4.3.1.5.1 The Worksheet. The worksheet (Appendix I) focusing on the news website, The Happy Broadcast was created in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, during the first lockdown period. The worksheet was written with the aim of lifting students’ spirits and helping them cope with negative news they were constantly bombarded with at this time. Even though the courses in the research context were not held synchronously in Spring 2020, it was an important consideration to create a worksheet that could be used face-to-face and in synchronous online lessons as well. In this activity sequence, first, the students are asked to discuss their news reading habits and how the news usually makes them feel. Then, they are involved in a gallery walk activity, in which they are asked to go around the classroom and have a look at positive news headlines taken from the Happy Broadcast news platform. In the online setting, the headlines are uploaded to Padlet, and the students are asked to look through them and comment on them using hashtags. Then, they are asked to research the positive news story they liked the most from the wall (board) and share with their partner what they have read about. In a reading comprehension exercise, they are asked to read about the creation of the news site and then work on its vocabulary. In the follow-up discussion task, they are asked to expand on the advice given in the article about following the news and why they believe many young people do not follow the news. In the next jigsaw reading activity, they are paired up, and both have to read a different text about coping with negative news. They are then asked to summarise their text to their partner. Finally, they have to work on a project, in which they are to collect positive news items on a topic of their choice and present their findings in a creative presentation.

 

4.3.1.5.2 The Results from the Reflective Journal. In the first semester, the worksheet was piloted asynchronously in Groups D and E: the activity sequence was posted to the online classroom (Microsoft OneNote) and the students were asked to pair up, call each other and go through the sequence with their partners. Their progress was monitored by checking their collaboration on Padlet, by checking the worksheet they filled in on OneNote, by listening to their recorded discussions and by checking the projects they created. It must be noted that not everyone participated in the asynchronous lesson as there were already attitudinal problems with getting them to do the activities without face-to-face classes. Next year, Groups K and L also did the activity sequence, however this time, the lessons were synchronous online lessons, which made observing their progress much easier. What became apparent from these four lessons was that the students enjoyed a fresh take on the topic of the news and this issue mostly made them interact with each other.

4.3.1.5.3 Student Feedback. Based on the qualitative feedback from the students, it is safe to say that they enjoyed this activity sequence, even though they pointed out that “it would have been more useful to do it with the whole class” (#1). They mostly pointed to the fact that the tasks were diverse (#2), modern, relevant, and up to date (#2), and apart from improving their language skills (#2, #4, #8), they also learnt something new about the world (everyone). As Respondent 4 put it,

 

Respondent 7 saw it similarly, saying that “during your lessons I always learn something about the world, and how I should change my view about important issues”. Apart from the learning value of these activities, they also acknowledged that these activities helped them see the news in a more positive light; in Respondent 1’s words, “this whole task can help students to stay positive and less stress[ed] out because of the situation”, and as Respondent 7 put it, “these activities totally expand my knowledge and also can give me a nice time”.