Magazine articles

2. Understanding how magazine articles work

Required Resources

• Student Worksheet 1-3
• Slide 5

Delivery

• Split the students into pairs, (mixing higher ability and lower ability students where possible) and distribute Student Worksheets 1, 2 and 2a, which contain two magazine extracts about army catering. One article is from Defence Focus, the Ministry of Defence's in-house magazine and the other is from Men's Health, a commercial health and fitness publication.
• Students should compare and contrast the two articles, looking in particular at the following features in order to complete the table on Student Worksheet 3 (supported by slide 5): headlines and sub-headings, language used, the ideas / themes included, presentation of facts, use of comment and opinion, use of quotations, tone used, use of photographs and illustrations, specialist vocabulary / vocabulary which contributes to overall impact.
• Compare findings as a class. You might want to discuss the role that each of these elements serves within the context of this particular article (and the corresponding magazine).
• It is also possible to run the session slightly differently, splitting the class into two halves with each half reviewing one of the two articles before the two groups collectively pool their thoughts.

Differentiation

Lower Ability:

Give students different coloured highlighter pens to allow them to colour code the text according to the different criteria they are using to deconstruct it. It might be useful to lead the class through one example before allowing them to try.

Higher Ability:

Students could be asked to consider how the article would be perceived by different types of people, for example an army officer and a fitness instructor.