Chapter 8

Being Materialistic! Using Course

Books and Other Materials

In This Chapter

▶ Making use of published materials

▶ Identifying popular course books and resources

▶ Adjusting your course book to suit your students

▶ Bringing in real objects

▶ Creating your own materials

▶ Using what’s available

D

epending on the teaching situation you find yourself in, you may have

a full library of resources at your disposal or just a piece of chalk and

a blackboard. In this chapter, I show you how to make use of whatever tools

you have to make a lively lesson.

Wasting No Time Reinventing the Wheel

Some newly initiated teachers resolve to prepare every lesson from scratch,

like an organic meal. They believe that their dedication and attention is

enough to produce efficient, engaging materials that are going to amaze stu-

dents in the modern world. Well, even if this is true in rare cases, how long

does it take? If you include the time you spend with your scissors and glue

when you calculate your hourly rate, you may find that you’re working for

peanuts by choice.

Face it: The wheel has already been invented, in this case by large publishing

houses who’ve been producing TEFL materials for decades and who have a

wide range of research and technology available to them.