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For the past five years, I have been a teacher for students as young as 4 years and as old as 35 years at all levels of learning English. Therefore, I can say with certainty that the success of a class resides every time on a well prepared class material. All kinds of students at all levels love to do games during class. Fun games are most of the times used in my class to engage my students and make them feel interested in the next part of the lesson or in a new topic that is about to be introduced to them. For them to feel excited during this part usually I prepare a board game. Let say we are going to talk about family. The previously prepared board game will usually motivate students to talk about their family members and the kind of relationship they have with them; “What do I know about my cousin” – “My cousin is tall and he lives in Canada”. This king of material will ensure students not only to feel connected to the topic but also to pay attention to what their classmates are talking about since it is fun to listen. Therefore, to make sure they understand the bulk of the lesson I follow a different scheme for every class. Every time I begin the lesson with an explanation of the topic and presentation of new vocabulary words using pictures and videos. This kind of material should be revised an prepared ahead to make sure the pictures and images are clear enough and the video sound is working properly so they can understand easily the meaning of the word or phrase. Otherwise, it can confuse students and make it harder. Without any supporting material, I will be very difficult for students to understand new vocabulary words. For example, how would you explain colors if it is not with colored cards or toys? Once they have watched the videos or pictures and repeated a few times the new vocabulary words, it is time for them to do practice on their own. This time the material that I prefer to use are worksheets in large groups or giving them permission to write on the white board if there is a smaller group. Preparing worksheets ahead is very important. These worksheets must contain only the words that we have learned previously in that or any other past lesson, if the purpose is a larger review of a topic. The good thing about worksheets is that they can be reviewed later by the teacher and see how well students understood a topic. Sometimes they can even say something about how well the teacher is explaining things. There are many options when talking about class material. Almost anything can be class material if is well thought-out. For young students toys and puppets work nicely when trying to explain role-play. For older students, videos and pictures are my number one choice, never leaving aside crosswords, puzzles, Pictionary, worksheets and other written kind of material. For me, the best option when choosing what material to use during a lesson will always be; a well prepared class material.
