Page 219 - Teaching English as a Foreign Language for Dummies 2009

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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.