Reading news in English is the most natural and surest way to advance in a language. For those who are interested in specific publications or websites,
Puzzle English has prepared a selection of British and American newspapers that will help you in learning the language.
What level to start reading?
Teachers are usually advised to start reading from the Intermediate level and above. But often the skills of reading, writing, speaking and listening comprehension are unevenly developed, so you need to focus on your own feelings - do you understand the essence of what has been read, or 80% of words and constructions seem incomprehensible to you?
If you can’t wait to start reading the news in English as soon as possible, and you don’t have enough knowledge, you can practice in the
News Review and
Words in the News sections of BBC Learning English, which offer short news notes with simple constructions and vocabulary. Another option is a joint project of the British newspaper The Guardian and
onestopenglish.com - where articles are rewritten for each level from Elementary to Advanced and there are ready-made studies with control questions for verification. Teachers Puzzle English also conduct
workshops on reading newspaper materials.
Where to look for news in English
News in English of various publications and media companies can be found in
Google news (to switch to English, go to the Language and Region section and select one of the pairs - English / UK, USA, Canada, Ireland, etc.) or
yahoo news .
1. BBC News
One of the world's largest television and radio corporations. The main content is video and audio products, the
BBC News news site is an excellent source of international news. Correspondents work all over the world, so at BBC you can always find detailed information and analysis about events not only in the UK and Europe, but also in other countries.
The news is sorted into thematic sections - World, Business, Sport, Tech, Science, Stories, Entertainment and Arts, Special Reports, Explainers, Reality Check and a special section Have you say, in which readers can share their opinions, take part in the survey or throw to journalists idea for plots.
The BBC news texts are well structured and written in clear language. The articles describe not only the essence of the events, but also contain information from direct participants, experts, and BBC correspondents in this region. The reader is given not just a short set of facts, but a complete picture of what happened, especially when it comes to central themes (Top Stories).
Absolutely all BBC content is free, including podcasts, the BBC News app (text and audio) and video files. The only negative is the lack of decoding of podcasts, but this is compensated by the multimedia content of the site - most of the topics are presented in several formats at once - text, video and audio.
2. Sky News
Private British news channel. The site publishes news notes and short videos, including subtitles. But on the variety of materials and the depth of coverage of materials
Sky News is inferior to the BBC.
The main content is about what is happening in the UK and its interaction with the world. Like most news media there is a section World, which covers world events. All content is free. Minus - live TV channel is not available in Russia.
3. Fox News, CNN
Most of the content of these American media corporations is devoted to global and local events in the United States and related international issues. There are sections of entertainment and international events.
There is a large video section on
Fox News , where you can watch live broadcasts, program recordings and selected news stories.
On
CNN, in addition to the traditional sections of World, Business, Sport, there are thematic subsites of US Politics, Money, Travel, Health, Style. Live broadcast is not available, there is a section with video clips, including subtitles.
The content of both TV companies is free, there are mobile applications.
4. The New York Times
The flagship of world journalism. The publication, which still sets the standard of work for journalists around the world. Being an American newspaper, the
New York Times covers the events in the United States and
New York fairly widely, to which a separate section is devoted. Much attention is paid to American and international politics.
The language of presentation, especially in large articles or an opinion section, is more complicated than on the BBC or Sky News. But articles on general topics are written quite accessible. There is an application from which it is convenient to read articles, even when there is no Internet.
The only negative - the newspaper is paid. The minimum cost is $ 9 per month. Up to 4 articles per month can be read for free. But if you download the application, they will send 2-3 free articles every day in the form of push-notifications.
5. The Washington Post
Another legend of American journalism, due to the investigation of which Richard Nixon resigned in due time, also
offers its readers a variety of high-quality and voluminous materials. Minus - paid subscription (from $ 6 for 4 weeks). There is an application.
For those who are interested in delving into the realities of American life, the national newspaper
USA Today is suitable.
