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Newscasts 
DISCUSS THIS ARTICLE


Use news stories throughout the year, especially in upper level classes.  Some students may find the news boring, but it is important to incorporate news broadcasts in the classroom because students will acquire high frequency words and language structures, and they will also be aware of current affairs will be able to discuss them in Spanish.

Like the radio, newscasts may seem very fast for students in the beginning, but their listening comprehension skills will improve over time, once they are accustomed to the format and speed.  There are many different formats to use in your classroom, such as news broadcasts on TV and the internet, podcasts, newspaper, internet and magazine articles.  Record the news rather than listen to it live.
   

News Activities
  1. At the beginning of the year, distribute a blank, world map to students.  After students listen to the news, they mark on their map where the story took place. Not only will students learn about current affairs, they will also learn geography. (Provide links to world maps) 
  2. Have students regularly listen to or watch the news in class. 
  3. Always record the news and preview it before playing it in class.
  4. Prepare students before they watch or listen to a news broadcast in Spanish by playing one in English to familiarize students with the format.
  5. Make sure the English and the Spanish newscast have some of the same stories.
  6. After viewing the English version, students identify the English keywords used and tell the Spanish equivalent.  
  7. Prepare students for the Spanish news broadcast. 
    1. Make a list of key words in English and in Spanish that often show up in news broadcasts.
    2. Give students the keyword list and discuss each word.  I prefer to organize keywords by order of appearance in each story.
    3. Provide background information to each story.
      • Give students the heading of each story and have them predict what it is about. 
      • Explain the news story in Spanish.  Fully embellish it with actions, gestures, props, and pictures. 
      • Students read an article on the subjects before viewing the broadcast. 
    4. Explain to students that they will not understand every word and it will seem fast.  The idea is for them to get the gist of it. 
    5. Assure students that their listening skills will improve over time.  
  8. Play the news broadcast in Spanish. 
  9. As you play the broadcast, pause it and:
    1. Ask questions about what is taking place
    2. Ask students for their opinion
    3. Point out key vocabulary
    4. Replay scenes. 
  10. Students complete activities as they listen such as:
    Categorize stories
    1. Give students a list of types of news stories. 
    2. While they listen, they categorize each news story and list them in their order of presentation. 
    3. Examples of categories:
      • Business
      • Education
      • Entertainment
      • Life
      • Local
      • Money and Finance
      • National
      • Opinion
      • Politics
      • Sports
      • Weather
      • World
    Cloze Activity
    1. Provide a transcript with key words missing.
    2. Students fill in the blanks as they listen. 
    Common Keywords
    1. Students listen to the English and the Spanish versions. 
    2. Afterwards, they identify common words used.
    Compare and Contrast
    1. After students have listened to the Spanish and the English version, they determine which version is:
    2. Longer or shorter
    3. More detailed or less detailed
    4. Why they think that is. 
    5. What details were left out of the English version and why?
    6. What details were left out of the Spanish version and why?
    Comprehension Questions
    1. Play a newscast.
    2. Students answer questions about the news story.
    Dictation
    1. Play a newscast.
    2. After students have listened to the news story, read out part of it as a dictation. 
    Facts
    1. Play a newscast.
    2. Students list 5-10 facts or details from the news story.
    3. Discuss the newscast in Spanish.
    Opinion
    1. Students formulate an opinion of the actions taken by a person in the story.
    2. They justify their response with three examples from the newscast.
    3. This can be an oral or written activity.
    Quiz
    1. Students take a short quiz after listening to the story.
    2. The quiz can be true/false, multiple choice, short answer, or an essay.
    Read News Article
    1. If students did not read the news article before listening to the news clip, allow them to read and discuss the news article afterwards.  This will provide even more reinforcement of the vocabulary used. 
    Report
    1. Students listen to the newscast and take notes. 
    2. Afterwards, discuss the stories. 
    3. Students then choose a story and write a report on it in the target language.  
    4. Students present their report to the class in Spanish.
    5. You can set up the classroom like a news station and have them read it out and read it as if they were real reporters.  You can even have students make props and act out scenes.
    Retell
    1. Students retell the news story in their own words.
    2. They can retell it to you or retell it to a partner.
    3. They can retell it in English or in Spanish, depending on the level and your objectives.
    Summary
    1. Students write a summary of each story in Spanish.
    2. The summary can be in Spanish or English depending on the level.
    Vocabulary Word List
    1. Students make a list of new vocabulary words acquired while listening to the story.
    2. Students write an original sentence with each word.


