Teach English in Xinhua Zhen - Bayannao'er Shi — Bayan Nur

Course materials include anything that a teacher brings to a classroom. This can include a wide range of items such as worksheets, activity sheets and pictures, as well as audio aids, existing reports and media items. The most common tool being a coursebook. Course materials purpose are to aid the teacher to achieve the lesson plans’ goals. These materials can be used to target receptive skills (being listening and reading), as well as productive skills (speaking and writing). Course materials can also be divided into two subcategories. These include authentic and non-authentic materials. Authentic materials are things that are found outside of a classroom which have a purpose of their own. These items have been found by the teacher and brought to the classroom to suit the teachers' needs. Authentic materials can be newspapers, magazines, tv show clips etc… they are from the real world which can be pleasing for students as they may have interests in the matter or find it relatable. Authentic materials are not created for a specific teaching purpose so they can have an undefined amount of purposes in the classroom. However, these materials require a large amount of research to ensure its relatability to a lesson, the correct level of grammar and vocabulary it uses and to ensure it captivates the classes attention as much as possible. Authentic material can also be a sensitive topic in terms of its cultural or social material as well as it being in a user-friendly format for the students. They also take a larger amount of time if they are being created. Non-authentic materials have been produced by a teacher or an educational company for the task to help teaching. These include worksheets, activity sheets and coursebooks, which have a specific purpose and goal in sight during their creation. The positives of non-authentic materials are that they are well adapted to the classroom environment and are suitably appropriate for learners; they are significantly simpler compared to authentic materials. Non-authentic materials can be selected by the teacher based on the learner’s capabilities and language level making it easier for the student to achieve their goals (Smith, 1976 as cited in Lauder, 2008). The downside of non-authentic materials is that they can often be too simple for an advanced student and can often seem unnatural. They can also lack real English language which is used in everyday life (Febrina, 2019). In order to pick the most appropriate and effective materials to use in lessons or throughout the course, it is important to evaluate the pros and cons of the different materials, as well as to know and understand your students’ needs and capabilities. Having a lesson plan can help in this process as it is clear what your goals are, and which skills you want your students to sharpen. After evaluating these facts, it is simple to select the correct course materials that will aid you to achieve these objectives the most. When choosing the materials for the course, the suitability to the class is essential however the teacher must always be prepared for an unexpected need to change the materials. This can be due to an unanticipated change of circumstances revolving around the students or the classroom equipment. These improvisations are down to the teacher’s adaptability and flexibility to deal with unforeseen situations. In order for this on the spot change of materials to look as natural as possible, the teacher must be confident in their choices as well as being well informed on the topic to aid the decision. Reference list: Lauder, A. (2010). The status and function of English in Indonesia: A review of key factors. Makara Hubs-Asia, 8(3). Febrina, W. (2019). Authentic vs Non-Authentic Materials in Teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in Indonesia: Which One Matters More?. [online] Papers.iafor.org. Available at: https://papers.iafor.org/submission38649/ [Accessed 29 Dec. 2019].