Specials thanks to Anna Pereszlényi, my dear colleague, with whom I created the worksheet!
Topic: fake news, hoaxes, (current issues - climate change, gender inequality, terrorism, extremism, politicians)
Level: B2, B2+, C1
Objectives:
- to raise awareness to an important issue
- to expand students’ knowledge about current events
- to develop students’ creative and critical thinking
- to develop student’s speaking and writing skills
- to develop students’ autonomy, presentations skills, research skills and cooperation
- to develop students’ argumentative skills and perspective taking
Equipment/materials needed: worksheet for each student, a hoax printed out for every student (according to your group size, you should form groups of 4-6 and each group should have a set of hoaxes, so that they can do an article share), post-its
The sequence of activities
1. Warmer - News
Below students can see some pictures that (probably) do not reflect reality. Ask them what they think about them? Ask them to discuss them in pairs, and say some sentences about them.
Ask the students to imagine how these stories would be presented in the news. Ask them to write sensationalist news headlines based on their previous sentences.
ONLINE TIP: Having written the headlines, ask your students to check whether their headlines are sensationalist enough on this page: https://www.aminstitute.com/headline/
Right after this, you might even have a discussion on clickbaits.
2. Predicition activity : Reveal the title of the poem - From the Encyclopaedia of Alternative Facts. Ask them the following question: based on the title, what do you think you’re going to read (genre, content)?
3. Reading and vocabulary: Ask your students to fill in the gaps – (Put the keywords into the text). Explain problematic vocabulary if necessary.
POLITICIAN, EQUAL, TERROR, CLIMATE, CHANGE, RISE, DODGY, LEGAL, MONSTER, AFFECTS
Frankenstein was the _______________’s name.
There’s no such thing as ________________ change.
A solero is a type of hat.
The planet is not round but flat.
Six is the ___________ drinking age.
Women are paid an _____________ wage.
Elvis was influenced by Take That.
The planet is not round but flat.
Achilles had a ______________ knee.
____________ comes from refugees.
Insomnia _______________ most cats.
The planet is not round but flat.
There are no fascists on the ____________.
A _______________ never lies.
It’s impossible to _____________ a fact.
The planet is not round but flat.
4. Group work: Put your students into groups of 3-6. Give a set of hoaxes to each group, so that every student has 1-2 hoaxes. In their groups, they will read about different hoaxes. After reading their text, they should tell the others about what they’ve read and then together, they should choose the best hoax. Ask them: What do you think made them believable?
You can access our selected hoaxes from the bottom of the page (downloads).
5. Pair work: ask them to think of common misconceptions and hoaxes and add them to the poem. Ask them to write a new stanza on a post-it. Put up the post-its on the walls and ask your students to walk around and choose their favourite one. You can also do the gallery walk during the next lesson with their rewritten poems.
(This one can also be their HW)
6. Speaking, argumentation
Ask students to choose a statement and collect arguments for and against it. (The aim of this activity is to make them think about other people’s perspectives and points of view as well.)
There is no such thing as climate change.
Women are paid an equal wage.
Terror comes from refugees.
There are no fascists on the rise.
A politician never lies.
Arguments for:
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Arguments against:
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Students should present their arguments and you can have a full class discussion or debate on these topics.
7. Pair work or group work – Give students some time to discuss these questions in small groups, then, have a full-class discussion on them.
a. Why would someone believe these lines? (in the previous exercise)
b. Do these hoaxes and misconceptions represent danger to our societies? Why (not)?
c. What can you do to avoid believing these pieces of information?
d. What can you do to avoid spreading these pieces of information?
ONLINE TIP: You can ask your students to call each other via Skype/Messenger/whatever platform they prefer, record their discussion and send it to you.
8. Writing - Ask your students to rewrite the poem so that it reflects reality. You can assign it as homework and then, next time, you can have an “exhibition” of their poems.
ONLINE TIP: They could upload their pieces to your online classroom (it's quite useful if it has a notebook function) and then they could comment on each other's poems there.
9. Research - Ask your students to read about more hoaxes from the 21st century, choose one and present and debunk it next time in a 3-minute-long presentation.
ONLINE TIP: You can ask your students to record a short video of themselves debunking a hoax and to share it with their classmates.