Opening offices will (3) ____ our decision. When and if our employees come back, will be their [decision]." Twitter was one of the first companies to (4) ____ workers to work from home after the COVID-19 pandemic started. The spokesperson said it would not be, "one of the (5) ____ to return to offices". Twitter said most of its offices would not open before September. It added when they do open, it would be "careful, intentional, office (6) ____ office and gradual".

Twitter said it was (7) ____ a good position to have many of its workers working from their home. It is an online company so many employees and bosses can contact (8) ____ other on video conferencing platforms like Zoom. The company said: "We were uniquely positioned to respond quickly and allow (9) ____ to work from home, given our emphasis on decentralization and supporting a distributed workforce capable of (10) ____ from anywhere." It added: "The past few months have proven we can make [working from home] work. If our employees are in a role and situation that (11) ____ them to work from home and they want to continue to do so forever, we will make that (12) ____."

Which of these words go in the above text?

(a) as (b) by (c) at (d) of
(a) by (b) as (c) at (d) to
(a) being (b) be (c) been (d) is
(a) alloy (b) allay (c) allow (d) all
(a) prime (b) leader (c) first (d) winner
(a) by (b) at (c) in (d) through
(a) under (b) in (c) over (d) on
(a) each (b) another (c) both (d) all
(a) forks (b) folks (c) fakes (d) flicks
(a) works (b) worked (c) working (d) work
(a) faces (b) masks (c) enables (d) offices
(a) do (b) being (c) is (d) happen

Spelling

Paragraph 1

they will be lelodaw to work from home
after the coronavirus pediamcn ends
Opening offices will be our ciedsoni
one of the first to eunrrt to offices
it would be "careful, tnoniinlate ...
office by office and rgdaalu

Paragraph 2

it was in a good oitpsino
bosses can ctctoan each other
odrpnes quickly
given our ipeshasm
apbcale of working from anywhere
in a role and tsiuaitno

Put the text back together

(...) started. The spokesperson said it would not be, "one of the first to return to offices". Twitter said most of its offices would not
(...) them to work from home and they want to continue to do so forever, we will make that happen."
(...) can make [working from home] work. If our employees are in a role and situation that enables
( 1 ) The boss of Twitter has told many of his employees that they can work from home
(...) companies to allow workers to work from home after the COVID-19 pandemic
(...) to work from home even after the coronavirus pandemic ends. A Twitter spokesperson said: "Opening offices will
(...) capable of working from anywhere." It added: "The past few months have proven we
(...) folks to work from home, given our emphasis on decentralization and supporting a distributed workforce
(...) be our decision. When and if our employees come back, will be their [decision]." Twitter was one of the first
(...) Twitter said it was in a good position to have many of its workers working from their home. It is an
(...) open before September. It added when they do open, it would be "careful, intentional, office by office and gradual".
(...) online company so many employees and bosses can contact each other on video conferencing platforms like
(...) forever if they want to. CEO Jack Dorsey told many workers on Tuesday that they will be allowed
(...) Zoom. The company said: "We were uniquely positioned to respond quickly and allow

Put the words in the right order

if Work forever from they want home to .
be work They will from home . allowed to
employees When our back . and come if
was Twitter one the companies . first of
of Most its open wouldn't before offices September .
said good a was position . it Twitter in
positioned were uniquely We to quickly . respond
capable from anywhere . workforce of A working
proven months past have can . we The few
They forever . to continue to so do want

Circle the correct word (20 pairs)

The boss of Twitter has told / said many of his employees that they can work from home forever if they want do / to. CEO Jack Dorsey told many workers on Tuesday that they will be allow / allowed to work from home even / ever after the coronavirus pandemic finish / ends. A Twitter spokesperson said: "Opening offices will be our decision. When and if our employees come back, will be their decide / decision." Twitter was one of the first companies to allow workers to work from home after the COVID-19 pandemic / panda started. The spokesperson said it would not be, "one of the first to / for return to offices". Twitter said most of its offices would not / non open before September. It added when they do open, it would be "careful, intentional, office by / buy office and gradual".

