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Synopsis of the Unit 14 – Coursebooks and lesson materials.
In this unit. I mostly learnt the distinguished difference between the created and the authentic materials. When it comes to teaching new language, I myself am concerned about the inspiration and motivation of the students in the classroom. Some students can inspire themselves, but some need to be inspired- in this case authentic materials offer motivation to the students because they are considered ‘cool’, topical, up to date and all these drag the attention of the students. The student then is more willing to follow on the lesson.
Authentic materials, give confidence to the students when they understand them. Also in contrary created materials can be graded to the level of the students.
A mix of two, used carefully for the class level can be very effective.
Course books,
When it comes to course books, one has to understand first what is the importance of the coursebook in the first place and what do they conclude within.
The coursebooks are the stable/safe orientation of the teacher and the students. The course book is used to follow up, to provide materials, to keep track of the lessons, to be a safety zone for both the inexperienced teacher and the beginner student. Also, different coursebooks provide extra materials such as cassettes, task sheets and tests.
The course book also consists of the two main parts:
The student’s book (which is basically the context and all of the lessons)
The Teacher’s book (which actually guides the teacher on how to teach the material/lesson)
The course book’s advantages and disadvantages:
1. Some advantages are: It is usually expected from students, it provides ideas for the inexperienced teacher, it provides a balanced mix of new vocabulary, grammar and language skills teaching, it saves time from creating a syllabus from scratch, it is graded etc.
2. Some disadvantages might be: The students might get bored from it, sometimes it makes the teacher lazy and less creative, the syllabus inside might not include all of the students needs of learning, teachers not always get to choose the course book so sometimes they end up teaching with outdated and unattractive books etc.
I do not think it is thoughtful to use the course book always. First, because I’m flexible enough and I can provide a lot of extra materials to attach them to the lesson itself
This is why I support the idea of: Omit, Replace, Supplement and Adapt.
Getting back to what is important for me as a teacher is that: the motivation and persistence of the classroom Is crucial this is why excessive usage of the coursebook might create a dis-balance between my students and me giving them lack of motivation. I prefer keeping the balance and adapting as much straightforward materials as I can. Always focusing on authenticity
