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Teacher's notes incIuded in the Notes Page


Accompanying worksheet
FIash activity. These activities are not editabIe.
Web addresses Extension activities
Icons key: For more detaiIed instructions, see the Getting Started presentation
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Writing Newspaper ArticIes
Writing
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earning objectives
n this unit you will.
Learn the features of different types of newspaper
(tabloid, broadsheet, local and national)
Discuss headlines and articles, analysing how they
differ between types of newspaper
Write your own newspaper article based on the
events of Shakespeare's The Tempest, paying
particular attention to language, layout and style
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The first newspapers were all called broadsheets,
because they used large, wide sheets of paper for their
pages. TabIoid newspapers were traditionally smaller
and squarer in shape than the broadsheet papers.
These two types of paper have quite different written
styles. Your style, material and layout will be affected by
the kind of paper you are writing for.
Recently, some broadsheet newspapers have reduced
the size of their pages to make them easier to read,
particularly on trains! However, they are still classified as
broadsheet papers because of the style of journalism
within them.
Do you know what the two main types of
newspaper are caIIed?
Types of newspapers
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Types of newspapers
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What do you think is the most important difference
between tabloid and broadsheet newspapers? What
other differences are there?
n which way(s), if any, are free newspapers different to
newspapers you have to pay for?
What is the main difference
between national and local
papers? Are there any other
differences?
Can one and should one say
that any particular type of
newspaper is "better than
any other?
Discussion topics
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ooking at headIines
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deally, a headline should:
What makes the perfect headIine?
What sort of
newspaper is this?
ooking at headIines
sum up the whole article
grab the attention of potential buyers
be easily remembered.
A pun or some alliteration can make it even more effective.
What do 'pun' and 'aIIiteration' mean?
A pun is a play on
words and
alliteration is when
the same consonant
sound is repeated.
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ooking at headIines
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Discussion activity
Consider the two headlines which you have just analysed.
How are the differences in the headlines likely to be
reflected in the papers' approach to what is actually the
same story?
ooking at headIines
Activity
Turn the following imaginary news items into two headlines
each: one in tabloid style and one in broadsheet style.
f things don't change, global warming will cause
sea levels to rise by a metre in the next century.
The Ministry of Defence has admitted that Gulf War
Syndrome could well have been caused by chemicals
which were used by both sides during the conflict.
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All articles have common features like:
sub-headings
Add any other features you can think of to the
brainstorm above.
What does an articIe need?
a headline
picture(s) with
captions
AII newspaper
articIes
interviews/comments
from people involved
an expert opinion
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You are now going to work through the various stages
necessary to create a finished newspaper article. You will
be working from fictional pieces of information which
come from Shakespeare's play The Tempest.
her father
her brother Ferdinand
her father's brother Sebastian
Gonzalo (Alonso's adviser)
Antonio (Duke of Milan)
Neapolitan and Milanese nobility and their servants.
The background:
Writing an articIe
Claribel, the daughter of King Alonso of Naples, has just
married the king of Tunis.
At her wedding in Tunis were:
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On the way home from Tunis, a storm blows up in the
Mediterranean and King Alonso's ship is sunk.
The other ships in the fleet see the ship go down, but
cannot find any survivors when they try to go to the
rescue.
Writing an articIe
The events:
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As a result of this event, there is no direct heir to the
throne of Naples.
Sadly, the fleet sails on to Naples where the bad news has
to be broken: the king, the heir to the throne and most of
the senior councillors of Naples have been drowned, as
well as the Duke of Milan and a large part of the nobility of
both Naples and Milan. n addition, the ship had a crew of
seventy Neapolitan sailors, all of whom are lost.
Writing an articIe
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While you wait for your reporter to run to the docks to get
more details, you start work on a dramatic headline for
tomorrow's paper.
Try out several different ways of approaching the tragedy,
including at least one tabloid style headline and one
broadsheet style headline.
You are responsible for the front page of
,ples Tod, the city's main newspaper. t
is the evening of June 23rd 1598 and a
rumour has reached your office that the fleet
has just returned without the king's ship.
IndividuaI activity
Writing an articIe
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magine you are the reporter for ,ples Tod,. You have
been sent to the docks to gather enough information to write
a dramatic article for tomorrow's paper.
Make a list of the people whom you would like to interview
for your research. Remember to include as wide a range of
experiences as possible.
IndividuaI activity
Your list should include:
Writing an articIe
someone who saw the fleet return
someone senior from the fleet (e.g. a captain)
a relative of one of the drowned sailors
a political expert
a court spokesperson.
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Each taking the other's list of people to be interviewed,
prepare in note form a story for each of them. Do not
write out the story in full. Do not discuss the details with
your partner.
Remember to think about what they saw, what they
heard, what they think and what they feel.
As the journalist, prepare questions which you wish to
ask your chosen people. Aim for five or six questions
each some may be the same for everyone, of course!
Again, do not tell your partner what you are going to ask.
Take it in turns to interview each other, making notes
when you are the journalist.
Paired activities
Writing an articIe
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Paired activity
You now have a list of possible headlines and two sets of
interviews which give you an idea of what happened and
what people think about it. magine that you are the editor
and journalist. Decide on the style of your paper's approach
to the story and choose a headline for tomorrow's early
edition.
Now that you have that, you
need to think about the
layout of your front page.
Writing an articIe
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headline
picture
an you think of anything eIse a newspaper front
page might have?
price
The front page
name of paper
date
sub
headings
columns
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Decide on the layout of the early edition of ,ples Tod, on
June 24th 1598. Remember to give your paper a date and a
price as well as a headline.
