HIDDEN MESSAGES

• detect verbal and nonverbal ways that media used to affect readers' emotional attitude towards foreigners/other nationalities;
• recognize parts in the text that inspire fear and anger or encourage to be hostile to foreigners;
• become acquainted with the most commonly used strategy / word phrase with which media gain our attention;
• distinguish subjective arguments from objective.

Pupils, students, youth

Part 1:

Step 1 “Find the lines to read between,” students work individually or in a small group.

Option 1: all students work on the same types of media (for example: magazines)

Option 2: group working on diffrent types of media (TV, radio shows, video games, websides, apps, …)

Teacher gives instructions and then collects answers from them in his interactive board/ flipchart/ PowerPoint presentation.

Questions:

Q1:What construction elements on the front page tell you what is intended to be looked at first? (headlines, pictures, top of page, first story below the fold, extra-wide column)

Q2 :What are the construction elements that are intended to encourage you to open the paper/continue with listening/ watching or playing game? (index, promos for other sections, stories that continue on other pages/parts, references to related articles in another section)

Q3:How do you feel after reading/listening/playing this? (fear, despair, guilt, anger, uncertainty, incompleteness, envy, desire for having more, feeling that someone is going to take me, what belong just to me, ….).

Q4: Does titles/images/words influence on your cuurent opinion. How?

Results of the research in the classroom need to be connect with the idea that media are constructed on an obvious level (Annex 1)

Step 2: Where they caught me?

Each student marks words and images, which:

a) have had an impact on the change in the way of his/her thinking.

Step 3: Let's read again

With use of Critical reading structure ( Annex 2) they go trought the same text/video and report what they found out.

Part 2:

»Decrypt hidden« gives students opportinity to become acquainted with spotting media techniques and their target audiences (Annex 3) In the third activity students learn how to differ objective arguments from subjective. The last activity gives students opportunity for self-reflection: what they really know about foregins and what they decide to believe to be true.

Task for work in pairs or in a small group. Discussion should be lead by teacher. Takw into consideration introducution part (Annex 3) and discussion about each techiques aim.

Step 1: Students need to choose one or more text(s) and identify in it: a) purpose, b) tehniques and c) the target audiences for each of the texts.

Step 2: Students are asked to find samples of the texts, where target audience are young people who are members of the majority and are unemployed or work for a limited time. According to structure in Annex 3 they need to answer, where they find typical elements.

or

Step 3: Student read and compare the article from a newspaper issued by right-wing political parties and newspaper article issued by the left. According to structure in Annex 3 they need to answer, where they find typical elements and answer:

a) How an where they have differences? b)Where are they find similarities?

Step 4: Students need to answer what they certainly know about foreigner, who live in their country? (Student s should writedown what they certainly know, not think.

They need to read an interview or story with one of foreign person/migrant. After that, they need to answer questions below:

1. How do I feel after I read that?
2. Do I still think the same?
3. Where can I get more information?

Aim of last task is to test, how text influenced on students emotions and how emotions influence on their thoughts. The last question is conected with critical evaluating, which will inform student how to establish emotional distance and to formulate an opinion on the basis of verified facts.

• Video games, TV, radio, newspapers and magazines
• Copies of Annnex 1 and 2
• Cards with case studies and tasks
• Discussion board

Method of discourse, method of debate, method of analysis, method of working with text and photos, flip-up method, method of obtaining the results of samples, method of evaluation and self-refelction

Students, who have difficulties working alone can be partnered to another student to help them improve the process. The excercise can be done individually or in a small group. Students can be encouraged to bring media texts that they find outside the classroom and are conected with the theme. it would be helpful to have copies of other newspapers’ front pages too,so that students have a variety of texts to examine.

Adapted from : Chris M. Worsnop: Media Literacy trought critical thinking, teaching material, NW Media for Excellence in Media Literacy, Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction.

Annex 1

Annex 2

Annex 3