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Connecting classroom to the real world, with newspapers

JOHOR BARU: The use of newspapers in class can enhance the learning experience of students and allow them to gain more information and knowledge beyond the four walls of the classroom.

According to Johor Education Department’s principal assistant director of English, Rokiah Ahmad, the newspapers provides an authentic reading activity for the learners, as articles presented are about real life events in the local and international scenes.

She further added that the beauty of newspapers is that they are more current than textbooks, and that they are inexpensive, readily obtainable and versatile.

“They bring the world into the classroom. Newspapers are great learning tools in the 21st century.”

Rokiah was speaking at the New Straits Times-Newspapers for English Language Enhancement Workshop at GBW Hotel here. The workshop was organised by Johor English Language Teaching Association (Jelta), in cooperation with the Johor Education Department. Apart from GBW Hotel, the other sponsors were Oxford Fajar and University Bookstore Malaysia (UBS).

Some 100 teachers from Johor Baru and Pasir Gudang attended the workshop, themed “The Strength of Newspapers for Educational Purposes”.

Rokiah added that the newspapers could be used to enhance skills in reading, writing, listening, speaking, social studies and science.

“Learners can internalise the full range of world background knowledge, language conventions and vocabulary through reading the newspaper.

“It expands the curriculum with an unlimited amount of information, be it social issues, sciences, economics, sports and entertainment.

“There are also a lot of smaller parts of information in the newspapers such as pictures, headlines and captions which make an excellent springboard for lessons.”

According to Rokiah, teachers and students should make full use of the New Straits Times’ School Times pull-out published every Tuesday to make lessons more engaging and effective.

Meanwhile, Universiti Utara Malaysia’s senior lecturer Assoc Prof Dr. Hariharan N Krishnasamy said with the amount of information it carries daily, the newspapers could supplement and complement the textbook.

“The newspaper provides a rich source of content for expanding one's knowledge, including students.

“It can be utilised to support learning across the curriculum, promoting higher level thinking skills and encourage lifelong reading.

According to Hariharan, reading the newspapers is an excellent way of acquiring a second language, such as English.

Johor State Education Department’s acting director Sallina Hussain said the newspapers are a useful teaching aid for teachers, to complement other forms of resources such as videos and films.

“Teachers use the newspapers because it offers a variety of stories and news. And it is current,” she said, adding that there are sections in the newspapers that offer fun learning activities for students, such as cartoon strips and comics.

In his speech, NST group editor Rashid Yusof mentioned about lack of reading among the younger generation, which is considered a national crisis.

"Teachers are our hope to motivate students to read, using newspapers as an effective medium," he added.

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