198 Part III: Teaching Skills Classes
Choosing the material from course books
Pre-recorded listening texts that accompany the course book are usually
designed to have students practise exactly the language or concept the
lesson plan teaches. These texts tend to appear in every one or two units of a
course book to balance out the four skills (reading, writing and speaking are
the other skills). Listening texts made especially for EFL are:
✓ Easily accessible.
✓ Appropriate to the level.
✓ Focused on the target grammar and structures.
✓ Free of slang, distractions and interruptions.
✓ Labour saving.
✓ The right length for the lesson.
✓ Usually accompanied by a tape-script.
Unfortunately they have some drawbacks too. Some of these pre-prepared
texts may be unusable because:
✓ The initial expense for the CD/DVD/cassette is often quite steep.
✓ The dialogues are often so carefully staged that they sound fake or
patronising.
✓ They give a false impression – in real life people aren’t so clear and
concise.
✓ They may not cover the situations that students actually need.
Ultimately the teacher needs to look at the circumstances of each class and
consider the time and resources available before deciding which kind of text
to choose.
Using CDs and DVDs for authentic listening
Music, films, podcasts (a video or audio file you can download from the
Internet and listen to on your computer, MP3 or other similar device) and
broadcasts are very popular with students, except the odd few who prefer
grammar tables and ‘serious’ work. Some broadcasting companies have web-
sites that you can access to look through their archives of programmes and
download free of charge.
