Authentic Materials

  The term materials can apply to virtually anything that a teachers uses to help the teaching process in the classroom. Common teaching materials include items such as worksheets, newspapers, pictures text books and video recordings. These materials are usually classed as either authentic or non-authentic depending on their origin and the ways they are used. Authentic materials refer to materials that have not been designed or adapted for use in an English language classroom such as magazines, newspapers, video clips and song lyrics. Non-authentic materials on the other hand are anything that has been specifically designed to aid the teaching process such as worksheets, text books and instructional CD’s or DVD’s. Below you can read feedback from an ITTT graduate...  [Read more]

  Just to finish the sectional materials, we'll have a look the difference between what are called authentic and created materials. Authentic materials, as the name implies, are actual materials that are created for any reason outside of the classroom. So examples of authentic materials would be things like newspapers. Those are generated for the general public and they're certainly not generated for the use in the classroom. However, they can be used within the classroom other ideas would be things like songs and poems and even things such as brochures and magazines and indeed menus from restaurants. So these are materials that all can be used within the classroom but they have not been created for that purpose, whereas creative materials, as the name implies, have been produced...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas When thinking of course materials, one summons the image of textbooks and related worksheets. These are just a small part of what can be considered as course materials. With this in mind, course materials are anything the teacher brings with to the classroom to aid teaching. This essay will cover the two different groups of course material: authentic and non-authentic, created materials, and the combinations of materials as important aspects of the classroom to provide a rounded lesson for learners. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Jade B. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Authentic material can be just about anything that...  [Read more]

Laura Payne Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas Authentic materials are media that native speakers of a language encounter in their everyday lives, which are not specifically created for language students. TV programs, newspaper articles, books, songs, YouTube videos, and more all fall under this term. Incorporating authentic materials into ESL classrooms has numerous merits, but the high language level required to understand these materials often causes teachers to rarely or never include them in classes below an intermediate language level. However, the difficulty of language in authentic materials does not necessarily mean that they have no place in lower-level classes. With some research, planning, and creativity, any teacher...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Online English teachers are divided into two groups. The first group is online ESL teachers that work for an education company. The second group is online ESL teachers who freelance. I will explain the two types of teaching materials, authentic and created materials, and how materials are incorporated in teaching English online to students. The focus of this article will be young learners as that is my personal career goal. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Dora E. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. The first group of teaching materials is authentic materials. Authentic materials are defined as “anything a native speaker would...  [Read more]

Federico Riva TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas Two classifications of ESL materials are Authentic and Non-Authentic (or created). What is the difference between what are called authentic and created materials? Authentic materials as the name implies are actual materials that are created for any reason outside of the classroom. Examples of authentic materials would be things like, newspapers; those are generated for the general public and they're certainly not generated for the use in the classroom. However they can be used within the classroom. Other examples would be things like songs and poems and even things such as brochures and magazines and indeed menus from restaurants. So these are...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Authentic materials and created materials are some of the most effective materials an instructor teaching English as a foreign language can use. You can use both created materials and authentic materials in teaching a wide variety of students and the result will remain the same. Teachers can choose to use these materials rather than the course book materials. In going through the TEFL certification course, you learn the different group levels of students you could be teaching. In this summative task, I will discuss the benefits for each group level learning English and in using the created and authentic materials to teach the students English. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Meghan M....  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Most if not all courses make use of materials, regardless of the topic being taught. In ESL courses materials are crucial to the learning processes from the beginning to the end of a student’s education in English. Whether the materials used are authentic, non-authentic, realia, or media, they aid the students by testing, reinforcing, and improving the learner’s knowledge. Course materials also provide learners with a reference other than the instructor in the case of dictionaries and other reference materials. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Ryan R. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. The term “course materials” refers...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Imagine you are in a language class and the teacher has given you a task. You are excited. The last time you completed an assignment like this one you gained a greater sense of confidence in the target language. After completing the last assignment the confidence gained from it gave you the courage to strike up a conversation with the waiter at the restaurant where you were dining. He was from the country of your target language. You said “hello” and also read the menu and ordered it in the TL. Why? Where did this confidence come from? I do not want to oversimplify the answer because learning a language takes time and effort, it is a compilation of many things, but in this instance, the reason is that your...  [Read more]

