Coursebooks and materials - Resource Books Part 2
Let's just consider next, when using these resource books, the student book, the workbook and the teachers resource book, what are some of the advantages and disadvantages of using those types of materials? Well, firstly, the main advantage perhaps of using these types of material is that it's quicker than actually creating your own. Secondly, the course books that you will get will be graded for a particular level. So there'll be a set of books for the starter level, a set of books for the elementary level and so on and so forth. So you know that the activities and materials in there will have been graded for level. The use of the book can also offer continuity so that the syllabuses have been covered in a particular way by the book itself and are presented in a logical order. Another advantage of using these types of books is the students often expect it and finally they are good for inexperienced teachers who are perhaps not able to create all of the materials that they need for themselves. Having said that particularly looking at the advantage for the last one then some of the disadvantages of using these they shouldn't be used for the whole class because just using that course book can become very boring. Other disadvantages, the books themselves will not have been created for every type of class and situation that you teach. So, do they actually cover the needs and interest of your class? Another possible disadvantage is that because these books have been created by large companies, they always tend to be something of a compromise. It's very unlikely that these books have been created and set up for any particular teaching situation. Also another disadvantage is that over reliance on it can mean that the book is actually dictating what is being taught and obviously it should be the other way around. Our teaching should then lead us into what can we use from these books rather than the books telling us what we need to teach. Another final disadvantage, very often it's not our decision which particular type of book that we have to use and very often either we or our students don't actually like the presentation that's given in that book.
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.
Teachers' attitudes and motivation can have a huge impact on their students' participation level, willingness to learn, and ultimately affect students' understanding of course material.
In the first video, the teacher looked down upon his students' English skills and occasionally said that the material for that day's class was easy and they should have known alread.
He seemed intimidating, unfriendly, impolite, and inconsiderate towards his students' English leve.
Instructions on the hand-outs he gave were also not given in-class, making his students confused and unable to communicate in English with their peer.
The teacher talking time was much more dominant than the students' talking tim.
in contrast, the teacher in the second video opened and ended the session with smiles as well as gave much clearer instructions for the handouts he distributed in-clas.
He spoke word by word more slowly than in the first video, making it easier for the students to understand the materials presente.
Instead of just giving handouts, he interacted with the students and helped them to explore new vocabulary and that day's grammar topic (modal auxiliary verbs: can and can't) through pictures, mimics, descriptions, and in-class activitie.
Students were given a chance to interact with others in English while working in pair.
The two videos demonstrate how teachers' attitude coming into a class can have a profound impact on the students' motivation and learning proces.
More outgoing and creative teacher results in higher level of student participation in-class and better understanding of materials presented in clas.
For the second video, I think the grouping of students could have been varied (.
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grouping students not based on their seating positions and groupings of 3 or 4 students for the activities.
Mixing up the groupings would have given them a chance to work with others in the classroom instead of just the person beside them for the entire sessio.
Usages of modal auxiliary verbs (when to use them) and practices on how to write the question form could also have been incorporated within the lesson or the writings on the boar.
