EVALUATING AND SUPPLEMENTING MATERIALS EVALUATING AND SUPPLEMENTING MATERIALS
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1. IntrIntroduoductioctionn
This paper aims, first, to analyze the unit 1 of the textbook “Teenagers 8”. Then, I This paper aims, first, to analyze the unit 1 of the textbook “Teenagers 8”. Then, I will describe how and why I supplemented the lesson 1 of this unit. I will end on the will describe how and why I supplemented the lesson 1 of this unit. I will end on the eval
evaluatiuation on of of the the matmateriaerial’s l’s effeeffectivctiveneseness s sincsince e the the supsupplemplementeented d matmateriaerial l waswas already used to teach a lesson.
already used to teach a lesson.
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2. CoursebCoursebook ook evaluatevaluationion
The basic principle underlying learner – centered systems of language learning is The basic principle underlying learner – centered systems of language learning is that teaching programs should respond to learner’s needs (Johnson, 1989, p.63). that teaching programs should respond to learner’s needs (Johnson, 1989, p.63). Therefore, the teaching materials used in our English language courses should help Therefore, the teaching materials used in our English language courses should help the teacher to achieve his/her students’ needs. Cunningsworth (1984), points out that the teacher to achieve his/her students’ needs. Cunningsworth (1984), points out that “the teacher should formulate objectives with the needs of the learners in mind and “the teacher should formulate objectives with the needs of the learners in mind and then seek out published materials which will achieve those objectives” (p.2).
then seek out published materials which will achieve those objectives” (p.2).
When selecting an EFL coursebook it is advisable to submit it to an objective and When selecting an EFL coursebook it is advisable to submit it to an objective and systematic analysis process. This, in words of Hutchinson and Waters (1987), is systematic analysis process. This, in words of Hutchinson and Waters (1987), is “basically a matching process: matching needs to available solution” (p.87).
“basically a matching process: matching needs to available solution” (p.87).
For this paper, I decided to analyze the fist unit in the textbook “Teenagers 8” which For this paper, I decided to analyze the fist unit in the textbook “Teenagers 8” which is intended for secondary school learners (See append
the following criteria suggested by Wallace: rationale, context, relevance to needs, the following criteria suggested by Wallace: rationale, context, relevance to needs, interest and motivation and range of tasks / activities. (2000, pp. 185, 189).
interest and motivation and range of tasks / activities. (2000, pp. 185, 189).
The following ideas summarize the results of the material’s analysis: The following ideas summarize the results of the material’s analysis:
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1. Although the boAlthough the book claims to have a commok claims to have a communicative apunicative approach, it does not proproach, it does not providevide acti
activitivities es with an with an inteintegratgrated ed use of use of langlanguage skillsuage skills. . MosMost t of of its activitits activities areies are designe
designed for individual work (Lesson 1: activities 2 – 5, Lesson 2: activities 3 – d for individual work (Lesson 1: activities 2 – 5, Lesson 2: activities 3 – 4,4, Lesson 3: activities 1 – 4, Lesson 5: activities 1 – 5). There are only three Lesson 3: activities 1 – 4, Lesson 5: activities 1 – 5). There are only three activities that facilitates students’ interactive learning ( Lesson 1: activity 1 and activities that facilitates students’ interactive learning ( Lesson 1: activity 1 and Lesson 4: activities 1 – 2).
Lesson 4: activities 1 – 2).
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2. The book aimThe book aims to s to prompromote a naturaote a natural use of l use of EngEnglishlish, but it , but it does not contdoes not contain anyain any authentic material which can challenge the students’ learning process and raise authentic material which can challenge the students’ learning process and raise their motivation.
their motivation.