Twitter said it was in / on a good position to have many of its workers working from that / their home. It is an online company so / such many employees and bosses can intact / contact each other on video conferencing platforms love / like Zoom. The company said: "We were unique / uniquely positioned to respond quickly and allow folks / forks to work from home, given our emphasis on decentralization and supporting a distributed workforce capable to / of working from anywhere." It added: "The past few months have proof / proven we can make [working from home] work. If our employees are in a role and situation that enables them to work from home and they want to continue to do so forever, we will make that happened / happen."

Talk about the connection between each pair of words in italics, and why the correct word is correct.

Insert the vowels (a, e, i, o, u)

T h_ b_s s _f T w_t t_r h_s t_l d m_n y _f h_s _m p l_y__ s t h_t t h_y c_n w_r k f r_m h_m_ f_r_v_r _f t h_y w_n t t_. C E O J_c k D_r s_y t_l d m_n y w_r k_r s _n T__ s d_y t h_t t h_y w_l l b_ _l l_w_d t_ w_r k f r_m h_m_ _v_n _f t_r t h_ c_r_n_v_r_s p_n d_m_c _n d s . A T w_t t_r s p_k_s p_r s_n s__ d : " O p_n_n g _f f_c_s w_l l b_ __ r d_c_s__ n . W h_n _n d _f __ r _m p l_y__ s c_m_ b_c k , w_l l b_ t h__ r [ d_c_s__ n ] . " T w_t t_r w_s _n_ _f t h_ f_r s t c_m p_n__ s t_ _l l_w w_r k_r s t_ w_r k f r_m h_m_ _f t_r t h_ C O V I D - 1 9 p_n d_m_c s t_r t_d . T h_ s p_k_s p_r s_n s__ d _t w__ l d n_t b_, "_n_ _f t h_ f_r s t t_ r_t_r n t_ _f f_c_s " . T w_t t_r s__ d m_s t _f _t s _f f_c_s w__ l d n_t _p_n b_f_r_ S_p t_m b_r . I t _d d_d w h_n t h_y d_ _p_n , _t w__ l d b_ " c_r_f_l , _n t_n t__ n_l , _f f_c_ b y _f f_c_ _n d g r_d__ l " .

T w_t t_r s__ d _t w_s _n _ g__ d p_s_t__ n t_ h_v_ m_n y _f _t s w_r k_r s w_r k_n g f r_m t h__ r h_m_. I t _s _n _n l_n_ c_m p_n y s_ m_n y _m p l_y__ s _n d b_s s_s c_n c_n t_c t __ c h _t h_r _n v_d__ c_n f_r_n c_n g p l_t f_r m s l_k_ Z__ m . T h_ c_m p_n y s__ d : " W_ w_r_ _n_q__ l y p_s_t__ n_d t_ r_s p_n d q__ c k l y _n d _l l_w f_l k s t_ w_r k f r_m h_m_, g_v_n __ r _m p h_s_s _n d_c_n t r_l_z_t__ n _n d s_p p_r t_n g _ d_s t r_b_t_d w_r k f_r c_ c_p_b l_ _f w_r k_n g f r_m _n y w h_r_. " I t _d d_d : " T h_ p_s t f_w m_n t h s h_v_ p r_v_n w_ c_n m_k_ [ w_r k_n g f r_m h_m_] w_r k . I f __ r _m p l_y__ s _r_ _n _ r_l_ _n d s_t__ t__ n t h_t _n_b l_s t h_m t_ w_r k f r_m h_m_ _n d t h_y w_n t t_ c_n t_n__ t_ d_ s_ f_r_v_r , w_ w_l l m_k_ t h_t h_p p_n . "

Punctuate the text and add capitals

the boss of twitter has told many of his employees that they can work from home forever if they want to ceo jack dorsey told many workers on tuesday that they will be allowed to work from home even after the coronavirus pandemic ends a twitter spokesperson said opening offices will be our decision when and if our employees come back will be their decision twitter was one of the first companies to allow workers to work from home after the covid19 pandemic started the spokesperson said it would not be one of the first to return to offices twitter said most of its offices would not open before september it added when they do open it would be careful intentional office by office and gradual

twitter said it was in a good position to have many of its workers working from their home it is an online company so many employees and bosses can contact each other on video conferencing platforms like zoom the company said we were uniquely positioned to respond quickly and allow folks to work from home given our emphasis on decentralization and supporting a distributed workforce capable of working from anywhere it added the past few months have proven we can make working from home work if our employees are in a role and situation that enables them to work from home and they want to continue to do so forever we will make that happen

