Principles when preparing your own teaching materials – a summary

A PLN for ELT Professionals

Principles when preparing your own teaching materials – a summary

For today’s chats, we were fortunate to have had one of our fellow #ELTchatters offer to write a summary of the main points from the transcripts. I suggested this as there were quite a few new followers who mentioned that it is sometimes difficult to follow the transcript – there are so many retweets, it’s true!

 

Principles when preparing your own teaching materials – Summary

 

  • The learner should be central.
  • Materials should be professionally presented. Play with layouts, fonts, etc.
  • Materials don’t have to mean paper worksheets: they could also be online, videos, presentations, art, mindmaps, realia…
  • Materials can and should generate activities.
  • Never do something yourself when your SS can do it for / with you.
  • They should be fun, meaningful, practical and motivate SS.
  • Try to include visuals, rather than just words.
  • They should suit the skill / language point of the lesson, rather than just looking interesting to the teacher.
  • They should empower SS to use the language and make connections.
  • Materials should be sensitive to the nationalities / cultures you teach.
  • Materials should be as relevant to the SS as possible. You can ask SS which topics motivate them.
  • Space should be available for learners to take notes, perhaps with the back of the sheet completely blank. Avoid the temptation to do all thinking on paper.
  • Open-ended materials can fuel whole lessons.
  • Materials should be applicable to a real-life context.
  • Inspiration can come from anywhere.
  • They should be flexible.
  • You can use your own materials to escape the confines of a coursebook, while still covering the syllabus. Or approach it differently, maybe by teaching a unit backwards.
  • Use your materials to remind SS that they don’t have to be doing the same thing at the same time.
  • Don’t forget about interaction!
  • Design materials which make SS think, not just repeat.
  • Think about trying the same materials out with different students.
  • How much time do you spend planning v. using materials?
  • Keep your materials: organise them on your computer, blog them, share them with your students / colleagues…
  • Remember the level of your students: important for the tasks and the instructions.
  • Trigger laughter and / or curiosity whenever possible.
  • Consider SS who may have difficulty with your materials e.g. dyslexia, dyspraxia. For example, use coloured paper for those with reading difficulties.
  • When using authentic materials, fit the task to the students, rather than worrying too much about fitting the text to them.
  • Reflect, edit, adapt, recycle – don’t give up!
  • Play!
  • Take a risk!

Disclaimer

I would like to reiterate that this is my summary of the discussions which took place today. I have used the words of some of the participants directly, but in no way claim them as my own – I wanted to make it a little simpler to find out what was going on, so have avoided crediting everyone. To find out exactly who said what, and to experience the full joy of an #eltchat, read the transcripts here.

Sandy Millin

Please visit Sandy Millin’s blog (click on the title of her post below) or read her summary on this page.

What I learnt on #eltchat today