Facebook recently reported the spread of millions of fake news reports on its social network. Facebook, Google and other companies are now taking steps to stop the spread of fake news. Teachers can also help stop the spread of fake news by helping our students gain important information, media, and digital literacy skills. Many of our language learners enhance their English skills with information received from the Internet or on social networks. The lessons, resources, and websites below will help your students gain important skills needed to evaluate what they read, watch, and hear from the Internet. For more ideas check out our webinar recording, Research in the Digital Age. To learn more about integrating technology to support English language learners attend our free Friday webinars.
Activities and Resources
- Snopes is a site students can use to fact check news. Snopes has a great guide to fact checking news.
- The School Library Journal has an in depth guide to helping students gain media literacy skills. Find recommended sites for fact checking, lesson plans, statistics and more.
- The Center for News Literacy is great site for finding resources for college students and adult learners or if you teach English for Academic Purposes. Find research, news, and resources.
- The English Teaching Professional recently posted an article, How to Identify Fake News, full of ideas for English language teachers and learners.
- Larry Ferlazzo has posted over 6 pages full of lesson plans, research, activities, and resources for helping learners develop information and digital literacy skills.
- The New York Times has a lesson plan and case study for students to discover how fake news is spread and how their online activities help spread fake news. The case study can help your learners become more aware of how their likes and shares on social media impact society.
- Edutopia has published an article, Combatting Fake News in the Classroom, with helpful tips for middle school and high school students.
- If you teach children then you will appreciate the resources NewseumEd has for young learners. Students can browse different primary resources, learn how to gain information from primary resources, and explore how different newspapers report the same historical event.
- ICT in Education has posted an activity in which students discover how personal bias can skew how one reports the news. Sign up for the free newsletter to access more lesson plans and resources for battling fake news.
- Download the slides to our recent webinar, Media Literacy: Evaluating the News We Consume, with more ideas and resources.
Check out the Teaching with Technology Certification course we offer online.
Live TESOL webinars are presented every Friday at 4 PM EST or New York time with Shelly Terrell. TESOL Lectures are open to the public, so feel free to invite a friend. To enter a TESOL Webinar, click here https://americantesol.adobeconnect.com/terrell/. Next, click Enter as a Guest, type your name, and click Enter Room.
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