2. Irrelevance, lack of interest

The topics dealt with in the coursebook may not necessarily be relevant or interesting for your class.

3. Limitation

A coursebook is confining: its set structure and sequence may inhibit a teacher's initiative and creativity, and lead to boredom and lack of motivation on the part of the learners.

4. Homogeneity

Coursebooks have their own rationale and chosen teaching/learning approach. They do not usually cater for the variety of levels of ability and knowledge, or of learning styles and strategies that exist in most classes.

5. Over-easiness

Teachers find it too easy to follow the coursebook uncritically instead of using their initiative; they may find themselves functioning merely as mediators of its content instead of as teachers in their own right.

Supplementary materials

Most language-teaching coursebooks probably need supplementing to some extent, if only in order to tailor them to the needs of a particular class or to offer richer options. This unit describes briefly various types of supplementary materials, their contribution to language learning, advantages and disadvantages, and invites you to consider which are most useful and important to you.

PACKAGES OF SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS

Package 1: A set of computers for learners' use, with accompanying language-learning programs on floppy disk.

Package 2: A set of reference books for the teachers, including: grammars,

dictionaries; various specialized textbooks; handbooks of activities; and a

subscription to a teachers' journal of your choice.

Package 3: A number of overhead projectors and slide projectors, with all necessary

film, slides and markers.

Package 4: Video equipment, with assorted cassettes, including language-learning

material and films in the target language.

Package 5: Computers and printers for teachers' use; each computer has a hard disk with the latest word processor and various programs that enable you to compose your own computer tasks for learners.

Package 6: Several cassette recorders with accompanying earphones (so that several learners can listen quietly to one machine); a selection of accompanying cassettes for language learning.

Package 7: A wide variety of posters and sets of coloured pictures, plus board and card games for language learning.

Package 8: A library of simplified readers in the target language, ranging from very simple to advanced. There would be enough books in this library to enable all students to borrow freely.

Comments of supplementary materials

Computers

Computers are seen by many as an important teaching aid. These days learners need to be 'computer literate', and since computers use language it would seem logical to take advantage of them for language learning. They enable individual work, since learners can progress at their own pace, and many programs include a self-check facility. Also, younger and adolescent learners in particular find the use of computers attractive and motivating. However, it takes time to train both teachers and students in their use; and in practice a lot of time in a computer lesson often goes on setting up programs, getting students into them, and then solving problems with moving from one stage, or one program, to another.

For teachers who are familiar with their use computers can be invaluable for preparing materials such as worksheets or tests.

Books

Books are very user-friendly 'packages' of material: they are light, easily scanned, easily stacked and do not need hardware or electricity. They are still the most convenient and popular method of packaging large texts, and a library of them is arguably the best way for learners to acquire a wide experience of foreign language reading.

It is very useful to have a collection of reference books, extra textbooks and teachers' handbooks easily available to the teaching staff; and regular reading of a professional journal can inject new ideas and update teachers on current thinking.

Overhead projectors

These are useful for presenting visual or written material to classes: they are more vivid and attention-catching than the black- or whiteboards. They also save lesson time, since you can prepare the displays in advance. However, this does mean added work in preparation! Another disadvantage is the need to carry the OHP from class to class, unless each classroom has its own - which is true only of the more affluent institutions. And of course, like any other electrical equipment, OHPs are vulnerable to breakdowns: electricity failure or bulbs burning out.

Video equipment

Video is an excellent source of authentic spoken language material; it is also attractive and motivating. It is flexible: you can start and stop it, run forward or back, 'freeze' frames in order to talk about them. And there are many good programmes on the market. A disadvantage is their lack of mobility: few video sets are portable, which means that classes need to be specially scheduled for video rooms; and of course there is the problem of occasional breakdowns and technical problems. When planning a video lesson, always have a 'back-up' alternative lesson ready!

Audio equipment

Cassette recorders and cassettes are relatively cheap, and easy to use; and they are the main source (other than the teacher) of spoken language texts in most classrooms. They are more mobile and easier to use than video recorders, but lack, of course, the visual content. Again there may be problems with electricity; on the other hand, most portable cassette recorders - unlike video and most computers - also work on batteries. When buying cassette recorders, make sure that there is a counter, and then use it to identify the desired entry-point; otherwise, if you want to replay during the lesson, you may waste valuable time running the tape back and forth to find it.

Posters, pictures, games

Materials of this kind are invaluable particularly for younger learners, and teachers of children find that they constantly use them. However, if you have time, this type of material can be largely home-made: glossy magazines in particular are ah excellent source of pictures.

