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Creating materials for a lesson is a delicate balance, one which requires careful consideration and planning. When creating materials for a lesson, teachers can rely on the use of authentic or non-authentic materials. There are a number of factors that must be considered when creating materials. Some of these factors are, the student’s level, the syllabus, how are the materials going to be used in the classroom, which phase in the lesson plan are they going to be used and the purpose of the lesson. Authentic materials are those that have been produced for a purpose other than the classroom. On the other hand, non-authentic materials are those that have been produced either by an individual teacher or an educational company for the purpose of using in the classroom. Both authentic and non-authentic materials have their advantages and disadvantages and may serve a specific purpose at a specific time in the classroom. With that being said, it is important to take into account the pros and cons of using both authentic and non-authentic materials so that one can effectively incorporate them into a lesson plan. There are a number of advantages of using authentic materials in the classroom. Some of these advantages are, authentic materials are real and provide students with realistic examples of situations that students may be able to relate to, they are less predictable and using authentic materials is a relatively easy and convenient way of improving students’ general skills. On the other hand, authentic materials will have drawbacks. Some of which are; it may not be user friendly for the students as it was not specifically designed for classroom purposes, authentic materials can also contain culturally or socially sensitive materials and it may take a longer time to source these materials. Creating non-authentic materials also has its pros, where as it is specifically designed for the purposes of being a teaching aid and it can be tailored to a specific teaching point. However non-authentic materials are less realistic and can sometimes be difficult for students to relate to, especially when teaching business English. While the advantages of authentic material outweigh the advantages of using non-authentic materials, striking a balance of use between both in the classroom is important. Reason being is that, striking a balance between both will allow a teacher to provide their students with materials that can relate to real life situations. While at the same time, this will allows teachers to create materials that can be targeted to specific needs of the students as it relates to grammar points or an area where students need improvement on. Having a balance between authentic and non-authentic materials is an effective way of teaching, as both can be incorporated in different areas of the lesson plan. For instance, teachers can use authentic materials in the activate phase of the lesson plan to give students a realistic feel of the lesson point. Also, non-authentic materials can be used in the study or activate phase of the lesson that focuses on specific grammar point in the lesson.
