A Hyperlinked Headlines document is a Word file containing a number of thematically-selected newspaper headlines each linked to the news story or article to which it pertains. Here is an example:
climate-change-hyperlinked-headlines.doc

Here is one possible way of using such a file in class:

Day 1

1. Download the file.
2. If you have a projector in your classroom, display the Hyperlinked headlines document on a screen. If you don’t have access to such technology, print off copies for your students.
3. Get your students to look at the headlines and decide what the missing item is (in this case, the missing item is climate change).
4. Put your students into pairs or small groups and ask them to look at the headlines and guess what each news story or article is about.
5. Let different pairs or groups share and compare their ideas.
6. Using a computer with online access, demonstrate to your students how the links on the Hyperlinked headlines document can be followed using CTRL + click.
7. Get each student to choose one of the headlines for a detailed investigation. Make sure each student chooses a different headline if possible.
8. Email a copy of the Hyperlinked headlines document to each student. This will allow everyone to follow their chosen link and write a summary of the article or news story for homework.

Day 2
Get each student to present his or her summary to the rest of the class. Alternatively, let students read each others’ written work by putting it all up on the classroom walls.

Creating Hyperlinked Headline documents

Online newspapers can be regarded as Learner-friendly corpora. To make a Hyperlinked headlines document:

1. Go to guardian.co.uk
2. Type a topic for investigation into the search window (Climate change, for example) and click on the Search button.
3. Once the search results have been presented, click on the Most relevant first command.
4. Scroll down the search results and look for articles or news stories that your students will engage with.
5. Each time you find a good article or news story, copy the headline from the search results page and paste it onto a word document.

Click here for another lesson plan which uses a hyperlinked headlines document.