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3. The materiaThe material shows structural shows structural oriented drills with a overt expll oriented drills with a overt explanations of the rulesanations of the rules wh
which ich do do not not givgive e the the lealearnerners rs the the oppopporortuntunity ity to to exexploplore re ththe e lalangunguagage e byby themselves (Lesson 1: activities 4 – 5, Lesson 2: activities 3 – 4, Lesson 3: themselves (Lesson 1: activities 4 – 5, Lesson 2: activities 3 – 4, Lesson 3: activities 3 – 4). Thus, the language is not seen as a tool of communication in activities 3 – 4). Thus, the language is not seen as a tool of communication in most of the activities, but as a devise to focus on grammatical features of the most of the activities, but as a devise to focus on grammatical features of the language ( Loschky. and Bley-Vroman, 1993, p.124).
language ( Loschky. and Bley-Vroman, 1993, p.124).
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In general, the first unit of the textbook Teenagers 8 lacks: a) real communicative tasks in which the learners could use their language skills conjointly. b) authentic texts that can challenge the students’ language skills and can increase their interest as well. c) creative activities that allow the students to create meaning and language by themselves.
3. The supplementary materials
Bearing in mind the previous ideas, I decided to supplement the first lesson of this material, so it could fit my students’ needs and my own pedagogical purposes (Nunan, 1991, p. 219 – 223). I added short authentic texts about varied holidays and I created materials with information gaps to foster the learners’ collaborative work in order to complete the task successfully. I graded the task according to my students abilities.
Harwood, in reference to materials’ modification, (2005), states that “many teachers adapt commercial materials, using them as “bridges” to stimulate their thinking and as the basis for providing the most appropriate classes in their context ( p.152). On the other hand, Harmer (2001) affirms that textbooks can become “spurs to creativity” (p.8)
The following are the “bridges” I created for lesson N° 1:
promote meaningful interaction among them. This worksheet was designed to collect information and use it again during the class. A model conversation was also provided in the handout. (Appendix B)
2. Five multimedia slides with a collage of images that the students downloaded from Google and Yahoo in a previous class. A table to list the celebrations illustrated in the multimedia presentation. This material includes a guided conversation to help the learners compare information. (Appendix C)
3. Authentic texts about Holly week, Christmas, Thanksgiving day and Halloween to develop a jigsaw reading activity. (I also included the texts from
the book about Rio de Janeiro’s carnival, The day of dead, Saint Valentine and April Fool’s day period). (Appendixes D1 – D2 – D3)
4. A table to gather information during a survey to three different partners in addition to a model conversation to conduct the interviews. This type of materials give the learners the “opportunity to use English to a purposeful end and even at a stage when their range of structures and vocabulary is severely limited” (Cunningswoth,1984. p. 10). (Appendix E)
5. A worksheet with questions to write a comparative text about the form they and people from other countries celebrate holidays.
When designing the above supplementary material, I took into account the following principles for interaction in order to help my students’ language development: a)
Information transfer, b) Information gap, c) Jigsaw, d) Task dependency, and e) correction for context. ( Nunan, 1989, p.119 – 125 ).
4. Lesson plan
Having considered the textbook’s drawbacks in its first unit, my students needs and my pedagogical objectives, I planned to teach the first lesson of this unit for 8°A learners to implement the material I supplemented.
8°A is a group of 40 elementary students, aged 13 – 14. They do not have confidence to interact with other students using the target language and do not like being engaged in writing tasks. On the contrary, they are interested in computers, imagery, learning vocabulary and working in groups.
For those reasons, I decided to frame the materials I supplemented (overviews, multimedia visuals, guided dialogues, a survey and a model composition) into activities that give the learners a reason to interact and encourage mutual language discovery (Doff, 1986. p.210).
5. Evaluation of the material’s effectiveness
The best way of knowing if a material’s adaptation woks well is by trying out such material (Wallace, 2000, p. 190) . 8°A students used the following materials for the first lesson ( see appendixes):
The most successful aspect when trying out the adapted materials was that most of the students accomplished the final objective of writing a comparative text about a holiday celebration because they could obtain the appropriate information during the all the lesson stages. Additionally, the quality of students interaction increased in the classroom because of the confidence that the learners received by using controlled conversation or writing examples.
