Breaking News English.com: Why I Still Love This Site

The TEFL Logue review of Breaking News English.com was one of the first TEFL Logue Reviews…I have to admit I don’t use a lot of online TEFL resources, but I’m still using Breaking News English. Here’s why this site is a keeper:

• The topics are “discussable” – this is perhaps the (second biggest – first is level) stumbling block to using real news articles. The latest political development or technological breakthrough may be newsworthy, but to discuss it you need either a great interest or outside knowledge of it; I find it easy to come up with discussion topics connected to BNE articles; they are specific enough to be interesting yet general enough that most people have or can form an opinion on them.
• The level can suit nearly everyone – it’s not difficult to pre-teach a few words and have a lower-level student make some predictions before reading to make it a bit easier, and a student whose level is a little higher can still be challenged by thought-provoking questions or more detailed vocabulary questions.
• As above, the texts are good and come with suggested questions and vocabulary exercises, but you are free to do with the texts (and listenings) as you wish; plenty of TEFL sites provide actual lesson plans, but you generally need to follow those closely or do quite a bit of work to adapt them to your own tasks. Not Breaking News English.

• The site is easy to navigate – it’s straightforward and logical and you don’t have to poke around several pages trying to remember where you found the cool stuff.

• You can keep a few articles on hand for times when what you planned finishes early, or perhaps when you’re short on prep time.