Teach English in Jinnan KAifAqu Dongqu [Jinnan Development Zone East] - Tianjin

Course materialsAlthough these are something that you take for granted when taking part in any class, they play a vital role in providing the student with valuable information and the teacher with a teaching aid that can readily be related to. They can be broken down into 3 main types: 1. Authentic 2. Created or non-authentic 3. Course books Let?s look at these individually. Course materials are used to enhance a lesson both for the teacher and the student. Therefore using the correct material is very important. Authentic materials are ones that can be found in a multitude of places, photographs, magazine articles, crosswords, songs, newspapers and actual objects such as fruit (apple) or a vegetable (carrot). In fact anything that the student can see, hear, read or feel comes under the banner of an authentic material. There are a few disadvantages with using these, for instance the correct choice of material must be chosen to suit a particular lesson so time must be made available to research this. Plus there are so many available that it is important not to rush selection and use the first one to hand. The lesson will be greatly improved by the correct material choice. But I think the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. They are readily available just about anywhere and the internet supply a lot specifically geared towards TEFL. They are easy for the student to understand because in most cases they will have knowledge of the material. It is very important for the teacher to know what the students do at work and in their spare time so that the correct material can be chosen to suit the majority of students in the class. A certain amount of pre-class work must be done to make them a viable teaching aid, such as photocopying, creating multiple copies in another way or laminating. Created or non-authentic materials are ones that the teacher creates manually. There are advantages when using these as they can be created for a specific purpose and geared to a particular subject to be taught. This can be a time consuming exercise as the teacher will need a fair amount of preparation time, for instance cutting out pictures from books to create prompt card. These will just about always need to be mounted on card for long lasting use and possibly laminated. Research into the correct material must also be considered, another time consuming activity. The main advantage is they will be made to suit the exact lesson plan with the knowledge level of the class in mind. If made correctly they, like the authentic materials, can be used multiple times. In general with experience a mix of authentic and non-authentic materials will be the best teaching option. The third course material commonly used in most teaching establishments is the course book. In certain schools this may be a strict requirement, in other schools it may be left to the teacher?s discretion. The course book can be an invaluable part of teaching for both the teacher and the student. It is a tried and tested method that provides the teacher with teaching requirements over a certain time period and gives the teacher a guide as to how well the class is absorbing knowledge. For the student it acts as a course syllabus, a learning guide and a valuable source of information that can be used outside the classroom for revision purposes. I personally would not recommend its sole use when teaching but a mixture of the course book and the teachers own teaching methods in conjunction with the materials mentioned above will give a balanced approach to teaching and learning. In conclusion, course materials are a vital part of the teaching process and should be treated as such in both preparation and use. Teaching without them would be a considerable challenge for both teacher and student alike.