  In this video we'll be looking at the international phonemic alphabet and how it's used in the classroom. There are other phonemic alphabets but this is the most popular and the system, which is most widely used. You may have seen some of these symbols before as any good dictionary will supplement standard English spellings with the phonemic spellings to aid in pronunciation practice. Here we have a situation where we have what are called phonemes and each phoneme represents a sound within the English language. How is this helpful? Well, what it does is help students understand how to say words rather than simply relying on the often archaic English spellings. To illustrate this point let's for a moment put ourselves in the shoes of our students when trying to understand how to...  [Read more]

  Our next particular methodology is accredited to James Asher around 1965 and is called total physical response. Asher looked at the way in which we learn our native language and he saw that most children, before they even went to school, have picked up a very large percentage of both the grammar and the vocabulary that they would use in their native language before any type of formal schooling. So Asher started to have a look at ideas of how to use the whole of our brain in language learning in the way that we do when we're very young. It's accepted that within our brain there are two hemispheres, one is the left hemisphere the other is the right hemisphere, and one of the functions of the left hemisphere is language learning. One of the major functions of the right hemisphere is...  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore Teaching Ideas Business students are most likely already familiar with using computers and particularly the Internet for learning English. The Internet can provide a teacher with an enormous array of teaching resources from non-authentic and authentic materials to lesson plans and ideas. Here are 7 great resources for teaching business English at no cost to the teacher! This post was written by our ITTT graduate Shannon S. This is a website that features hundreds of free online non-authentic teaching materials such as vocabulary exercises, grammar quizzes, listening comprehension videos, and reading comprehension articles. The materials are related to such business areas as accounting, sales and marketing, project management,...  [Read more]

  This video breaks down the difference between "among" and "between". The word "between" is used to refer to two or more things that are distinct. A great example would be: "Choose between the red and the green socks". Here, we use "between" as the socks are clearly different and separated. "Among", on the other hand, is used to refer to things that are part of a group or mass, such as in this example: "Choose among all your socks" here we use ?among? because we are talking about all of the socks. Let's take a look at two more examples to make the difference even clearer. "I am walking between Baker Street and 5th Avenue." Here, we are talking about two separate streets and use 'between'. "I am walking among my friends." In this example, we're talking about more than two people...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Course materials are the foundation of an English as a Second Language class, as they are a key component for moving the course forward and are essential for the student’s success. Thus, the materials that an educator selects significantly impact the outcome of the course for teachers and students. Whether choosing a textbook, authentic materials, or created materials it is important for the teacher to consider the benefits, disadvantages and how best to use the materials they have selected. This ensures the creation of an engaging program where they, as educators, may grow along with their student’s English language abilities. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Rachel M. Please note...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas There are many resources for use in the classroom at the disposal of an ESL/EFL teacher. Broadly speaking, these are divided into two categories: authentic materials, and non-authentic (or created) materials. The distinction between these two categories is that authentic materials are those that have been produced in the world for a purpose that is not teaching, while non-authentic materials have been created expressly to teach language students. Authentic materials would include company brochures, advertisements, television and radio programs, realia, newspapers, and magazines, etc., whereas non-authentic materials include created worksheets (e.g., crosswords, word search puzzles, gap fills, etc.), flashcards,...  [Read more]

  In this TEFL review video, 120-hour online TEFL course graduate Corrin shows us round parts of Florence, Italy where she works as an English teacher and gives us a glimpse inside one of her classes. Corrin took the course with tutor support which she found really helpful and would recommend the course for those looking to teach English as a foreign language. Below you can read feedback from an ITTT graduate regarding one section of their online TEFL certification course. Each of our online courses is broken down into concise units that focus on specific areas of English language teaching. This convenient, highly structured design means that you can quickly get to grips with each section before moving onto the next. There are multiple learning methods in a lesson....  [Read more]

