Lesson Plan for Current Events Newscast

Objectives:
To have students absorb current events with fun repetition
To have students practice public speaking in small increments
To enhance team building efforts

Students are placed in groups of 4.  Each person selects or is assigned a role - National News, Local News, Weather, Sports.  Each group has one newspaper and 15 minutes to put together a 5 minute broadcast, which they then perform for the rest of the class.  (Times can be adjusted based on
class size and length of period but 10 minutes is the minimum prep time and 3 minutes is the shortest I let the newscast go).

We do this a couple of different days and then we videotape one.  The next class each group evaluates themselves and one other group as we watch the newscast.  Criteria usually include 4 of the following depending on how advanced the class is:  Volume, pronunciation, eye contact, group pace (did
they make it between 90 and 110% of the target time limit?), fluency, "newscaster voice", body language.

We compare early videos to later ones as well to chart progress and for creative writing we have had special holiday broadcasts they write one class and perform the next.  A good homework assignment could be having them critique both national and local newscasters.  They can see the levels of
competance needed for each level and then determine how far they are from their target.  (They also enjoy catching the professionals making a mistake)