Scribd
Upload
43 views4 pages

Practical Assignments On Working With Materials

Uploaded by

dariagandrabua293
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
43 views4 pages

Practical Assignments On Working With Materials

Uploaded by

dariagandrabua293
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 4

Authentic materials

Do you sometimes feel that you use course books as a crutch rather than a point
of departure for learning? If that’s the case, you may need to include more lessons based
around authentic material in your teaching programme. This lesson looks at the pros and
cons of this kind of material and outlines a procedure of how to exploit authentic materials
for classroom use.
Task 1 – Jan’s mixed feedback. Jan used an authentic newspaper article with
her learners. Some students said they really enjoyed reading some “real English”. However,
others said they found the text too hard and indicated they would like to stick to the course
book in future. Can you help Jan? What should she do? Jot down your ideas and
suggestions on a note pad, then look at the answer key below. -- Ian Fleming
Task 1. Feedback
Sticking to the course book is the easy option. Trying to use authentic
material again is going to be more challenging as many students will be resistant to it.
It is possible that the task that Jan used with the article was too challenging and she
may need to consider making the task more straightforward for weaker students. It
might also pay to let students know why she is using authentic material. In other
words, she might need to “sell” it to some degree to the students in the class who felt
challenged by the text she used.
Key Skill. Using authentic material with learners can add variety to a
teaching programme. However, if students are not used to working with material of
this nature, it needs to be introduced gradually and carefully. The next task will give
you ideas on how you can “sell” authentic material to your students.
Task 2 – The pros and cons
Numbers 1 to 4 below are features of authentic material. Letters a to h are
pros and cons that match the features. For each feature there is one pro and one con.
Move the pros and cons to the features.
Features Pros Cons
1. Authentic texts often contain
cultural information.
2. Authentic texts are often quite long.
3. Authentic texts can be very topical.
4. Authentic texts can be used
regularly in the classroom.

Pros & cons


a) It can be difficult to fit them into the timeframe of a 90 or 120 minute lesson.
b) It can make the teaching programme appear ‘bitsy’ and students don’t get a feeling
they are working through a coherent syllabus.
c) Students are often very interested in this kind of information and they find it very
motivating.
d) This means the material can date very quickly.
e) This kind of background information can sometimes be more difficult to understand
than the language.
f) It can make a good break from the course book.
g) This means students can get good extensive reading or listening practice.
h) This can make your classroom material very relevant to students.

Key Skill There are arguments against using authentic material, certainly if you
use too much of it. However, teachers can often anticipate problems and deal with these
when they plan authentic materials. For example, difficult cultural information can be dealt
with when leading in to an authentic text and longer texts can be edited to accommodate
lesson time. One issue not indicated in task 2 is that of copyright. This differs from country
to country and from one institution to another. However, it is important to ensure you have
copyright clearance on a piece of material before you use it.

Task 3 – Authentic texts and their uses


Numbers 1 to 8 describe different kinds of authentic text. Letters a to h
describe aims that relate to these texts. Match the aims to the texts.
Authentic texts Aims
1. A TV guide for one day’s viewing.
2. An e-mail message between friends.
3. A radio weather forecast.
4. A series of magazine advertisements.
5. An editorial from a newspaper.
6. A recording of someone speaking about
a childhood memory.
7. A reality TV show.
8. A timetable for a package holiday.

Aims
a) To provide practice in inferring meaning from a discursive text. b
b) To provide practice in listening for narrative gist.
c) To clarify and practise the first conditional used for making promises.
d) To highlight the way in which body language and gesture supports oral
communication.
e) To clarify some key features of informal written communication.
f) To provide less controlled oral practice of the present simple used to talk about
future itineraries.
g) To provide practice in scan reading.
h) To provide practice in scan listening.

Key Skill. Authentic texts can be used to practise a variety of reading and
listening skills. In these kinds of lessons, it is a good idea to include a stage in the lesson
that gets learners to reflect on the skills they have practised and think about how they can
transfer these skills when reading and listening to texts outside the classroom. It is also a
good idea to remember that authentic texts can provide good examples of language in real
contexts.

Task 4 – An approach to planning lessons with authentic material


Letters a to g below describe a series of steps that can be followed when
planning a lesson based around authentic materials. Place these steps in a logical order.

Planning Steps Order


a. decide how you will focus on the language.
b. create reading/listening tasks for receptive
skills practice and to ensure comprehension of the task.
c. edit the text, if necessary – this might mean
cutting out some difficult vocabulary or deciding to use
only part of the text.
d. read the text carefully and decide if it is
about the right language level for your learners.
e. think of a follow-on speaking activity you
could do after reading the text.
f. read the text and decide if it will be of
interest to your students.
g. look for useful vocabulary and/or grammar
that you can highlight in this text.

Thinking about your teaching …


Over a period of a term, try using different kinds of authentic material. Each
time you use it ask your students to evaluate the material in terms of level of difficulty and
interest. Keep a record of their comments and at the end of the term, see if you can determine
any patterns in their feedback.
Taking it to the classroom …
A lot of authentic material produced by teachers is based around magazine or
newspaper articles. Try creating a lesson based around something very different. And
remember that authentic material can include listening material.

You might also like