Teach English in Yungang Zhen - Datong Shi

In the classroom, varied use of different types of materials is important in the creation of an interesting and engaging learning environment. Unit 14 of this TEFL course provides valuable insight into the types of materials commonly used, while the importance of an engaging classroom environment is emphasised throughout the course. This summative task shall focus on Created Materials in particular, comparing them to other types, providing examples, and describing how they can be implemented in lessons. Firstly, it is important to recognise the differences between three common types of teaching materials: authentic materials, course books, and, of course, created materials. Authentic materials in EFL classes are specimens from the real Anglophone world. For example, magazine extracts, poems, radio broadcasts…the list goes on. Course books, on the other hand, are specifically put-together teaching materials, meant for guiding both teachers and students during the course. A course book, in fact, can include examples of authentic materials, or even ideas for teachers to produce their own created materials. Finally, created materials are made by the teacher themselves, for example tailored worksheets to focus on a particular grammatical point, role-play cards – perhaps based on the students’ interests, in order to engage them further – or even posters for the classroom in order to remind students of important topics…again, the list can be endless. Now that the different types of materials have been explained, when could a teacher opt for created materials over authentic materials or course books? As mentioned earlier, using various types of teaching materials is paramount in the classroom. However, sometimes one type is more suited to a particular lesson type. For example, created materials could work wonders when the teacher needs to focus on a specific grammatical point that a particular class is struggling with. It must be kept in mind that course books do not offer endless amounts of exercises; it is for this reason that creating extra, specifically tailored materials is important to the learning curve. Furthermore, perhaps beginners or lower level classes would benefit more from created rather than authentic materials. This is due to the inherently higher level of difficulty of authentic materials, as one assumes that their original intended audience would have been native. Created materials, on the other hand, can be tailored to the class’ level and ability. Moving on, here are some further examples of created materials and when they can be used in the classroom, in order to highlight their usage and importance. Flashcards are a good place to begin, as they can be easy and efficient to create, thanks to helpful tools on the Internet, namely Quizlet in this case, available to teachers around the globe. On Quizlet, both teachers and students can create lists of flashcards, for a certain vocabulary topic, perhaps, and easily print them off or indeed share them online. No artistic talent is needed, so teachers of all artistic abilities can create flashcards for efficient and clear use in the classroom. Alternatively, teachers who are artistically and creatively inclined, can create their own materials from scratch. This demonstrates the sheer flexibility of created materials. Now, moving away from a more general perspective of using created materials, I would like to share my personal experience with them. When I worked as an English language assistant in rural primary schools in France, I noticed that the most effective and engaging lessons took place in the classroom with most created materials. Every lesson, the teacher would refer to posters - that she had made herself – on the wall and board, play games with the students that she had put together (which I know first-hand was very time-consuming, as I helped with this), and work on handouts that she had carefully thought out and created. I had a lot of respect for that teacher, as her efforts stood out and yielded phenomenal results in the classroom. A further example from exclusively my own experience in teaching languages – in this case, Spanish – is when I had a student who wanted to learn the language from scratch. As he had had no previous knowledge of Spanish, I found that using only course books was definitely not enough, while authentic materials would simply be too challenging for his level at the start. Therefore, I created detailed handouts – including gap-fill exercises, integrated flashcards, and sometimes puzzles like crosswords – in order to provide him with a fuller learning support system. Sometimes, I would use authentic materials as a base, and edit them to suit his level. For example, when we were learning about food, I extracted parts of text from a recipe I found online, and taught him vocabulary through that. To sum up, I believe that he was able to complete activities from the course book much more easily because of the support created materials provided throughout his learning process. To conclude, I would like to highlight once again the importance of created materials in the classroom. In this essay I have provided examples of such materials, as well as examples from my own experiences with teachers and students. However, I would also like to clarify that I am not simply advocating absolute use of created materials; I believe a balance is required in any learning environment. The teacher in France to whom I referred, for example, did not purely use such materials. She used them in conjunction with other types of materials, as did I in my Spanish lessons. Balance is the key to success.