MATERIAL PRODUCTION FOR CLASSROOM: USING NEWSPAPER IN THE CLASSROOM.

Teaching materials form an important part of most English teaching programmes.From textbooks, videotapes and pictures to Internet, teachers rely heavily on a diverse range of materials to support their teaching and students learning. Materials development involves the process of providing input to the learners in various forms and providing opportunities to exploit the materials for language acquisition and learning. The material should attract and sustain motivation and internet of learners make learners use language for a real purpose make learners feel confident and at ease. The advent of computers, Internet, Technology has brought a lot of change in the educational system. Today the teaching is turning out to be more of sources from !here one can acquire the material. "e!spapers can provide one of the most comprehensive resources to help a child become a reader. #nce a child learns letter names and sounds, then sight !ords, he or she becomes more fluent and can move more quickly through text, accomplishing more difficult reading tasks such as learning ne! vocabulary and understanding !hat is read. This paper presents a discussion about the use of ne!spaper in classroom as a teaching mate MATERIAL PRODUCTION FOR CLASSROOM: USING NEWSPAPER
IN THE CLASSROOM.

more learner

centered and technology oriented. Internet !ebsites provide innumerable amount

BY: Dr.B.MADHAVI LATHA ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR ST. ANNS COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING & TECH. CHIRALA.

Teaching materials form an important part of most English teaching programmes. From textbooks, videotapes and picture to Internet, teachers rely heavily on a diverse range of materials to support their teaching and their students learning. Material development involves the process of providing input to the learners in various forms and providing opportunities to exploit the materials for language acquisition and learning. The material should attract and sustain motivation and interest of learners, make learners use language for a real purpose , make learners feel confident and at ease. The advent of $omputers and Internet has brought a lot of change in the educational system. Today the teaching is turning out to be more and more learner centered and technology oriented. Internet !ebsites provide innumerable amount of material on every topic. There are a number of sources from !here one can acquire the material. #ne such source is "e!spaper. "e!spapers can provide one of the most comprehensive resources to help a child become a reader. #nce a child learns letter names and sounds, then sight !ords, he or she becomes more fluent and can move more quickly through text, accomplishing more difficult reading tasks such as learning ne! vocabulary and understanding !hat is read. "e!spapers help keep us informed about !hat is happening in the !orld, thereby extending our kno!ledge and deepening our understanding. For this reason they are of general educational value and importance to learners.

%aul &anderson opines that' ("e!spaper are an invaluable source of authentic materials and their use in the language classrooms is very much in keeping !ith current thinking and practice in teaching pedagogy.)* "e!spapers can be used to teach various skills. + number of activities can be made to teach these language skills like , -&./ ad further to create reading proficiency critical to children to learn to read like phonemic a!areness, phonemics, fluency, vocabulary, speaking etc. They also provide a constantly changing source of non0fiction reading material, a key need in many schools and help learners hone critical thinking skills. If used in a more inspiring !ay, ne!spapers can help learners to develop not only reading skills but also !riting , grammar, vocabulary and speaking skills. +s stated by %aul &anderson' ("e!spaper items are conveniently self0contained units !hich vary in length from a short paragraph to a complete page or more. This is particularly helpful feature for teachers, in that it offers them a great deal of flexibility !hen planning lessons and selecting material to meet certain criteria, eg' The length of the ne!spaper items, the complexity of the language, the diversity of information, the sub1ect0matter and content, the lesson time available and the level of students.)2 This feature of ne!spaper is also helpful to students, !ho can measure and increase their reading tolerance, progressing from very short items, perhaps for detailed study, the students tangible, on0going targets to aim for in their reading. The ne!spaper is used in the classroom !ith the follo!ings aims' *. To provide teachers !ith practical and creative ideas !hich exploit all the different sections of ne!spaper. 2. To enable teachers to meet the diverse needs and interest of their learners, using ne!spaper material !hich engage and challenge them.