6. Reuters
The world's largest
news agency . Unlike its main competitor, the
Associated Press lays out in open access a large number of materials of very different directions. Despite the economic specialization publishes news and articles on general topics. Like most news media, they are sorted by Business, World, Politics, Tech, Life and Video.
In addition, there is a free application.
News structured, written in a strict information style. For language learners, such a presentation helps to understand the essence of the event and without a dictionary, as well as to learn a lot of useful expressions.
Minus - a somewhat dry style of presentation, business orientation.
Those interested in economics and business will be approached by
The Wall Street Journal ,
The Financial Times , where there is a
section on the economy and finances of Russia,
Bloomberg and
The Economist . Some of the content they post on the site, the rest is available by subscription.
7. The Guardian
A great alternative to The New York Times and Reuters.
The newspaper is British, but rather broadly covers international issues, there is a special section about the United States. The articles are very lively, interesting and diverse subjects - from high art to tips on personal life. Languages and English and creative writing sections have been created especially for language lovers.
The style of presentation is difficult, especially if we are talking about columns, but in ordinary informational articles it is a rather understandable language, although it is more complex than in the BBC or tabloids.
There is a paid subscription, but even the amount that is available for free is quite enough to be in the know. You can install the free app with a nice addition in the form of a weekly selection of exciting longrid.
8. The Daily Telegraph and The Independent
One of the oldest British publications. The main content is about what is happening in the UK, but there are also international news sections.
To access the articles
The Telegraph must register, but you can do it through social networks.
The Independent is distinguished by a light presentation style, a fascinating LifeStyle section, and all materials are available for free and without registration.
Minus - articles targeted at readers living in the UK.
Both newspapers offer apps, and The Independent even has two - daily and weekly.
9. The Daily Mail
Popular British tabloids are also called housewives.
The slogan of one of them - News, sport, celebrities and gossip - accurately reflects the essence of such newspapers. You should not look for serious news, analytics and articles about art there.
What is there is a light and lively language with numerous idioms and even slang, details of scandals from the world of politics and show business, rumors from the life of the British royal family.
Cons - pop-up periodically shocking images of victims of crimes, terrible sores or people-mutants from Indian villages.
Pros - clear presentation and completely free content, including applications.
The Daily Mail highlights the variety of sections from politics to international news (Female, Health, Travel, Science). There is even a section on Russia.
All articles are rather voluminous and oversaturated with photos, videos and social network widgets, but each is preceded by an announcement from a list of short and understandable phrases describing the essence and the most spectacular facts of the material.
In addition to The Daily Mail, the top four most famous British tabloids include
The Mirror ,
The Daily Express ,
The Sun.10. Euronews
You can read about events in the EU countries on the website of the
Euronews TV
channel . Articles and videos are sorted according to the traditional news sections Europe, World, Business, Sport, Culture. Under the video there is a decryption. There is an application.
The German radio station
Deuche Welle has a website in English. There you can find both the latest news from Germany and the EU, as well as articles about Russia and its relations with Germany and the EU.
News.com.au is Australia's largest news source.
The project
Locals includes 9 English-language sites, each of which covers events in the relevant European country.
If you are interested in a particular country, you can go to Wikipedia, find the section
Media (country) and choose from the list of newspapers and publications that which will be more like. For example, for Ireland, this page looks
like this .
And if while reading foreign newspapers there is a lack of news about Russia, take a look at the English-language versions of the Russian media. There are not many of them, but even those that exist are very diverse -
RT ,
Sputnik ,
RBTH ,
TASS ,
Meduza .
A small minus - most of the articles are not written by native speakers, but are translations from Russian. But this does not mean that such articles are not interesting to students of English - there is something to learn.
At
Puzzle English, we regularly do podcasts, news bulletins and TV shows. Learn English with us and reading newspapers in English will not be a problem for you.
That's all. Next time we will talk about the most modern and innovative English-language news resources of our time.