English V - Week 6 - Who's Responsible for Fake News?

Introduction: In today's class we will continue in Unit 9 looking at the topic of media and its power to make a positive impact as well as create unintended negative consequences. We will read a story about the different perspectives the news took about just one story. We will also report the news that we heard and read about. Finally, we will review the instructions for your Performance 1: Roundtable Discussion that you will do next week.

Warm Up: Unscramble the Words

In this activity you will identify some common vocabulary associated with the news. Click your group link below and unscramble the words.

Group 1: CLICK HERE
Group 2: CLICK HERE
Group 3: CLICK HERE
Group 4: CLICK HERE
Group 5: CLICK HERE

Need Help? - CLICK HERE to read some clues.

Task 1: Group Discussion

One person in your group should share their screen. Click play on the video timer and discuss the questions below for 7 minutes. Then go on to Task 2.

Do you trust everything you see in the news? Why or why not?
What is the function of journalism for society?
Do you think that the news can also cause harm to society? If so, how?
What percentage of news stories that you encounter are positive? Neutral? Negative?
Do you think that some news stories are basically "professional gossip"?
Can you think of a major news story that later turned out to be false or different than it was first reported?
A lot of people talk about fake news these days. What are your strategies to evaluate the validity of what you read?

Task 2: Can You Identify Signs of Fake News?

Fake news has been an important topic over the last few years. Do you know how to identify signs that an article might not be legitimate? Take the quiz with your partners.

Fake News Quiz: CLICK HERE

Task 3: What's the Real Story?

The way a journalist or news paper decides to present the information can have a large impact on the public's opinions about the events of the story. You will read about an incident that happened involving a British Airways (BA) pilot. Read the newspaper headlines in the picture below. They are the titles of different articles about the same incident that were published in different papers over several months.

What do you think happened?

Now read the article on page 111 in your book to discover what really happened. Then complete the following exercises on page 110.

Exercise 3: True or False
Exercise 4: Fill in the Blanks
Exercise 5: Critical Thinking

Task 4: Listening and Vocabulary

Follow the teacher's instructions to complete some of the exercises on page 112 of your book.

Task 5: Spreading the News

Now you will work with your group to listen to one radio news story and read on internet news story. You will take notes about the most important details and then you will use some of the reporting expressions you learned in the previous exercise to share the news with students from other groups.

Click your group link below and follow the instructions in your document.

Group 1: CLICK HERE
Group 2: CLICK HERE
Group 3: CLICK HERE
Group 4: CLICK HERE
Group 5: CLICK HERE
Group 6: CLICK HERE

Roundtable Discussion: Ethical Issues in Media and Journalism

Introduction: For your first performance evaluation next week you will do individual research about a topic realated to ethical issues related to media and journalism and use the information you found to participate in a group discussion about the topic.

Learning Objective: Use evidence from individual research in order to contribute to a 20 minute group round table discussion on a topic related to a problem with media and journalism.
Evaluation Rubric: CLICK HERE to see the rubric for this performance.

Potential Topics: Your group can choose one of the topics below.

Sensationalism and "Yellow Journalism"
Fakenews and Misinformation
Media Bias (sesgo)
Citizen Journalism in Social Networks and Personal Privacy
Repression of Journalists
Other problem related to news media and journalism

Instructions: In class you will decided on a topic for this panel discussion. Now you need to do some individual research to prepare for your participation. Go to your learning journal and take notes in the table. You can use these notes during the discussion as a guide. However, you are NOT allowed to simply read your notes. You must speak spontaneously! Your discussion must last 20 minutes and follow the stages below. The questions are to stimulate your thinking. You do not have to answer them all.

The Panel Discussion

Part 1: Opening

The roundtable discussion begins by definding the problem and analyzing its extent.
What is the problem exactly?
Who or what is effected?
How big of a problem is it?

Part 2: Analysis

The group then analyzes the potential causes and effects of the problem.
Why does the problem exist?
Are there any other contributing factors?
What are the effects of the problem on the individual?
What are the effects of the problem on society?
Whata are some possible long term future effects?

Part 3: Looking Forward

The group discusses and evaluates potential solutions to the problem.
How can the problem be fixed?
What can individuals do?
What should families do?
What can society do?
If it is not possible to completely eliminate the problem, how can it be reduced?

Part 4: Concluding Statements

The discussion finishes with a summary of the points made and some final comments from the group members.

Useful Phrases

You can use some of these phrases to help you participate in the roundtable discussion.

Introducing Ideas:

First of all...
I wanted to share something...
I'd like to say...

Adding Detail:

For example...
Another thing is...
We can also say...

Referencing Sources:

According to X...
In a report I read by X, they said...

Expressing Agreement:

That's right!
I totally agree.
I hear what you're saying.

Expressing Disagreement:

I disagree...
I have a differnt opinion about that.

Expressing Uncertainty:

I'm not really sure about that.
I have no idea.
It's difficult to say.

Online Learning and Teaching

Friday, October 22, 2021