English year 1 term 1 lesson 3

• Communicatie
• HBO
• Studiejaar 1

Cruising along: English lesson

Tourism

Creating a Press Release

What is a press release?

One page document announcing news on behalf of an organization, government, individual, etc. 

Written Assignment 1

Deadline Thursday April 3, 2025.

No use of AI (ChatGPT etc) except for inspiration. 

Use of ChatGPT or other AI software will result in an immediate 0.

Lesson objective

At the end of this lesson you will know how to create a press release proposal based on the web lectures and class

exercises, thus preparing you for your assignment, and acquiring new language/communication skills in English.

What two things are most important to remember about press releases?

1. newsworthy

2. clearly structured using proper formatting

Why is structuring a press release correctly so important?

Journalists will quickly scan it expecting certain information to be presented in a certain structure before deciding whether to consider covering the story. Make it easy for them to understand, be interested and write their story!

WHO is the giveaway targeting?

1. Everyone
2. College students
3. Influencers
4. Teachers

WHAT is the news for your assigned press release (written assignments 2 + 3)?

1. All travel is allowed again globally
2. Erasmus University is hosting an event
3. Dua Lipa will perform at InHolland
4. Amsterdam tourism IG giveaway

City of Amsterdam will host an Instagram giveaway with a prize of 500 eur for the student who creates the most Instagrammable page re sustainable tourism in Amsterdam.

WHERE will the giveaway take place?

1. Instagram
2. Facebook
3. Tik Tok
4. Twitter

WHEN will the press release be released? HINT: giveaway winner needs to be announced January 1, 2022

There is no ONE RIGHT ANSWER here, as long as you release it ahead of the date when you need to announce a winner. We want you to use your critical thinking skills to consider how much time is needed to promote it & give participants time to create nice pages! You can backdate the giveaway if you feel it is necessary. What matters most is that you provide REASONS for your choices!

WHY would the Amsterdam tourism board want to run this giveaway?

Promote sustainable tourism & awareness, bring in potential investors, get good ''press'', etc. Justify YOUR reasons in your proposal. Knowing your WHY is important when writing anything!

HOW do you plan to execute this press release? What's the plan?

EXAMPLE ANSWERS

Go to Classroom https://classroom.google.com/c/NzMyMDA5OTUxOTA3

(CODE e6blhke)

and spend 5 minutes deciding who will be assigned which of the 5 WH-questions. You will all work on the How.

WHAT

Instagram Giveaway – reward of 500 EUR to the best college student Instagram page dedicated to promoting (sustainable) tourism in Amsterdam

WHO

Hosting: Amsterdam Tourism Board/Municipality

Participating: students

WHERE

Press release will be posted on the tourism board’s website + sent to news organizations, journalists, influencers, etc – student should provide examples with justification of why they will share it in these places. Where do they hope the news will travel?

WHEN

The winner will be announced January 1st, 2022 so it must be before then (example date- October 8th, 2021). Provide justification for why you have chosen your press release date. You are allowed to backdate (to August for example). Always provide justification for your choices!

WHY

In order to promote sustainable tourism in Amsterdam, particularly amongst the student/younger population – student should justify why a press release is a good way to promote a giveaway. Other answers possible. 

HOW

"By enticing students with a 500 EUR scholarship, the tourism board hopes to create many Instagram pages to promote sustainable tourism in the city without hiring social media professionals. By supporting a student with a scholarship they will get some positive news shed on the city while also possibly creating a lasting partnership with the winner"(example - do not copy it/use your own words + justification!)

Should we take a 5 minute break?

YES

NO

Case study

Arrange your desks into groups of 3 or 4 students. Open the case study in the lesson 3 documents on Teams or in the Padlet & assign 1-2 W (or H) questions to answer for a press release proposal for this organization. Discuss and enter your comments on Padlet. 

https://padlet.com/AshleyFoyTervoort/TMEyear1

Grammar time! 

Q&A

What are you struggling with?

Is there anything you feel you're still missing?

If there are no questions, we will move on.

What did we learn/do in this lesson?

Do you have all the information needed to submit Written Assignment 2?

😒🙁😐🙂😃

Preparation for next time

1. Watch the following video-

How to write a press release - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYcWVdiwhZU

2. Complete and upload Written Assignment 2 draft (press release proposal) on Classroom before the Tourism lesson next week.