USING MATERIALS
PLAN
OVERVIEW
Watch the video, and list out the materials for teaching English.
OBJECTIVES
By the end of the unit, students will be able to distinguish the published
materials from authentic ones; to use course-books effectively; to discuss
the use of authetic materials in teaching English; and to analyse a text-
book in use.
ACTIVATE
THINK
What materials for teaching English have you known or be familiar with?
Which is the most common?
LEARN
READ
Read the text and check your answers to the questions above.
1. Published materials
Published materials
include course-books, supplementary books,
reference books, resource books and videos. The most commonly used
materials are course-books, supplementary and reference books.
1.1. Course-books
What do course-books comprise? Course-books often comprises a set of
materials: student's book (to be used in class), student's workbook (often
useful for supplementary class-work, individual work or homework),
teacher's books, audio files and videos.
How are course-books used? Texts or activities in different parts of a
course-book are not always appropriate for a particular group of students
or a particular lesson. There are four alternatives to consider if the
teachers decide that part of a course-book is not appropriate.
Omitting the lesson. Omitting lessons from course-book allows teachers
to develop a kind of 'pick and choose' approach to what's in front of them.
However, if they omit too many pages, the students may begin to wonder
why they are using the book in the first place, especially if they have
bought it themselves.
Replacing the course-book lesson with one of our own. Our own
materials probably interest us more than the course-book, and they may
well be more appropriate for our students. However, as with omitting
pages, if too much of the course-book is replaced, both students and
teacher may wonder if it is worth bothering with it at all.
Alding to what is in the book, 1f the lesson is rather boring, too
controlled, or it gives no chance for students to use what they are learning
effectively, the teacher may add activities and exercises which extent the
students' engagement with the language or topic.
Điều chính: Adjusting
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Adapting what is in the book. If teachers find a lesson boring or
ng back creative, they can adapt the lesson by rewriting parts of it,
replacing some of So the activities (but not all), reordering activities or
reducing the number of activities in the sequence.
Using course-books creatively is one of the teacher's premier skills. It is
important to keep students' interest, so instead of going through the book
line by line, the teachers should change parts that are most appropriate for
their class, and make suitable changes to other material so that it is
exactly right for their students.
What are the advantages of using a course-book? Although time may be
needed to evaluate and adapt a book, a good course-book takes some of
the preparation off teachers as is less time-consuming than designing a
syllabus and creating materials from scratch. It consists a ready-made
source of activities to provide students with language input, including
vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation. These activities also help to
develop students skills of using the language. The course-book is also
professionally produced with visuals, audio files, videos and
supplementary sources of references for both teachers and students.
Besides, it has a teacher's book which is usually helpful in stating aims
and objectives, giving guidelines for lessons and mentioning possible
difficulties to be aware of.
What are the disadvantages of using a course-book? There are a number
of pitfalls of using a course-book. It is not always easy to find a course-
book which suits the needs and interests of all the students. Sometimes,
teachers may be required to use one course-book for different students,
As a result, students may not like the book and be reluctant to use it.
Using a required course-book can stop teachers from being creative in
their search for texts and activities that will interest and motivate their
students. For an inexperienced teachers, following a course-book may
prevent them from exploring in depth the language they are teaching.
They may go through all the contents and activities without really
understanding what they are doing or why. A course-
book is nearly always a compromise. There are too many things to be
fitted into too small a pot.
So, the course-book is an invaluable resource but it may need adapting to
meet the class needs. Every class is different and the success of a course-
book depends on how well it is used by the teacher.
1.2. Using supplementary and reference books
Supplementary books can provide practice in language and skills work,
materials and activities supplement the course-book. They include books
of language, games and songs, role-plays and simulations, chants and
drills. Many include communicative activities for working in pairs or
groups. Selected activities from these books can add variety and
enjoyment to the lessons.
However, choosing the activities can be tempting to give the students a
series of unrelated fun activities which do not serve to fulfill the aims and
objectives
of the lesson.
Reference books helps learners become more independent both in and
outside the classroom. The most commonly used reference books are
dictionaries and grammar books. Most of them are well-designed for both
learners and teachers.
2. Authentic materials
2.1. What are authentic materials?
Theatre programs, newspapers, songs, brochures, news broadcasts, films
on video, etc. - anything a native speaker of English would hear or read or
use can be described as authentic. Obviously, some of them are more
difficult than others because they are for native speakers. Teachers should
carefully select the
materials, based on students' needs and interests. The same authentic
material can be used at different levels.
2.2. Reasons for using authentic materials
For most students authentic materials are intrinsically more interesting
and motivating because they are real. They provide examples of language
as it is really used. Working with authentic materials, students have the
opportunity to acquire real language in use. Besides, the real cultural
content of most authentic materials encourages involvement and
comparisons to discover cultural aspects through learning the language.
However, it is generally not enough to take a piece of authentic material
into the classroom and let them get on with it! It takes time to find things
that fit in with the class program of work and which are both interesting
and accessible. Make sure that the material is exploited well, and that
they are accompanied by suitable tasks. Be careful, though, that at lower
levels the task is not so simple as to be meaningless.
3. Possible book analysis checklist
At many stages during their careers, teachers have to decide what books
to use. Making decisions about which books to use is not simple. It is
suggested that teachers do this based on analysis, piloting, consultation
and the gathering of opinions from students and colleagues and that one
way of doing this is to prepare a checklist of questions. The following is
an example of possible course-book analysis checklist.
Possible areas for consideration
Possible questions for course-book analysis
Price and availability
How much does the course-book cost?
Will students have to buy any extra material (workbook, etc.)?