Resources
Podcasts

If you have iTunes you can search and download the following podcasts which are perfect for class:

ABC News - Exclusiva en español by David Puente.This is a brief summary of the latest news headlines in Spanish.  Puente speaks very slowly and clearly so it's perfect for Spanish class.

NPR: NPR-RNW: La Matinal Podcast - This 30 minute podcast includes a 5 minute internation newscast along with the latest news and interviews.  The Spanish is very clearly spoken. 

BBC Mundo - 15 minute news podcasts with various reporters.

Links

BBC Mundo - World news in Spanish with videos and 15 minute podcasts. 

CNN En Español - CNN world news in Spanish with videos on a wide variety of news topics.

Democracy Now - US news site in Spanish with national and world news, audio clips with news summaries and interviews, and transcripts.

Newspaper World - A few links to Spain and Latin America's popular newspapers

Periódicos en Español - Links to newspapers from all over the world.

Prensa Escrita - Links to newspapers from all Spanish-speaking countries categorized by region.

Spanish New York - Alphabetical List of Spanish-language newspapers by country.

Univision - Even though this isn't an official news site, there is a news section with articles and videos in Spanish. 

YouTube - You can find many newscasts on YouTube.  You can even download videos and save them to a flash drive, a CD, on an iPod/MP3 player, or save them to your computer.

Argentina
Clarín - Latest news from Argentina with news stories and videos.

Intervoz - Online news from Cordoba, Argentina.  Aside from news, I love their joke of the day section. 

Chile
Chile Vision - Online news and television programs from Chile. There are so many videos that it takes a while for the page to load.  It is well worth the wait though!

La Tercera - News articles from Chile along with audio and video clips.  I highly recommend the video clips especially the boletín informativo!  They are very well made with captions and the reporters speak very clearly.  The videos are very visual and you could easily start and stop them for a class discussion.

Colombia
El Colombiano - Newspaper from Medellín, Colombia.  Scroll to the bottom and you will find links to audio and video clips under multimedia. 

El Espectador - Newspaper from Colombia with audio and video.

El Tiempo - Newspaper from Bogotá with lots of great videos.  There are also audio clips.

Costa Rica
La Nación - Today's news from San José, Costa Rica. Includes a section with the major happenings in other Central American countries, sports, headline news, and more. 

Cuba
Martí Noticias - Cuban news website with live videos and radio.  There are also audio clips that accompany the stories that are very clear and easy to understand.

Mexico
La Jornada - Mexico City newspaper supported by la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico with world news, articles contradicting major news topics, and videos which are found in the multimedia section.

Spain
ABC España - There are some videos and many audio clips in the multimedia section.

Cadena Ser - Live and archived radio and news from Spain.  You will find an abundance of audio and video clips.

El País - Aside from being the New York Times of Spain, there are lots of great audio and video clips. 

El Mundo - Another great news website from Spain with audio and videos on many topics.

COPE - Newscasts from Spain with many videos and audio clips on different topics.

Uruguay
El País de Uruguay - News articles with audio version included from Montevideo, Uruguay.  There are also videos but I love the audio clips because they are the actual news stories read aloud.

Downloading Videos

If you would like to download videos from YouTube or another video website (since your school may block YouTube) try these websites:

Vixy.net - I normally use Vixy because you can easily download videos in a variety of formats by cutting and pasting the video url.  In addition, they have a desktop Converter that you can download so you don't have to log onto their website each time you want to download the video.  The site normally works but a couple of times I have visited and it was down.  In any case, this is a great place to start!

YouTube Catcher - Here you can easily download YouTube Videos by copying and pasting the video url.

Downloading YouTube Videos - This is a must-read article from FLTEACH on how to download YouTube videos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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