Put a slash (/) where the spaces are

ThebossofTwitterhastoldmanyofhisemployeesthattheycanworkfro
mhomeforeveriftheywantto.CEOJackDorseytoldmanyworkersonTu
esdaythattheywillbeallowedtoworkfromhomeevenafterthecoronavi
ruspandemicends.ATwitterspokespersonsaid:"Openingofficeswillbe
ourdecision.Whenandifouremployeescomeback,willbetheir[decisio
n]."Twitterwasoneofthefirstcompaniestoallowworkerstoworkfromh
omeaftertheCOVID-19pandemicstarted.Thespokespersonsaiditw
ouldnotbe,"oneofthefirsttoreturntooffices".Twittersaidmostofitsoffi
ceswouldnotopenbeforeSeptember.Itaddedwhentheydoopen,itwou
ldbe"careful,intentional,officebyofficeandgradual".Twittersaiditwas
inagoodpositiontohavemanyofitsworkersworkingfromtheirhome.Iti
sanonlinecompanysomanyemployeesandbossescancontacteachoth
eronvideoconferencingplatformslikeZoom.Thecompanysaid:"Wew
ereuniquelypositionedtorespondquicklyandallowfolkstoworkfromho
me,givenouremphasisondecentralizationandsupportingadistribute
dworkforcecapableofworkingfromanywhere."Itadded:"Thepastfew
monthshaveprovenwecanmake[workingfromhome]work.Ifourempl
oyeesareinaroleandsituationthatenablesthemtoworkfromhomeand
theywanttocontinuetodosoforever,wewillmakethathappen."

Free writing

Write about working at home for 10 minutes. Comment on your partner’s paper.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Academic writing

All companies should let employees work at home if they can. Discuss.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Homework

1. VOCABULARY EXTENSION: Choose several of the words from the text. Use a dictionary or Google's search field (or another search engine) to build up more associations / collocations of each word.
2. INTERNET: Search the Internet and find out more about this news story. Share what you discover with your partner(s) in the next lesson.
3. TWITTER: Make a poster about Twitter. Show your work to your classmates in the next lesson. Did you all have similar things?
4. WORKING AT HOME: Write a magazine article about working at home. Include imaginary interviews with people who are for and against this.
Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Write down any new words and expressions you hear from your partner(s).
5. WHAT HAPPENED NEXT? Write a newspaper article about the next stage in this news story. Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Give each other feedback on your articles.
6. LETTER: Write a letter to an expert on working at home. Ask him/her three questions about it. Give him/her three of your ideas on working at home. Read your letter to your partner(s) in your next lesson. Your partner(s) will answer your questions.

A Few Additional Activities for Students

Ask your students what they have read, seen or heard about this news in their own language. Students are likely to / may have have encountered this news in their L1 and therefore bring a background knowledge to the classroom.

Get students to role play different characters from this news story.

Ask students to keep track of this news and revisit it to discuss in your next class.

Ask students to male predictions of how this news might develop in the next few days or weeks, and then revisit and discuss in a future class.

Ask students to write a follow-up story to this news.

Students role play a journalist and someone who witnessed or was a part of this news. Perhaps they could make a video of the interview.

Ask students to keep a news journal in English and add this story to their thoughts.

Also...

Buy my 1,000 Ideas and Activities for Language Teachers eBook. It has hundreds of ideas, activity templates, reproducible activities for:

News
Warm ups
Pre-reading / Post-reading
Using headlines
Working with words
While-reading / While-listening
Moving from text to speech
Post-reading / Post-listening
Discussions
Using opinions
Plans
Language
Using lists
Using quotes
Task-based activities
Role plays
Using the central characters in the article
Using themes from the news
Homework

Buy my book

$US 9.99

Answers

(Please look at page 26 of the PDF to see a photocopiable example of this activity.)

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Breaking News English Lesson: Working At Home

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