With the layout fixed, all that remains is to write the article.
However, you need to think carefully about the language you
use when you start to write. s your paper a tabloid or a
broadsheet? How should you use your interviews? What is your
paper's attitude to the event?
ayout and styIe
The language you use when writing your articles is very
important. Newspapers have their own styles and there are
distinct differences between the language of a tabloid paper
and that of a broadsheet.
Look at the extracts on the next two slides and
decide which one is from a tabloid article and which
is broadsheet in style. Find examples from the
articles as evidence to support your opinion.
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A lonely pensioner was brutally beaten up by a mugger, just yards
from her own front door. All she had on her was 7.00.
" was just walking home from my weekly lunch at the local Day
Centre, says widow Mary Evans, 86, of South Court, Devenish.
t wasn't even dark, only 3pm on a September afternoon. And this
isn't a big city. Are we safe anywhere these days?
Not safe in our own streets
D.C. Matthew Johns of Green Lane Police Station, Wilborough
said, "This is a really nasty attack on a defenceless old lady. t's not
even as though she had anything on her worth stealing.
So, now we can't even feel safe in our own street. When are the
government going to wake up and realize they've got to do
something about it? After all, we're the ones who put them there.
Shouldn't they earn their keep by looking after us and making sure
that old ladies don't have to live in fear?
BrutaI Attack on Pensioner
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A national survey conducted by the Police Federation reveals that
our streets really are less safe than they were ten years ago.
The recent, well-publicized attack on an elderly pensioner, Mrs
Mary Evans, aged 86 of Devenish, brought the issue of street
muggings back to the public's attention. The publication of this
report will simply confirm what many ordinary people have felt for
some time: that police efforts to control street crime have failed.
"t is now a matter of urgency that the government should
recognize that it is its responsibility to tackle this issue. t cannot be
right that the elderly should have to take their lives in their hands
every time they step beyond their own front doors, said Help The
Aged's spokesperson Helen Smith.
"We claim to be a civilized country, yet it seems that our streets
are not as safe as we like to think. Perhaps it's time to reassess the
priorities of the police force and target the unglamorous side of
community policing: drugs seizures are undoubtedly important, but
so is the day-to-day safety of vulnerable members of society.
#andom Street rime is #ising
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A lonely pensioner was brutally beaten up by a mugger, just
yards from her own front door. All she had on her was 7.00.
" was just walking home from my weekly lunch at the local Day
Centre, says widow Mary Evans, 86, of South Court, Devenish.
t wasn't even dark, only 3pm on a September afternoon. And
this isn't a big city. Are we safe anywhere these days?
Not safe in our own streets
D.C. Matthew Johns of Green Lane Police Station, Wilborough
said, "This is a really nasty attack on a defenceless old lady. t's
not even as though she had anything on her worth stealing.
So, now we can't even feel safe in our own street. When are the
government going to wake up and realize they've got to do
something about it? After all, we're the ones who put them there.
Shouldn't they earn their keep by looking after us and making
sure that old ladies don't have to live in fear?
Emotive words Direct speech Personal details given
Use of
contractions
Rhetorical
questions.
Short sentences and very
short "paragraphs throughout.
BrutaI Attack on Pensioner
Sub-
heading
breaks
up text
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#andom Street rime is #ising
A national survey conducted by the Police Federation reveals that our
streets really are less safe than they were ten years ago.
The recent, well-publicized attack on an elderly pensioner, Mrs Mary
Evans, aged 86 of Devenish, brought the issue of street muggings back
to the public's attention. The publication of this report will simply confirm
what many ordinary people have felt for some time: that police efforts to
control street crime have failed.
"t is now a matter of urgency that the government should recognize that
it is its responsibility to tackle this issue. t cannot be right that the elderly
should have to take their lives in their hands every time they step beyond
their own front doors, said Help The Aged's spokesperson Helen Smith.
"We claim to be a civilized country, yet it seems that our streets are not
as safe as we like to think. Perhaps it's time to reassess the priorities of
the police force and target the unglamorous side of community policing:
drugs seizures are undoubtedly important, but so is the day-to-day safety
of vulnerable members of society.
Sophisticated sentence structure
Grammatical accuracy
Direct speech.
Formal vocabulary
Brief personal details
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Did you notice anything which both styIes of articIe
had in common?
Direct speech is used in both, to give weight to the point
of the article.
Both articles give some personal details of the people
whom the journalist quotes.
Your article will need to include comments from the people
you interviewed, as well as some of their personal details.
ooking at styIe
'm going to have so much fun
making up people's personal
details and backgrounds! t'll
be good practice for when 'm
writing my own books.
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Newspapers use extracts from interviews, but they do not
use them in the same way as television news reports do.
Look at the extracts used in the tabloid article which you
have just been studying.
" was just walking home from my weekly lunch at the local Day
Centre, says widow Mary Evans, 86, of South Court, Devenish.
D.C. Matthew Johns of Green Lane Police Station, Wilborough
said, "This is a really nasty attack on a defenceless old lady. t's
not even as though she had anything on her worth stealing.
Notice that the journalist's questions are not used in the
article. All that appears is a comment from the interviewee.
&sing interviews
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remember to keep your sentences quite short
use comments from the people you interviewed
do not include your questions
use either broadsheet or
tabloid style; do not mix them
break up your text with sub-
headings.
And finaIIy, remember
what a dramatic news
item this is and use a
suitabIy dramatic styIe!
t is now time to write your own article:
Writing an articIe

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