News and Articles

NB: There are copyright restrictions on the use of TV/radio programmes and movies for educational purposes. Teachers are responsible to checking that their institution has an appropriate screenrights licence. See www.screenrights.org for more information.

General news sources

• ABC News in 90 seconds

• Behind the News (ABC) - subscribe; use their worksheets; do impromptu who, what, where, when etc.

• ABC local radio – good to refer to places your students know

Specific news lessons/articles

• Plain packaging of cigarettes:
• 'Australia First Country to Introduce Plain Cigarette Packets' (Dec 3, 2012) from BBC News & The Guardian, written by @EngNewsLessons. Lower-int level. Includes pre-, while- and post-reading tasks (download the PDF version for a better look) http://www.englishnewslessons.com/lessons/2012/december/03122012a.html#.UL2Cv-2Jued
• There's a Behind the News episode on this too: Cigarette Changes (Sep 4, 2012) with transcript, related links and activities, and lots of student comments on the program.

• Do you believe everything you read online? I heard about this recent April Fools Day joke at the Virtual Round Table (VRT) Conference and thought it would be a great idea for a digital literacy activity:
  Google Street Roo - exploring the outback one bounce at a time

• "Wi-fi, dual-flush loos, and 8 more Australian inventions" by Phil Mercer, BBC News Magazine, 8 Nov 2012 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20071644 Great article with bite-size chunks and pictures - ideal for prediction, jigsaw reading, and extension activities (great/kooky inventions [from your country], passive, future forms, presentations, interviews, trip to Powerhouse Museum etc)

• "New Zealand sees no justice in unusual babies' names" - Guardian Weekly Learning English Advanced lesson plan: "How did your students get their names? New Zealand's strict rules on what parents can call their babies is sure to spark debate in class"  http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/interactive/2012/feb/14/feburary-advanced-classroom-materials 
• Related article on Australian laws for naming babies: The naming game - the law on baby names
• This article has links to most popular baby names in Australia and in different Australian states, and some of the state registries of Births, Deaths & Marriages also have this information  
• I've used this along with other name-related activities with a new class - I've posted a few ideas on my blog: What's in a Name in an ESL class? 

• Melbourne voted the world's most liveable city (from August 2012):
• ABC: Melbourne remains world's most liveable city http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-08-14/melbourne-remains-worlds-most-liveable-city/4198294
• The Age: Melbourne again most liveable city http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/melbourne-again-most-liveable-city-20120814-246vm.html
• The Australian: Melbourne named world's most liveable city http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/melbourne-named-worlds-most-livable-city/story-e6frg6nf-1226450134842

• "I went after guns. Obama can too" Article by John Howard (ex-PM of Australia) in the New York Times. Could work with advanced learners interested in topical discussion. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/17/opinion/australia-banned-assault-weapons-america-can-too.html?_r=0 

• "A village invents a language all of own", Nicholas Bakalar, New York Times, 14/7/13. This is about the "Light" Walpiri language spoken by a remote aboriginal tribe in the Northern Territory. Could be used with advanced classes and plenty of discussion around this topic (language formation, ELF vs maintaining the mother tongue, aboriginal culture) http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/16/science/linguist-finds-a-language-in-its-infancy.html?_r=2& 
• Another item on "light" Walpiri, this time an audio recording of a radio program - would be a good accompaniment to the above:
  RTR FM's Talk the Talk: Light Warlpiri: With so many dying languages in the world, it’s good to see new languages being born. A brand new language has been discovered in the Northern Territory. It’s Light Warlpiri, and while it seems to combine English with the Australian language Warlpiri, it has grammatical rules that are entirely its own. What’s it like, and does it have a future? Linguist Daniel Midgley gets into the mix on this episode of Talk the Talk. http://rtrfm.com.au/story/talk-the-talk-light-warlpiri/

• ABC article: ‘ "I'm stuffed": migrants boggled by Aussie slang’ 
• Australia Day article from the SMH: Put away the flags and enjoy your country on Australia Day. There's a lot to admire about Australia, especially if you're a visiting American.  Could be good for compare and contrast.