麻豆约拍

Tomorrow (10 March) 麻豆约拍 News School Report celebrates its tenth annual News Day where over 30,000 students will take part in the award-winning project. They will be writing, editing and even presenting the news for the 麻豆约拍’s national, local and regional television and radio news programmes.

Minh Nguyen, from Whitley Academy in Coventry, has been involved in the project for nine years and talks here about why she thinks the project has been successful and what students learn from the project.

I first got involved with the 麻豆约拍 News School Report project nine years ago. It’s been an amazing journey.

At the start I did not have any specific idea how I would run the project but I had guidance from the 麻豆约拍 School Report team, the teaching resources online and my 麻豆约拍 School Report mentor to help. The project is extremely flexible about how School Report can be run; whether schools want to run it during class or after school as extracurricular, as well as how we organise the students and our reports and whether we want to take part in News Days and rehearsals.

Now the project is well established and the positive reputation we have built up over the years has enabled me to recruit young year 7 students who are very committed to the project and are willing to put in the extra hours.

The older student reporters – who have taken part over the years - coach the younger ones until they achieve their final products. I mostly play the role of the adult observer and have the final say and allow the team the chance to work independently.

It’s brilliant to see what the young reporters get out of the project and it can be surprising how dynamic the young reporters are. After going through the 麻豆约拍 News School Report lessons, the student reporters know the dos and don’ts of reporting. They then take control of the whole project. They explore sources for the news, the formats and how they want the reports to be.

It’s important to allow the younger reporters time to talk to the older students and learn from them. And in return allow the older reporters to share their reporting experience with the younger ones and to coach in an informal environment. It is rewarding to observe how they support each other.

They become used to meeting deadlines, working together as a group with peers of different academic abilities, as well was growing in maturity.

When working with teenagers aged 11-14 it isn’t always easy to keep them focused for any lengthy period of time. Right at the beginning of the recruitment (usually September), I always emphasise the need for self-discipline and for trust in the team to allow them to become more confident to stand up and express themselves which is extremely important.

Many of the students have also mentioned the fact they have become more sociable through the project and they find it easier to make friends with students from other groups and different year groups.

My 麻豆约拍 Student Reporters have been recognised in the wider communities; including the Educational Division of the US Embassy in London. I wanted them to know that their disadvantaged upbringings would not affect their academic achievement (and of course a successful career life later on) as long as they try their best.

News Day gives them real-life opportunities and allows teachers like me flexibility in deciding what is best for the report team and how to make the most of the opportunity.

In my 13 years as a teacher of English in Sai Gon Vietnam, I struggled throughout to give the students opportunities to get involved in learning English more effectively. Therefore it is obvious why I take all the opportunities from the 麻豆约拍 School Report seriously and want to make them work for my student reporters.

Case study: Pavani’s story

One of the highlights of my journey to join the 麻豆约拍 School Report is the success of a student reporter – Pavani who is now a Year 13 student at the Academy.

In 2009 Pavani started year 7 at Whitley Academy and became a 麻豆约拍 Student Reporter. Through the project she developed her confidence and interest in journalism. She became an independent young person and continued looking for opportunities further afield.

In 2013 she was granted the US Embassy London Journalist Exchange Program scholarship and went to three different states in America in July – August 2013.

In August 2014; once again she used the experience she had gained from 麻豆约拍 School Report, and she applied for the Virgin Atlantic scholarship where she travelled to north India.

In August 2015 she was awarded the Sutton Scholarship to go to the US and visited universities including Yale, MIT and Harvard.

She has got amazing opportunities through School Report. Hopefully, other student reporters will earn similar success.

Minh Nguyen is a teacher who has participated in 麻豆约拍 School Report

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