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UNIT 14 – COURSEBOOKS AND LESSON MATERIALS
Authentic materials are just that – authentic. They are made from songs, TV programs, films, radio etc. They are real materials and are often more interesting and motivating for students, but as they aren’t designed specifically for the classroom, they need to be carefully selected. On the other hand, created materials are designed for the classroom and are set at certain levels. These materials can include crosswords, role play cards, gap fill activities, and many more.
Making materials yourself (from authentic materials or even modifying created materials) is a good option, and one that I already do myself. The video mentions some good points to consider when creating materials (such as making sure the audio is clear and understandable, or that photos are large enough for everyone to see).
The video and pdf then describe coursebooks, what they contain, as well as advantages and disadvantages of using these resources. It mentions that there are four options for using coursework materials – omit certain lessons, replace unsuitable material, supplement materials, and adapt materials to the particular situation. This section was nice to read (even if it was quite logical), but was also woefully out of date, mentioning that coursebooks include cassettes (which honestly have been rendered obsolete in most countries by now) and “possibly” CDs. Most modern coursebooks now only have on-line resources, apps, and games, all of which are accessed by computer and a password/code found in the books. This would be an important point to discuss as this could be a disadvantage in countries where students may not all have access to a computer or the internet. Furthermore, I would have loved to learn where I could find new, up to date resources like apps. So all in all, careful selection of coursebooks should be influenced by these modern resources and their suitability to each particular classroom.
Overall this chapter was fine, it mentioned very logical things that I hope all teachers would think about when designing lessons. If it were updated to include more modern concepts and resources for teaching, it would be much better.
