German
Online Extensive Reading and Listening Programme

Reading the News

One way of accessing a virtually unrestricted supply of valuable reading resources is through the Internet. It provides you with material not just from Germany , but from many different German-speaking countries. Newspapers offer a particularly rich source of reading material on the Internet. Many of them are available online giving you access to articles on a wide range of international, national and regional issues. News websites are regularly updated. This means that they offer a constant source of fresh and interesting reading material for German language students like yourselves. Of course, newspapers aren’t the only source of news stories on the Internet. Broadcast media organisations such as a German equivalent of the BBC, ZDF and Internet search engines such as German google.de also maintain news pages on their websites.

HOW TO SEARCH FOR THE NEWS:

It’s important to read articles on subjects that interest you, whether that be football, fashion, culture or current affairs. But how do you go about finding newspaper articles in German on these topics on the Internet?

One good way is by using the German google.de news search engine. To see how this works, follow the steps below:

• Visit the www.google.de web site
• Click on the “News” tab above the search box. The Google German news page will appear. It contains links to some of the most important news stories from across the world.
• Click on one that interests you, and read it through. Alternatively, if there is a particular issue that interests you, e.g., football, you could try a key word search.
• For example, click into the dialogue box at the top of the page. Now, type in Borussia Dortmund or Fussballweltmeisterschaft.

TIP: To find an article from the (possibly) hundreds identified, focus on the titles. Click on one that sounds interesting. Now, read the first paragraph of the article - journalists call this the lead. It’s designed to grab your attention and give you an idea of the issues discussed in the text. Quickly skim the rest of the article by reading the first sentence in each of the paragraphs, any sub-headings and captions under pictures. If it still seems interesting, read the full text. If not, look for something else, there are loads of articles to choose from.