LETTER: I was thrilled to read the article titled "Reading newspapers will help hone language skills" published on Nov 11, 2020, as it brought me down memory lane. I still remember when, in my primary school days, we had a programme called Newspaper in Education (NIE) in which The News Straits Times pioneered efforts to allow students to buy the newspaper weekly at discounted rates.
My English teacher ensured that we made maximum use of the newspaper in the classroom. We had activities like cutting and pasting new vocabulary into our exercise books, writing sentences from selected pictures and photos for writing skills, and not forgetting the reading aloud of individual segments of selected articles.
Newspapers are one of the most powerful tools if we intend to improve the mastery of English, as it will improve vocabulary, grammar, and of course, ideas for writing essays. Activities like identifying main ideas, comparing readings, forming new phrases and sentences from vocabulary collections, and writing summaries allow for interaction with authentic materials found in the newspaper, which gradually improves proficiency in English.
Another interesting activity was when we were given the freedom to create stories or captions of selected pictures of our choice from the newspaper. Once done, we would proudly paste the work on the class notice board. Though it was not an easy task, it sharpened creativity and of course, enhanced critical thinking skills in us, especially after sharing ideas with peers.
If you are a teacher who believes in meaningful noise and positive movement of students in the classroom, then you can try using the advertisements found throughout the newspaper. Let your students search for an advertisement that catches their attention.
Have them write a few sentences or a paragraph about reasons why they chose the ad, and create a display section for them to role-play selling and buying something at their desks. By doing so, students will not only hone their writing skills, but also verbal persuasion skills.
Another group of students who can take advantage of newspaper use in classrooms are those with learning disabilities. Most often, they become frustrated and less motivated to learn English with traditional learning approaches.
I believe teaching them using materials from newspapers can be helpful for special education teachers who want to create individualised teaching methods, since they appeal to students who are not easily motivated.
In conclusion, English language teachers should realise that the newspaper is an inexpensive and flexible teaching aid to improve students' language skills. It takes practice to get it into the classroom, but it is worth trying.
I believe dedicated teachers reading this will try using the newspaper in their lessons, whether in a face-to-face or online distance teaching mode.
DR AMINABIBI SAIDALVI
Senior Lecturer, UiTM, Pasir Gudang Campus
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times