NewsELA is a fabulous website for non-fiction reading! Your students may already be using it in their English or social studies classes, but did you know they have articles in Spanish too?
It’s a goldmine for a Spanish Language Arts class, but it can really be used at any level!
Reading with native speakers
This is a great tool for native speaker classes or any native speaker students who may be misplaced in a beginner class. The website allows students to change the reading level (lexile) of any article to make it more comprehensible! You can assign the same article to the entire class, but let students read independently at their level before discussing as a class.
When I taught a Spanish for Spanish Speakers class, I had students present current events. They filled out this template before presenting:
These current event presentations actually led to my proudest moment as a teacher! My students were so inspired by an article they read that they designed their own project based learning unit.
AP Spanish students
There are tons of great articles surrounding the AP themes. Have students search “medioambiente” or “belleza” and choose an article that interests them.
Beginner – intermediate students
This website will challenge your beginning students, but why not read an article together as a class? Choose something at the lowest reading level on a topic that you have studied. I also recommend any science or technology articles because they are full of cognates. Work on the same skills they are practicing in their English classes – find the main idea, pause and re-read, and use context clues. They will be amazed by how much they really understand!
