Everson, Pennsylvania TESOL Online & Teaching English Jobs

In Unit 9, I learned about the course books and lesson materials. For materials, they can be divided into 2 groups: authentic materials and creative materials. I learned that though authentic materials are not graded for level, they are still useful for our teaching. The reasons are that: they are usually more interesting and motivating, they can help students build the sense of accomplishment when they understand the materials; they might help generate the interests of certain students. As teachers, we can be creative to make our own teaching materials to supplement a fixed course book. Some examples are crosswords, word search puzzles, picture stories, telephone role-play cards and so on. With the supplement, we can make learning more engaging rather than just rely on text books. When talking about course books, outdated, laziness, boring and some negative emotive words might come out. However, we need to know that there are still many advantages of course books. They might provide syllabus, security and a mix of grammar, vocabulary and skills etc. and they offer good ideas for inexperienced teachers. We can use course books wisely and creatively. We can analyze the course books to seek for language point and items that are useful for student needs and interest. We can make a balanced lesson by using both the course books and our creative materials to supplement it. We should be reflective and keep updating our content knowledge to best use of course books.