How to Spot Fake News: Listening, Reading and Speaking Activities

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:

Fake news and real news headlines worksheet

2. Reading and speaking activities on real and fake news headlines

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)

 (802,000 shares)

(560,000 shares)

Click on the link below to see the worksheet

Fake news and real news headlines 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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Fake News and Conspiracy Theory: Listening and Speaking Activities

Students discuss the difference between real news and fake news, and practise their speaking, and listening skills.

I wanted to address an issue that is growing on the web and among young (and not so young) people: discerning the difference between real news and fake news.

This lesson includes listening activities on conspiracy theories and fake news.

1. Conspiracy theory:

I explained and brainstormed the term "conspiracy theory". Surprisingly - and worryingly if I dare say - some students did not know what a conspiracy theory was. So it really felt like I was teaching them not just how to speak or listen to English, but also how to understand what they read or hear, and be cautious about the content of online articles and videos.

Students then listened to a 2-minute video and took notes. I only showed them the video at the end, as the video is subtitled in English and I really wanted to get them to focus on what they heard. 

I gave them the words lunar module and crater beforehand. Crater is not a difficult word as it is transparent, but students are not usually familiar with the American pronunciation of the letter 't'. For instance, they tend to find it hard to spot words like twenty, international or integration in a listening when they are spoken with an American accent.

Moon landing explained

2. Fake news:

We also did a listening activity on the first 2 minutes and a half of an NPR podcast called 'Stanford Study Finds Most Students Vulnerable to Fake News'. I got the students to anticipate the content of the listening from the title as well as the following words: real news, a test, a study, a photo, to influence, to educate, information.

You will find more activities on the worksheet i.e. a gap-fill exercise and questions on the transcript.

NPR Podcast Stanford Study Finds Most Students Vulnerable to Fake News

NPR Podcast Stanford Study Finds Most Students...worksheet 

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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Talk About the News Using Past Simple: A Grammar in Context Lesson

Students revise/learn how to form and use past simple, and put this grammar point into practice by writing about the news. 

This lesson is a continuation of 2017 News and Words of the News: Speaking, Listening and Writing Activities.

You will find a downloadable jpeg document at the end of this post.

TALK ABOUT THE NEWS

using past simple

1. Complete the following chart:

She announced	They didn’t go	Did he decide?
Le passé simple ou prétérit se forme de cette façon: Affirmatif: …………………………+..........................+........................(sauf pour…………………………....) Négatif:  …………………………+..........................+............................+....................... Interrogatif: …………………………+..........................+............................
Il s’utilise pour: ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

2. Translate the following expressions of time:

Il y a trois jours Il y a une semaine Il y a 20 ans Hier / avant-hier

En juin dernier Mardi dernier / Jeudi dernier L’année dernière La semaine dernière

En 2009 / en mars Le 20 janvier 2017 pendant les élections Mercredi à 8.00 du matin

3. Practice exercise. Translate the following sentences:

1. Le président a fait un discours.

2. L’ouragan n’a pas frappé le nord des Etats-Unis.

3. Volkswagen a menti sur les émissions de gaz de ses voitures diesel.

4. Brad Pitt n’est pas mort en 2016.

5. Trump s’est retiré des accords de Paris sur le changement climatique.

6. Il y a eu plusieurs attentats.

7. Les attentats ont tué beaucoup de gens.

4. Transform the sentences from exercise 3 into questions.

See also more grammar lessons:

TEDx Talk Listening, Grammar and Pronunciation Skills Lesson: How to Introduce Yourself, Present Perfect Progressive, Since and For

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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