Title: Things that are not in the news

Lesson plan elaborated by: Katarzyna Maciejak

Topic:

What things are not in the news?

Target group

6th‑grade students of an eigh‑year primary school.

Core curriculum

I. Literary and cultural education.

1. Reading literary compositions. Student:

1) describes the elements of the world presented, distinguishes poetical images in poetry;

4) knows and recognises in the literary text: epithet, metaphor, comparison, onomatopoeic words, diminution, exaggeration, personification, animation, apostrophe, anaphora, rhetorical question, repetition and defines their function;

6) recognises rhythmitizing elements of the statement including: verse, rhyme, stanza, chorus, number of syllables in a verse;

14) names the impressions aroused by a given text;

15) explains literary and metaphoric meanings.

2. Reception of the cultural texts. Student:

1) identifies the statement as an informational, journalistic or advertising text;

2) finds directly and non‑directly (hidden) expressed messages in the text;

3) specifies the topic and the main theme of the text;

8) understands the specificity of cultural texts belonging to: literature, theatre, film, music, visual and audio‑visual arts;

9) distinguishes the elements consisting to the theatrical performance (acting, directing, decoration, make‑up, costumes, props, music); distinguishes elements of film and television work (script, direction, shot, acting, music); indicates the characteristic features of audio‑visual communications (film, information program, entertainment program);

13) consciously and with attention receives movies, concerts, performances, radio and television programmes, especially those directed to children and young people.

II. Language skills.

2. Language differentiation. Student:

2) uses the official and unofficial variation of Polish;

3) uses a style appropriate to the communication situation;

4) understands literal and metaphorical meaning of the words in a statement; recognises the ambiguous words, understands their meaning in a text and consciously uses them to create his own statements.

7) uses a style appropriate to the intended purpose of communication;

3. Linguistic communication and language culture. Student:

1) identifies a text as a message, distinguishes different types of messages: informational, literary, advertising, iconic.

III. Creating statements

1. Elements of rhetoric. Student:

1) takes part in a discussion on a given topic, can separate its parts and structural signals strengthening the bond among the participants of the dialogue and explaining meaning

4) selects information.

IV. Self‑education. Student:

1) perfects loud and silent reading;

2) perfects different forms of writing down the gained information;

3) uses information from different sources, gathers and selects information;

7) develops the ability to critically assess the gathered information;

9) develops the ability to effectively use the informational technology and the Internet resources and uses these skills to present his own interests.

The general aim of education

The students will know the stages of the informational programme creating, and the ways of presenting the information in the audio‑visual media.

Key competences

• communication in the mother tongue;

• communication in foreign languages;

• learning to learn;

• social and civil competences.

Operational objectives

Student:

• lists the informational programmes that are broadcast by different channels;

• describes the stages of television programme production;

• indicates the characteristics of the information programmes;

• collects the vocabulary to describe the information programme;

• develops the ability to critically evaluate the information obtained;

• uses information from various sources;

• gathers information;

• selects information.

Methods of teaching

• problematic: conversation, guided discussion;

• practical: subject exercises;

• exposing: the recording;

• programmed: using computer, using e‑textbook.

Forms of work

• uniform individual activity;

• collective activity;

Lesson plan overview (Process)

Introduction

1. The teacher determines the purpose of the class: the students will talk about the informational programmes and the ways of presenting the information in the audio‑visual media.

2. The teacher asks the students if they watch any news programmes (if so, which ones), and if they know the titles of the programmes that are broadcast by different channels.

Realization

1. The students check their knowledge about the informational programmes broadcast by the different channels (the interactive exercise number 1).

2. The teacher continues the conversation and asks the students about the features of the good informational programme and if it is easy to prepare such programme (he mentions the newscaster and the content, etc.). The students listen to the journalist who describes the process of creating the news and the informational programme (the teacher asks the students to pay attention to the sequence of actions).

3. The students do the interactive exercise number 2: they arrange in the right order the stages of the TV programme creating.

4. The teacher asks the students which pieces of news are presented as the first, what is the hierarchy of presented pieces of news, what kind of information is the most popular and what information are missing (what is the reason for this?). Guided conversation.

5. The teacher asks the students to read the poem by Adam Zagajewski:”Co godzinę wiadomości”. While reading, the students should think: what is the knowledge of the world of the person who listens to the news, and what kind of knowledge does this person lack? After reading, the students discuss their findings and answer the additional questions (ex. 5).

6. The teacher discusses with the students the language measures that are characteristic for the media style (metaphors, expressive epithets, exclamations, rhetorical questions, hyperbola, contrasts, etc.) and the effect resulting from them.

7. The students do the interactive exercise number 6: they think what characterizes the topics that are presented in the media the most often, they choose the terms from the list and justify their opinion (attractiveness, timeliness, sensibility, expressiveness). The selected students read their answers. This exercise does not have “the right answers”, everything depends on the justification.

8. The students look at the photos with different situations and answer the question: which of the presented situations could be the topic of the news? The students justify their answers.

Summary

The teacher asks questions to summarize, e.g.

• Where do you get current information from?

• What is the role of the news in the modern world?

• What are the stages of creating an information programme?

• What news should - in your opinion - dominate in information programs?

• What are the traits of sensational messages?

Homework

Think about something positive that you have experienced recently, and try to present it in form of the news from the information programme.

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

Things that are not in the news

In your opinion, what should a good news programme be characterised by? Is it easy to prepare such programme? Discuss it in class.

Which pieces of news are presented as the first? What is the hierarchy of presented pieces of news. Why? Which pieces of news are the most numerous and what should be mentioned more often? What is the reason for this? Which information was the most interesting to you?

According to you, what linguistic measures are typical for the style used in the media. What effect is achieved by presenting the news in this way? Read the news below and answer the questions.