  Neil took the in-class TEFL course with TEFL International in Zhuhai, China. In this TEFL review video, Neil points out what was covered in the course including grammar, pronunciation as well as the practical side of teaching. He found the trainers encouraged him to put what he was learning into practice in the classroom. Below you can read feedback from an ITTT graduate regarding one section of their online TEFL certification course. Each of our online courses is broken down into concise units that focus on specific areas of English language teaching. This convenient, highly structured design means that you can quickly get to grips with each section before moving onto the next. I found this chapter to be the most difficult. It easy to understand the tense, past,...  [Read more]

  In this episode, we cover the pronunciation of the word caparison. This word refers to decking something out in rich decorative coverings, usually used for horses. This word found its way into the English language through the French word caparasson who took it from the Spanish caparazón meaining ‘saddlecloth'. Below you can read feedback from an ITTT graduate regarding one section of their online TEFL certification course. Each of our online courses is broken down into concise units that focus on specific areas of English language teaching. This convenient, highly structured design means that you can quickly get to grips with each section before moving onto the next. This unit was very helpful and educational in explaining course books and lesson materials. The...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas When I think of materials in terms of English Second Language (ESL) teaching, I think of a broad range of items, from worksheets to pictures, flashcards to figurines, exercises, tests, and so on. To put 'materials' more in perspective, these are materials needed to deliver an ESL course. I have created course material and training material since 1995, firstly for training artisans in development projects in South Africa, and later from 2001 to 2006 in Wales, training Voluntary Sector groups. For one employer, I created a 'Behavioural Based Safety' course for North Sea Safety Standby Vessels (Offshore operations), which included four...  [Read more]

  Ozlem from Turkey recorded this TESOL review video. Ozlem successfully completed the 120-hour online TESOL course with ITTT. During the course Ozlem learned many things to help her with her new teaching career. ITTT’s 120-hour online TESOL course covers a wide range of topics over a course of 20 units. All the units are designed to give trainees a solid grounding in teaching theory, teaching practice and language concepts. Topics include types of learners, teaching methods, classroom management, lesson planning, grammar, pronunciation and more. Below you can read feedback from an ITTT graduate regarding one section of their online TEFL certification course. Each of our online courses is broken down into concise units that focus on specific areas of English language...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas “We say Yes more than No. We remain curious and stay open to others’ ideas. We learn by doing. By following an idea. By experimenting with our hands. By taking risks. By trying, struggling and failing forward fast. - City Studio Vancouver Manifesto” This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Rachel S. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. My teaching experience comes from a background in the visual arts. I have worked as a teacher's assistant for visual artists and designers who facilitate collaborative social practice projects for youth and young adults. Social practice is a theory that attempts to link practice, and context with...  [Read more]

  http://www.teflonline.net In this video we look at a TESOL teaching idea for the past continuous tense. For this activity students are put into groups and are handed pictures of people doing different activities. The pictures are placed upside down in a pile and the students take it in turns to turn them over. When they have turned over a card they must make a past continuous sentence based on the picture they have. For example: If they turn over a picture of a woman swimming they would say: She was swimming yesterday. For more advanced students this activity can be used to compare past continuous and past simple. For example: While I was doing the washing up, I broke three plates. Becoming a TESOL teacher enables you to travel the world experiencing new cultures while...  [Read more]

  This video diary entry outlines Chantelle’s experience of studying unit 8 of her online TEFL course. Unit 8 is another tense unit, this time looking at the future tenses. These include the future simple, future continuous, future perfect, future perfect continuous and the ‘going to’ future. It also covers how the present simple and present continuous can be used to talk about the future. In this unit you will learn how the tenses are formed and used and what some of the most common errors students make. Below you can read feedback from an ITTT graduate regarding one section of their online TEFL certification course. Each of our online courses is broken down into concise units that focus on specific areas of English language teaching. This convenient, highly...  [Read more]