3. To provide learners !ith purposeful and valuable language practice through ne!spaper0 based activities and tasks !hich develop reading, !riting , speaking and !riting skills. 4. To instill in learners a positive and comfortable attitude to!ards !orking !ith English0 language ne!spapers, and to!ards reading generally in English, both inside and outside the classroom. 5. To promote extensive reading by giving learners the confidence, the motivation and the ability to continue their reading outside the classroom. /ith the above aims in mind the teacher starts collecting the material !hich is an on0going process, but it is !orth devoting some time to collect and file specific categories of ne!spaper extracts. This !ill ensure that you have a good supply of materials you need !hen you !ish to use the activities in the class. /hen you are searching for materials, it is helpful to keep several activities in mind that you !ish to try out at a future date. The key points !ith material collection are to plan in advance, and to thro! nothing a!ay until you are absolutely sure it is of no use. It is necessary and helpful to ask a fe! questions !hile choosing suitable ne!spaper materials to use !ith the learners. For example' *. /ill the students find the materials interesting6 2. +re the materials appropriate for the learners in terms of their existing kno!ledge6 3. +re the materials appropriate for the learners in terms of language level6 4. &hould I use only materials from today7s ne!spaper6 5. $an I use ne!spaper materials !hich are not from English0language ne!spapers6 +ll these factors are interrelated and most deciding factors in the selection of suitable ne!spaper materials.

#nce you start collecting the material the next important aspect is organi8ing the material you have collected. #nce you start the collection and have amassed a formidable collection, it !ould be frustrating to note that you have the article for tomorro!7s lesson but not sure !here uou last sa! it, It is therefore important to devise and implement a system of organi8ing !hich suits you to make sure that materials are handy enough to use. &ome possible !ays to organi8e the material are' *. "e!spaper sections. 2. Themes and topics. 3. -anguage skills. 4. -anguage systems. 5. -anguage level. +fter having collected the material and filed in a proper organi8ed manner it is necessary to prepare the ne!spaper material for the classroom. It is important to note that the presentation and appearance of teaching materials play a significant role in motivating learners to read. Technical details such as the use of photographs and illustrations, the print si8e and the layout all combine to help make learners !ant to read, and to en1oy !hat they read. It is therefore essential to take time to produce materials !hich are as attractive and inviting as possible. /hen you are preparing materials for one class, you should do so !ith the intention of using them !ith other suitable classes in the future. This !ill enable to build up a bank of high0 quality, reusable materials, and this !ill ultimately reduce day0to0day preparation time. The next stage is to preserve the material that you have prepared carefully for future use. The problem of mislaying or losing the materials can easily be avoided by follo!ing a fe! guidelines like' *. Making master0copies.

2. -abeling master0copies. 3. &toring master0copies. 4. %rotecting original materials. There are four key !ays teachers can successfully use ne!spaper materials !ith learners' *. %re0activity preparation. 2. $areful selection of materials. 3. $areful design of tasks. 4. .ecycling materials. #nce the material is ready for use the next important aspect the teacher needs to plan is the activities and classifying the activities into various heads. The activities using ne!spapers can be classified into the follo!ing heads' *. 9eadlines 2. +rticles 3. %hotographs 4. +dvertisements 5. 9oroscopes :. %roblem page letters ;. T.v. guides <. $artoons and cartoon strips =. /eather forecasts *>. The !hole ne!spaper.

"o! that !e have seen so much about material production and using ne!spaper in the classroom it is important to see the advantages of using ne!spaper in the classroom. There are a number of advantages of using ne!spapers in the language classroom' *. ?eneral educational value 2. $ultural information 3. -anguage change 4. @arieties of English 5. .eader interest :. .eading for pleasure ;. +uthentic materials <. &ub1ect0specific materials =. Teaching materials *>. Multi0level **. -esson planning. In the end, teachers must !eigh up the benefits and costs of designing their o!n teaching materials and make their o!n decision as to !hether it is !orth the time and effort. Asing the ne!spaper bridges the gap bet!een classroom learning and real0!orld living, helps foster global a!areness and understanding of local issues, creates informed citi8ens, offers examples of conflict and resolution and foster reading, thinking and !riting skills. 9ence, if prepared and used carefully ne!spaper provide the language teacher !ith a very good source of material that can be used to develop efficiency in English language.

rial to teach language.