Reading and Writing Intermediate

Summer A
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Writing a Newspaper Article
Day 6

Lesson Objective:
• Define what a newspaper article is
• Identify the elements of a newspaper article
• Define dynamic and static verbs and analyze their uses in headlines
• Decide on a topic for a newspaper article
• Identify the elements of an introduction
• Write introduction

Opening Activity:

Below is an example of what a typical newspaper might look like. Try to label each of the parts that the
arrows are pointing to.

The Daily Mirror

th
40p Thursday, 9 October

DOG SAVES THE DAY!

Heroic action of dog saves owner from certain death
Xxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxxx xx
xxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxx x x xxx xxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxx xxx x xxxxxxx xxxxxxxx
xxxxxxx x xxxxxxxx xxxxxx x x xxx
xxxxxx xxxxxxx xxx xxx x
xxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxx xxxxxxx
xxxx xxx xx xxx xxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxxx
xxxxx xxxx xxx xxxx. xxxxxxx xxx
xxxxxx xxxx xxxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxThe condemned gate
xxxx xxx xxxxxx x x xxx xxx xxx xx xxxx x x x x
xxxxxxx xxx xxx x xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxx. x xxxxxxxxxx
xxxxx xxx x xx xxxx. Xxxxxxxxx xxx xxxx
xxx xx xx xx x xx xxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxx
x x x x xx xxxxxx xxxx xx xx xxxxxx.
xxxxxxxx xx xxxxx.
xxxxx xxxxx
Xxxxx xxxxx
xxxxxxxx xx
xxxx x x x x x
xxxxxxxxxxx
Secondary Story
xxxx xxxx xxxx Xxxxxxxxx x x Xxx xxx xxx Xxx xx xxxx
xxx xxx xxxx xxxxxxxxx xxxxx xxxxxx xxx xxx xx xxx
xxx xxxx xxxxxx xxxx x xxx xxx xxx x x xxxxxx xxxx
xxxxxx xxx xx xxx xxxx xxx xxx xxxx xxx
xxxxx xxx xx xxx xxxx xxxxxxx x
xx

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 Reading and Writing Intermediate
Summer A
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Episode 0: Introduction
This week, you will be writing a newspaper article based around either a) one of the fables you read a
few days ago, or b) your own fable that you wrote. What that means is, you will be focusing on the
events in the story and writing a newspaper article about them. We will be reading multiple texts which
will show us the structure of a newspaper article in addition to different ways information can be passed
on to the public.

The first thing we should do is figure out what a newspaper article is.

Newspaper article - A news article discusses current or recent news of either general interest (i.e. daily
newspapers) or of a specific topic (i.e. political or trade news magazines, club newsletters, or technology
news websites). A news article can include accounts of eyewitnesses to the happening event. It can
contain photographs, accounts, statistics, graphs, recollections, interviews, polls, debates on the topic,
etc.

Example:

Sounds a little wild to be a news-worthy story, right? But that’s the thing – a newspaper article can be
about anything that can gain an audience’s attention. Some newspapers even make their money
through printing the most ridiculous stories – though often these are based on myths, legends, and
generally other false information, so it’s best to get some credible sources before writing.

Nonetheless, this article is effective in its goal – to get the reader’s attention, to maintain it until it can
pass on the information it has to give, and, hopefully, prompt them to share the information with
others.

Let’s break down the example using the chart below:

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 Reading and Writing Intermediate
Summer A
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Question Answer

What is the article about?

Who wrote it?

What is the main tone of the article?

Who is the article’s target audience?

Does the article use facts/figures/quotes from

credible-sounding sources? Give an example of
any of these.

What was the order in which the information

was presented to the reader?

These are some of the different things that need to be included in a newspaper article for it to be
successful. You will be learning more about these in detail over the coming days.

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 Reading and Writing Intermediate
Summer A
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Episode 1: Reading Comprehension
No matter what type of non-fiction writing you do, it is important to make sure that you have a solid
idea and information about what you are going to write about. This piece of writing that you will focus
on will ask you to use some imagination but still present information in a factual way that is interesting
for readers. Since we will be writing about something that happened in a fable (and pretending it
happened in real life), it is extra important to have a clear topic, or else you might just end up writing
the fable again!

Read the following article and answer the questions.

Russian squirrel pack 'kills dog'

Squirrels have bitten to death a stray dog which was barking at them in a
Russian park, local media report.

Passers-by were too late to stop the attack by the black squirrels in a village
in the far east, which reportedly lasted about a minute.

They are said to have scampered off at the sight of humans, some carrying
pieces of flesh.
Local people suggest hunger is driving
A pine cone shortage may have led the squirrels to seek other food sources, squirrels to extremes
although scientists are sceptical.

The attack was reported in parkland in the centre of Lazo, a village in the Maritime Territory, and was
witnessed by three local people.

