Life Skills: Understanding News Headlines
Understanding news headlines is the B2 media-literacy skill that lets learners scan English-language news efficiently. The worksheet covers headline conventions: omitted articles and auxiliaries (PM slams critics, Markets soar), tense compression (present for past, infinitive for future), abbreviations (MP, NHS, ECB, AI), and idiomatic verbs (slam, soar, slump, vow, mull, eye, hit, top). Learners build the decoding skill English-language news headlines require.
This worksheet builds B2 fluency with news-headline decoding.
Worksheet preview
What’s inside:
- A reference of headline conventions and abbreviations
- Headline-decoding task: rewrite headlines as full sentences
- Sensational-vs-neutral comparison: how the same story varies across outlets
- Headline-writing practice
- Full Answer Key plus Teacher Notes
Common challenges: Headline grammar at B2 violates standard rules — no articles, no auxiliaries, special verbs. Idiomatic-verb compression: slam (criticise strongly), vow (promise publicly), eye (consider acquiring), mull (consider). UK vs US headline conventions differ slightly.
For: Adult and teenage learners (14+) at CEFR B2, in upper-intermediate classes, 1:1 lessons, or self-study. Maps onto Cambridge B2 First (FCE) and C1 Advanced (CAE) Reading. Part of the Practical Life Skills collection — the natural next step is Giving Directions in a City.
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