{ "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ [ {"@context": "https://schema.org","@type": "SiteNavigationElement","@id": "#nameh0","name": "Use authentic materials","url": "https://www.tefl-certificate.net/faq/should-we-teach-culture-in-the-efl-classroom/#nameh0"},{"@context": "https://schema.org","@type": "SiteNavigationElement","@id": "#nameh1","name": "Compare two cultures","url": "https://www.tefl-certificate.net/faq/should-we-teach-culture-in-the-efl-classroom/#nameh1"},{"@context": "https://schema.org","@type": "SiteNavigationElement","@id": "#nameh3","name": "Introduce live native speakers","url": "https://www.tefl-certificate.net/faq/should-we-teach-culture-in-the-efl-classroom/#nameh3"},{"@context": "https://schema.org","@type":...  [Read more]

  In this episode, we cover the pronunciation of the word catastrophic. This word is used as an adjective and means extremely tragic or horrendous. Some synonyms for catastrophic include tragic and disastrous. The word comes from the Greek word katastroph?, meaning to overturn. Below you can read feedback from an ITTT graduate regarding one section of their online TEFL certification course. Each of our online courses is broken down into concise units that focus on specific areas of English language teaching. This convenient, highly structured design means that you can quickly get to grips with each section before moving onto the next. This lesson was about different types of lessons, theories, methods, and teaching techniques we can use for different levels of students...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas When teaching English as a second language, one can find a variety of pre-made resources. From tried-and-true textbooks to authentic sources, an instructor can find a readily available structure for most lessons. However, to fully cater to one's students and their specific needs, a teacher must creatively produce relevant supplemental materials. For instance, one may encounter a broad range of information covered within a textbook; whether it be vocabulary or grammar, most English books offer a generalized base for students. Sometimes the reader may have insufficient explanations on grammar practices, or perhaps the students request more...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas When teaching Business English, it is important to tailor lessons to the maturity and ability of the class. Essential to any lesson is the course materials to be used by both the teacher and the students. By tailoring these course materials to be more relevant to the Business English students, the teacher will hopefully gain a greater level of interest and create a better learning environment. To assist with a teacher with the style and type of course materials to be used with a specific Business English class there are several things the teacher could do. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Peter O. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas The most widely used language throughout the world is English. Some countries use English as an official language. English is a major subject In China. Most of the Chinese students start to learn English from primary school or middle school. In recent years, more and more students start to learn English from kindergarten. They put a lot of time and effort into learning English. The majority of Chinese students learn English for over 10 years. But there is a strange situation. They still can’t speak English fluently, even though some simple English conversations. But they can get high scores in the exam. Why is it? Because Chinese students are too stupid? Or not hard-working? No!!! The biggest cause is that...  [Read more]

Laura Payne Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas Finding authentic materials that fit your class’s needs may be difficult. However, authentic materials offer many benefits that created materials do not. Check out this post for 3 tips for implementing authentic materials in language classrooms. Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas In this blog post, our TEFL graduate shares a very effective lesson plan structure. Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas This blog post is devoted to the problem of classroom management. Our TEFL graduate shares their ideas. Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas ...  [Read more]

Mark Crocker Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas It is said that textbooks are either embraced or feared by a teacher. Attitudes aside, a textbook is often used as core material for the classroom in carrying out the syllabus. After the selection or assignment of a textbook, the teacher’s next task is to figure out how to effectively use it. The common ways of adapting a textbook to suit a specific class include omission, replacement, adaptation and supplementation, with the latter two being the most effective. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Katrina T. The first way a teacher can adapt the textbook is through omission, that is, either through cutting out a whole activity, lesson, or parts of it....  [Read more]