A "big" stray dog was nosing about the trees and barking at squirrels hiding in branches overhead when a
number of them suddenly descended and attacked, reports say.

"They literally gutted the dog," local journalist Anastasia Trubitsina told Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper.

"When they saw the men, they scattered in different directions, taking pieces of their kill away with them."

Mikhail Tiyunov, a scientist in the region, said it was the first he had ever
heard of such an attack.

While squirrels without sources of protein might attack birds' nests, he said,
the idea of them chewing a dog to death was "absurd".

"If it really happened, things must be pretty bad in our forests," he added.

Komosmolskaya Pravda notes that in a previous incident this autumn

chipmunks terrorised cats in a part of the territory.

A Lazo man who called himself only Mikhalich said there had been "no pine cones at all" in the local forests
this year.

"The little beasts are agitated because they have nothing to eat," he added.

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 Reading and Writing Intermediate
Summer A
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Questions:

1. State the specific location where this event occurred.

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2. State what the issue was in the article.

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3. Identify the theory behind why the attack happened.

_____________________________________________________________________________________
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4. Did the scientist believe that this was a reasonable explanation?

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5. State what the scientist said about this idea.

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6. Summarize the entire article into one sentence that captures all the ideas presented in the text.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
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Episode 2: Language Skill

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 Reading and Writing Intermediate
Summer A
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In this section, you will learn about headings, looking specifically at dynamic and stative verbs that are
used to make them successful.
We all know what a heading is, but what is a dynamic or a stative verb? You can probably make a good
guess about what these verbs might mean if you know what the word ‘dynamic’ means, or if you can
break down what ‘stative’ means.
Here is a definition and some rules about the verbs that should make things clearer to you:

Dynamic verbs are the only verbs that can be shown in the progressive tenses because they are the only
verbs that are capable of change—activities or events which start and finish. They describe actions we
do or things that happen.

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 Reading and Writing Intermediate
Summer A
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Some examples of dynamic verbs in a sentence:

- "I can't talk right now, I'm eating dinner."

- "Sorry, I'm out of breath because I've been running."
"I didn't steal the necklace! I was sleeping when someone broke into the shop!"

Now we know about dynamic verbs, stative verbs might be easier to understand as they are pretty much the
opposite of dynamic verbs:

Stative verbs are those that show a state of being, a mental state, or an unchanging relationship. Statives are
different from dynamic verbs in both structure and usage. Stative verbs DO NOT use the progressive (-ing) form of
the verb. This is because stative verbs are inert—static.

Here are a couple of examples to really help clarify things:

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 Reading and Writing Intermediate
Summer A
_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Exercise 1:
1. State whether the following verbs are stative or dynamic.
a) goes _____________________
b) praying _____________________
c) fly _____________________
d) singing _____________________
e) being _____________________

2. Put the verbs in brackets in their correct form. Some verbs are stative verbs and some are dynamic
verbs. Use the simple present or present progressive tense.
1. Actually, that ___________ (sound) wonderful.
2. We _______________ (cook) right now.
3. I ______________ (promise) to be back soon.
4. Frank and his wife ___________ (disagree) on this matter.
5. He _______________ (own) several large companies.
6. ______________ you _____________ (hear) Richard's voice now?
7. _____________ you ________________(study) at the moment?
8. I _____________ (mean) to hurt you.
9. _______________ you _____________ (mind) taking out the garbage?
10. I seriously _____________ (doubt) it.

Seems quite easy and straightforward, huh? Well, these verbs play an important role in the creation of
interesting, eye-catching headlines of newspapers.

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 Reading and Writing Intermediate
Summer A
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Newspaper Headlines
Newspaper headlines are designed to attract the reader’s attention. There are a number of different
ways in which they can do this:
• Use dramatic or emotional words, such as: Crisis Drama Clash Fury Battle Row
• Alliteration – ‘Pick up a Penguin’
• Puns – ‘Kentucky Freed Chicken’ (Jokes)
• Rhymes/half rhymes – ‘St Helen’s Glass has the class’, or ‘Beanz Meanz Heinz’

Headlines are the first thing that a reader sees. They need to be eye-catching, exciting, interesting, and
engaging. They need to generate interest and questions in the reader’s mind. They are the biggest
hook in your story. If you do not have an interesting headline, you cannot have an interesting article.

Here are some further notes about what a headline could or should have:
Relevance to the Story Your stories must be relevant to the story. Think about what is happening to
your story and what type of contents you want to convey to your reader

Puns A pun is a word in a sentence that can have two meanings. It can be a
homophone, or a word that sounds the same as another but is spelt
differently and has a different meaning. E.g. Write/right, bare/bear,
flower/four, hair/ hare. Sports headlines love puns!

