Teach English in YongfengtAn Zhen - Wuwei Shi

This unit is base on course books and lesson materials. Books and materials: Course books are very emotive issue for many teachers. Some teachers swear in them while others despise them. Therefore, each course book has its fans and detractors. In an ideal world school, books and materials are needed. But normally a teacher has to creat his /her own materials to either supplement the course book, or replace sections that are not suitable for the class. This is because some students find these created materials so interesting. These materials can be divided into two groups which include; ¨ a- Authentic materials: Anything a native speaker would hear or read can be described as authentic. Examples include; - Programs - Magazines - Newspapers - Songs - Poems - Menus - Films on video So why use authentic materials? - There are real and therefore more interesting and motivating - Students gain confidence when they understand them - They can be geared to the interest of a particular group of students b- Created materials: These are usually designed by the teacher to supplement or replace from a course book. Common created materials include; - Crosswords - Word sentence puzzles - Role-play cards - Gap filling activities - Pictures stories Course books: This consists of a set of materials which include; - Students ? book(for classroom use) - Workbook (for individual and supplementary work, class work, homework). - Cassettes (for use in class and at home) - Teacher? book - Video activities Some course book advantages: - It is usually expected by the students - It is considerably easier and less time consuming to supplement than to design a syllabus and creat materials from scratch - It provide a syllabus which is graded to a level suitable for the students - It provides security for the students and teachers alike - It normally provides a balanced mix of grammar, vocabulary and skill work etc Some course book disadvantages: - It does not always fit the specific needs and interests of all the class members - The students may not like the book and might be reluctant to use it - Exclusive use of a course book can become very predictable and boring for the students - It can make teachers lazy, and stop them from being creative and searches for activities and materials which will motivate the students - A course book is almost always a compromise - Most course books on the market are designed for use by all nationality and may not cover in enough depth language problems specific to the nationality of students you are teaching - Teachers rarely get to choose the course book and many can be outdated and unattractive to your students - Course books dictate what is to be taught Best use of course books: - If you have the choice of course books, look at a range that could be used for your group - Do not use the course book for a whole lesson - When planning your lessons think of what will motivate your students and which need to supplemented - Explore ways to match the books to the needs of the students - Don?t regard the course book as a solution to everything Four different options for course book use in clued; 1- Omit 2- Replace 3- Supplement 4- Adapt Analyzing a course book The following factors are needed to analyzed a course book which include ; a- The price b- Availability c- Design d- Methodology e- Skills f- Difficulty g- Syllabus h- Topic i- Teacher?s guide j- What ancillary materials are there Going through this unit 14, I have personally learnt much about the course books and materials, advantages and disadvantages of using them and how they can be carefully selected and deliver or teach to students in their respective languages especially English language.