Newspaper Headlines and Discussion

Worksheet 1 – Headlines with Double Meanings

Student A

What are the two possible meanings of the headlines below?

Police Shoot Man with Knife

Miners Refuse to Work After Death

Angry Bull Injures Farmer with Gun

Stolen Painting Found by Tree

Hospitals Sued by 7 Foot Doctors

Passengers Hit by Cancelled Trains

What do you think the real story was? Rewrite each one as a complete sentence.

Read out your one sentence summaries or give them to another group, and see if they can guess the headline.

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Student B

What are the two possible meanings of the headlines below?

Local High School Dropouts Cut in Half

Grandmother of Eight Makes Hole in One

Iraqi Head Seeks Arms

Killer Sentenced to Die for Second Time in 10 Years

Drunken Drivers Paid $10 Million in ‘04

Suspect Gets Nine Months in Violin Case

What do you think the real story was? Rewrite each one as a complete sentence.

Read out your one sentence summaries or give them to another group, and see if they can guess the headline.

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Try to make headlines for the following recent stories:

George Osborne drove his axe deep into the heart of the British state today, with a range of sweeping cuts to welfare, higher education, social housing, policing and local government that he claims will draw the country back from the brink of bankruptcy

Lee Jin-sam, 73, a four-star general-turned-politician, said Wednesday he will file a lawsuit against a 55-year-old woman, Cho Yoo-soon who allegedly had an affair with him.

Some netizens are waging a “cyber terror” campaign against a 35-year-old female middle-school teacher found to have had an inappropriate relationship with a pupil by spreading photos of her and other private information in cyberspace.

Major countries will pay keen attention to the meeting of finance ministers and central bank chiefs in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, on Oct. 22-23 to see whether it will be a turning point in the international “currency war.”

Compare with another group and see if you want to make any changes to your headlines

Compare with the original headlines on the next page 

Osborne’s Spending Review Axe Falls on the Poor

Lawmaker to File Suit Over Sex Scandal

Cyber Terror Goes Wild

Currency Spat Looms Over G20 Ministers’ Meet

Why do they use the words and expressions above?

Newspapers discussion questions

How often do you read newspapers or news articles in English? How difficult and useful is it? How do you go about reading one? Do you use a dictionary?

What newspapers and online news services do you know? Which are easier and more difficult to understand? What are the differences between them?

What is the most difficult thing about reading news articles in English? How can you make it easier?

Are there any differences between newspapers and articles in your language and in English?

What things make a news article interesting?

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PDF for easy saving and printing: Newspaper Headlines and Discussion

Related pages

News page (including headlines vocabulary)

Cutting Edge Advanced Module 10 page

Cutting Edge Advanced page

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