Alliteration and Rhyme Alliteration is often used because it “pops” and adds a certain ring to the
articles and to make the headline more memorable. E.g. Sending up the stars
and stripes; greedy girl gobbles gruel.

Rhyme is also memorable. E.g. Tissue Issue; Hare Affair; Green Queen
Reference A well-placed reference is effective because the reader can have an idea
immediately what your article is about and would want to know what the
connection is. E.g. The reference text: The Skeleton in the Attic is both a pun,
skeleton, and also a reference to the saying “skeleton in the closet”, which is
a secret. It works well because we know that there are literally skeletons
kept in museums and is also a secret that is being uncovered.

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or by any means, electronic and mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without prior permission of ARCH Academy Ltd.
 Reading and Writing Intermediate
Summer A
_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Look at the headlines below and identify what the dynamic or stative verb is, and whether you think the
headline is eye-catching/interesting:

1.

2.
3.

4.

5.

1.___________________________________________________________________________________________

2.___________________________________________________________________________________________

3.___________________________________________________________________________________
4.___________________________________________________________________________________
5.___________________________________________________________________________________

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 Reading and Writing Intermediate
Summer A
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Try to think of headlines to make readers want to read these stories:

1. High exam results at your school.

_______________________________________________________________________________
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2. A huge storm over your town.
_______________________________________________________________________________
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3. A footballer’s shorts fall down during an important game.
_______________________________________________________________________________
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Now it’s your turn!

Choose a topic for your newspaper, based on the events of one of the fables you read earlier in the
week. Write it down below:
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________

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 Reading and Writing Intermediate
Summer A
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Then, once you have chosen your topic, outline the main ideas in a mind-map below and try to come up
some interesting details you can include in your news article.

Once you have done this, try to come up with a catchy headline or two using a dynamic or a stative
verb:
1.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
2.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________

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 Reading and Writing Intermediate
Summer A
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Episode 3: Writing
Now that you have chosen a topic and brainstormed some potential headlines, we will talk about how a
newspaper article is organized. Take a look at the diagram below – you saw it at the beginning of the
class, only this time, it has been filled in with more details.

Newspaper Article

Headline – short,

The Daily Mirror simple, easy to

remember, and eye-
40p Thursday, 9
th
October catching to make
readers want to read it
DOG SAVES THE DAY!
Subheading – longer Heroic action of dog saves owner from certain death
sentence, hinting at Xxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxxx xx
some of the main story xxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxx x x xxx xxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxx xxx x xxxxxxx xxxxxxxx
to further entice x xxxxxxx x xxxxxxxx xxxxxx x x xxx
readers xxxxxx xxxxxxx xxx xxx x
xxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxx xxxxxxx
xxxx xxx xx xxx xxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxxx
xxxxx xxxxx xxxx. xxxxxxx xxx
xxxx xxx xxxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxThe condemned gate
Opening paragraph – xxxxxx xxxx xxxxxx x x xxx xxx xxx xx xxxx x x x x
An opening paragraph xxxx xxx xxx x xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxx. x xxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxx xxx xxxx. Xxxxxxxxx xxx xxxx
is usually written in xxxxx xxx x xx xx xxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxx
bold font and tells the xxx xx xx xx x xxxxxx xxxx xx xx xxxxxx.
x x x x xx xxxxx.
reader briefly about the xxxxxxxx xx Body paragraphs – The
details of the story. xxxxx xxxxx
rest of the article
Xxxxx xxxxx
provides a more
xxxxxxxx xx
xxxx x x x x x
Secondary Story detailed report of the
xxxxxxxxxxx This story may way to the first but it isn’t the
xxxx xxxx xxxx or may not be story. It is an ‘top’ story of event. Usually contains
xxx xxx xxxx related in important story the issue. quotations, facts,
xxx xxxx some
figures, etc.

For the purposes of this lesson, we will only be looking at the introduction/opening paragraph today.

Introduction/opening paragraph:
In the introduction or opening paragraph, the reader should be made aware of:

• What? What has happened, what is the situation, etc.

• Who? Who is or was involved.
• When? When the event took place, or is likely to take place.
• Where? Where the event took place.

Take a look at the sample article and identify the information that is provided in the introduction. Fill in
the chart below with the appropriate information.

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 Reading and Writing Intermediate
Summer A
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Newspaper Article

Introduction

Who was involved?

What has happened?

When did the event

take place?

Where did the event

take place?

Now think about the topic you have chosen and determine what details you will include in your own
introduction.

Topic: _______________________________________

Introduction

Who was involved?

What has happened?

When did the event

take place?

Where did the event

take place?

Using the details you have brainstormed on the previous page, write out your introduction in the space
below. Your introduction needs to be at least 4 sentences long. Refer to the writing sample to make
sure yours is the appropriate length.

_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________

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 Reading and Writing Intermediate
Summer A
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Homework:
Finish your introduction.

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