Students discuss how to make the difference between real news and fake news, and practise their speaking, reading and listening skills.
Following the lessons on Fake News and Conspiracy Theory: Listening and Speaking Activities, I designed a series of activities to enhance students' awareness on the issue of fake news, as well as their ability to spot them.
This lesson includes a discussion, a reading/speaking activity, and a listening.
1. Discussion on fake news
After listening to the NPR podcast (see the post Fake News and Conspiracy Theory: Listening and Speaking Activities), I initiated a class discussion on the issue of fake news. Among the questions that I asked were:
- What are fake news?
- What is the opposite of fake news? (facts, real news or just news)
- How is fake news different from real news/facts/news?
- Can you give examples of fake news?
- Where can you find fake news?
- Who creates fake news? Why do they exist?/What is the purpose of fake news?
Here is the worksheet:
In order to create this worksheet, I browsed through fact-checking websites such as Snopes or on buzzfeed to find recent famous fake stories. I mixed fake news headlines with real headlines, and asked students to read and discuss every headline in order to determine whether they were fake or real.
Here are a few fake headlines:
- (961,000 shares)
Click on the link below to see the worksheet
You can use the following powerpoint to present the answers to the exercise:
Fake News and Real News Answers Powerpoint
3. Listening activity
I went through some vocabulary and then showed them two videos to discuss different ways of spotting fake news.
Here is the worksheet:
How to spot fake news worksheet
And the videos:
5 ways to spot fake news
How to spot fake news Vocabulary Listening and Writing Activity
Cécile Sohier
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About the Author
Cécile Sohier is an English teacher specialising in Technical English, ESP (English for Specific Purposes), Business English, and EFL/ESL teaching. She creates classroom-ready resources and shares practical ideas for teaching English in secondary schools, vocational education, and professional contexts.
Teaching Technical English focuses on:
• Technical English vocabulary and communication
• ESP lesson plans and teaching strategies
• Business English activities and resources
• EFL/ESL classroom materials for teachers
• Practical English for real-life and workplace situations
All articles are written to support English teachers, language educators, and learners looking for clear, usable, and authentic teaching materials.
© Cécile Sohier – Teaching Technical English
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