Using and Selecting Various Resources in Teaching

Warming-up questions
Do you use coursebooks? How many coursebooks?
How are the book(s) chosen?
What do you think of the book(s)?
Does/do the book(s) come in complete package (teacher’s and student’s books)

How do we select and use coursebook material?
Is the material visually attractive and clear? (using different colors, fonts, headings)
Is it well organized? Can you and the learners follow the logic of the material and find your way around the page or unit quickly and easily?
Is it culturally appropriate? Will the context(s) be familiar to your students?

Is it suitable for your learners’ age and their needs and interests? Will the topic be motivating to suit the age, gender, experience and personal interests of your learners?
Is it at the right level?
Does it give learners enough opportunities to use the language?

No for answers? Then what’s next?
To replace the coursebook materials with the same focus/aim from another book or resource
To adapt the coursebook material, i.e. change it in some way to make it suitable for our learners

Adapting the coursebook

When planning lessons, think about what the coursebook gives you, and what you need to add:
Coursebook provides:
Situation/context
Pictures
Dialogues (conversations between two people) and texts
Tasks and exercises
Teacher can provide additional:
Warmer
Instruction
Role-play
Homework tasks

Selecting and using supplementary materials and activities
Supplementary materials: books and other materials that we can use in addition to the coursebook.
They include skill development materials, grammar and vocabulary practice materials, collection of communicative activities.
May also come from authentic sources (e.g. newspaper and magazine articles, video, etc)

Why do we use supplementary materials and activities?
To replace unsuitable materials in the coursebook
To fill gaps in the coursebook
To provide suitable material for learners’ particular needs and interests
To give learners extra language or skills practice
To add variety to teaching

Advantages and disadvantages of different kinds of supplementary materials

Selecting supplementary materials
See what’s available around you
Think carefully how I will replace or improe coursebook material
Consider authentic material
Think carefully about all the skills required
Check how appropriate the level is for the learners

Using supplementary material
Pay special attention on the instructions
Adapt many supplementary materials for use with classes at different level
Games and communicative activities can provide variety and make learning fun.

Selection and use of aids
Aids are the resources and equipment available to us in the classroom, as well as the resources we can bring into class.
They include cassette player and recorder, cd players, video recorders, OHP, visual aids, realia, the teacher

Aids and the purposes

The use of technology in class
Benefits: contribute to the global development of our pupils and corresponds with the psychological, linguistic, cognitive, social, and cultural objectives of most language teaching programs.

Video
Videos made specially for ELT (Muzzy in Gondoland)
Animated stories
TV children’s programs
Documentary (BBC world of wildlife)
Self-made videos

Computers
CALL
Why use CALL?
What are the considerations in using CALL?
What do you think? Are you or is your school ready for it?

Using computers
Before using: plan the lesson carefully, establish ground rules, pre-teach computer related vocabulary, be demonstrative, explain the purpose of working with computer
While using: make sure ss respect rules, stay focus on tasks
After using: complete works, display work, compare work, review

Using the internet
Are you familiar with it?
Do you have access to internet easily?
Professional development
Making use the internet: reading and following instruction and answering questions, accessing a site, looking for specific information connected to topic, doing language activities, creating school website, writing to keypals