Our Year 11 bilingual Geography classes recently completed an engaging media-literacy and geography project in collaboration with the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”. Over several weeks, students worked intensively with current reporting on the United States, strengthening their critical reading skills while practicing academic English and applying subject-specific vocabulary in authentic contexts. Using a curated selection of articles on topics such as political development, climate policy, migration or elections, students completed a range of tasks that combined geography content, English and media analysis. They transformed article data into clear infographics, for instance visualizing a variation of different topics; compared and contrasted coverage of the same issue to identify perspectives, sources, and framing; linked reporting to spatial patterns across U.S. states and regions through map-based analysis; and carried out fact-checking and source evaluation to assess reliability. In addition, they wrote short op-eds to summarize insights and propose evidence-based policy recommendations.
Each student designed a portfolio that brought these elements together in a coherent final product. The portfolios typically included a data-driven infographic with an explanatory caption, a comparative analysis of two articles on the same topic, and a reflective piece on how media framing influences our understanding of geographic issues. The resulting work demonstrates clear progress in media literacy, data interpretation and visualization, bilingual communication, and confident use of geographical terminology in English. Students reported that turning articles into infographics helped them “see the story behind the numbers” and that comparing different perspectives trained them to look for evidence and bias. The project not only connected classroom learning with real-world journalism, it also prepared students for upper-level coursework and presentations.
We thank the Süddeutsche Zeitung for inspiring materials and look forward to future collaborations. Selected infographics and portfolio excerpts will be showcased below this article.
(Isabella Künzel and Class 11abc)