Основная литература: 14, 18, 20, 21, 23, 25, 27, 29, 32, 37, 40, 43,

Дополнительная литература: 52, 60, 70, 75

Тема лекции № 6

Lesson planning

6.1 Lesson preparation

6.2 Varying lesson components

6.3 Evaluating lesson effectiveness

The lesson is a type of organized social event that occurs in virtually all cultures. Lessons in different places may vary in topic, time, place, atmosphere, methodology and materials, but they all, essentially, are concerned with learning as their main objective, involve the participation of learner(s) and teacher(s), and are limited and pre-scheduled as regards time, place and membership.

There are additional characteristics or perspectives to a lesson which may be less obvious, but which are also significant. One way to become aware of these is to look at metaphors that highlight one or another of them.

Metaphors for a lesson

a variety show

climbing a mountain

eating a meal

a wedding

a menu

a conversation

doing the shopping

a football game

a symphony

consulting a doctor

Aspects of the lesson

1. Transaction, or series of transactions. This is expressed in the metaphors of shopping, a wedding and a meal, with the emphasis on some kind of purposeful give-and-take which results in a product: an acquisition or a definable mental or physical change in the participants. If you care about the transactional element, then what is important to you is the actual learning which takes place in the lesson.

2. Interaction. This is most obvious in the metaphor of conversation, but is also expressed in the wedding, the variety show, and, in perhaps a rather different way, in the football game. Here what is important are the social relationships between learners, or between learners and teacher; a lesson is seen as something which involves relaxed, warm interaction that protects and promotes the confidence and happiness of all participants.

For a more detailed discussion of the transactional and interactional aspects of a lesson, see Prabhu (1992).

3. Goal-oriented effort, involving hard work (climbing a mountain, a football game). This implies awareness of a clear, worthwhile objective, the necessity of effort to attain it and a resulting sense of satisfaction and triumph if it is achieved, or of failure and disappointment if it is not.

4. A satisfying, enjoyable experience (a variety show, a symphony, eating a meal). This experience may be based on such things as aesthetic pleasure, fun, interest, challenge or entertainment; the main point is that participants should enjoy it and therefore be motivated to attend while it is going on (as distinct from feeling satisfied with the results).

5. A role-based culture, where certain roles (the teacher) involve responsibility and activity, others (the learners) responsiveness and receptivity (consultation with a doctor, a wedding, eating a meal). All participants know and accept in advance the demands that will be made on them, and their expected behaviours. This often implies:

6. A conventional construct, with elements of ritual (a wedding, a variety show, a performance of a symphony). Certain set behaviours occur every time (for example, a certain kind of introduction or ending), and the other components of the overall event are selected by an authority from a limited set of possibilities. In contrast, there is:

7. A series of free choices (a menu, a conversation). Participants are free to 'do their own thing' within a fairly loose structure, and construct the event as it progresses, through their own decision-making. There is no obvious authority figure who imposes choices.

Lesson preparation

How should a lesson be prepared? Is there a best method to do so?

One way of looking for answers to these questions is to ask competent professionals, and then try to discover some general principles that seem to be accepted by all, or most, of them.

Stage 1: Preliminary study

In Box 15.2 are seven questions about lesson preparation. Start by answering them yourself, in writing. (If you are a trainee with limited experience, then note how you hope to prepare lessons yourself, or how you have done so in teaching practice.) After writing each response, leave two or three lines empty before going on to the next.

Stage 2: Interview

Now interview at least two language teachers who are experienced and (as far as you can tell) conscientious and competent professionals. Ask them the same questions, stressing that what you want to know is what they actually do in daily practice, not what they think they ought to do!

My own answers to these questions may be found in the Notes, (2). If you cannot find (enough) teachers to interview, you may find it helpful to refer to these at Stage 4 (Conclusions) below.

Stage 3: Results

If you are working in a group and have each interviewed different teachers, share your results; if not, put together the different answers you got from your own interviewees. Can you make any generalizations, or does lesson preparation seem to be entirely idiosyncratic?

Stage 4: Conclusions

Think about or discuss the evidence you have gathered from interviews, and/or from my responses in the Notes. What conclusions can you draw? Try to assess critically the relevance and usefulness of these conclusions for your own practice.

Stage 5: Personal application

Finally, revert to the answers you wrote yourself at the beginning of this task, and add notes below each one, recording ideas you have learned from this inquiry that may be helpful to you in future lesson planning.