The Program
BTN (Behind The News) is a half-hour news and current affairs TV program produced by the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC). It screens every Tuesday at 10am on ABC3 during the NSW school term with repeats on Thursdays and Fridays. It can also be streamed on demand from the BTN website. Each episode contains 5 stories lasting approximately 4 minutes. The program aims to make local and international news events more interesting and accessible for children and has always been a very popular resource for ESL students.
The Materials
For each episode, Grabaword.com produces 2 worksheets which are suitable for classroom or independent learning. The Whole Episode worksheet provides an overview, pre-listening focus / discussion questions and listening comprehension tasks for each story. The Feature Story worksheet focuses on one story from the program and contains supplementary vocabulary activities. As well as developing language skills, the materials aim to help learners improve media literacy and to encourage them to make news and current affairs a regular part of their study program.
Show me a BTN Whole Episode Worksheet
Show me a BTN Feature Story Worksheet
Level
The program content and materials are most suitable for low intermediate to intermediate level learners but can be adapted for use across a wider range of proficiency. For higher level learners, please see our The World Today worksheets.