Teach English in LianjiAngkou Zhen - Qingyuan Shi

This unit dealt with course materials and their use in the classroom. It began by discussing the differences between, as well the advantages and disadvantages of so-called authentic and unauthentic material, the former being \"anything that a native speaker would hear or read\" and the latter being material designed specifically for non-native speakers and their coursework. Due to this difference, there are indeed inherent advantages and disadvantages in the use of either; while authentic materials are more interesting and capable of giving students confidence in their ability to utilize the language, they are quite naturally more difficult. Unauthentic materials, on the other hand, while lacking the natural appeal and interesting qualities of their authentic counterparts, can be more easily geared and adjusted to the needs and abilities of non-native speakers. Following the explanation and elaboration of these matters, the unit reading delved into \"created materials\" and how they can be useful to any teacher in the classroom. The reading even went so far as to provide numerous examples of crossword puzzles, flashcards, wordsearches,phone conversation prompts, and other ideas that might prove highly useful in the classroom. One idea that I found particularly interesting was the use of pictures to have the students create a story or to describe the relationships or the relevance of the people or things in the pictures. Finally, the reading then discussed textbooks, their uses as well advantages and disadvantages. The main thing which I took from this section of the unit was that although textbooks can be useful due to their structure and material, the teacher should not become overly-dependent upon them.