References
1. Johnson, R. (1989). The Second Language Curriculum . New York: Cambridge University Press.
2. Cunningswoth, A (1984). Evaluating and Selecting Teaching Materials. London: Heinneman.
3. Harmer, J. (2001). Coursebooks: A human cultural and linguistic disaster? . Modern English Teacher , 3(3), 5 - 10
4. Harwood, N. ( 2005). What do we want EAP teaching materials for?. Journal of English for Academic Purposes . Retrieved from www.elsevier.com/locate/jeap
5. Hutchinson, T. (1987). English for Specific Purposes: A learning Cantered Approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
6. Loschky, L. and Bley-Vroman, R. (1993).Grammar and Task Based Methodology . In Crookes, G & Grass, S. (eds)Tasks and Language Learning:
IntegratingTheory and Practice. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
7. Wallace, M. (2000).Action Research for Language Teachers. New York: Cambridge University Press.
ICELT LESSON PLAN FORM
Name of teacher: Ivón Ester Lobo Fontalvo Candidate Number: Institution: Colegio Jorge N. Abello
Date of Observation: DAY MONTH
YEAR
22 02 2006
Time of observation Length of class
50 minutes
Class/grade: 8°A Room: New Technologies Room
Number of students: 40 Average age of Students: 13 - 14
Number of years of English study (students): 3 years
Level of students (please circle)
Elementary Intermediate Advanced
Lesson Number (please circle)
1 2 3 4 Observer:
Aims:
By the end of the lesson students will be able to: 1. Associate vocabulary related to celebrations. 2. Look for specific information in a short text.
3. Ask information about holidays using wh questions ( what – when -where )
4. Give information about holidays and festivals.
5. Write a comparative text about a holiday’s celebration in Colombia and another country.
6. Design a holidays’ calendar Personal aims:
1. Encourage students’ interaction
2. Foster the learners’ use of English in class.
Assumed knowledge:
8°A students are able to:
a. Identify Wh and yes / no questions.
b. Identify expressions associated with dates such as : in April, on October 31.
c. Identify expressions associated with places such as : in Colombia, at home.
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Description of language item / skill Meaning
Holiday, day set apart for religious observance or for the commemoration of some extraordinary event or distinguished person, or for some other public occasion. Holidays are characterized by a partial or total cessation of work and normal business activities and are generally accompanied by public and private ceremonies, including feasting (or fasting), parades and carnivals, or displays of flags and speechmaking.
Form
To ask about holidays’ information: To give information about holidays: What is the name of the holiday?
When do they celebrate it? Where do they celebrate it?
What do people do to celebrate it? Do we celebrate that holiday in Colombia?
When do we celebrate it?
The name of the holiday/festival is… It is celebrate it in…/on …
It takes place in …
People dance/ eat/ go to … Yes, we do. / No, we don’t
The same day. /We celebrate it in… /on…
Pronunciation
• • • •
• • • •
Materials :
• Reading texts taken from Teenagers 8 . Unit 1 ( Saint Valentine’s day,
Barranquilla’s carnival, Rio de Janeiro’s carnival, April fool’s day, The day of the dead)
• Texts about Holy week, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas taken from www.kencollins.com, www.usinfo.pl/aboutusa/holidays/other.htm,
www.wikipedia.com
and Encarta encyclopedia 2004.
• One computer for the teacher, 16 workstations, and a data projector. • Photos taken from magazines and news papers.
Rationale part 1: Profile of the learners
8°A is an EFL group of beginner learners. They are 40 students aged 13 – 14 who have a 50 minute English class per week at the New’s Technologies room.
The students are able to identify yes/no questions and wh questions using the present and past tense. They can recognize verbs in present and past in the affirmative and negative forms, but they still find difficult to use those structures in a written or oral way.
Therefore, it is necessary for them to get involved in a task where they can use all language abilities to practice those structures in a productive form. They need to be engaged in activities in which they can use their background knowledge about holidays and festivals in Colombia.
Rationale part 2: Anticipated problems
Anticipated problems Planned solutions
• Some students may be afraid of
speaking or writing in English.
• I will encourage students’
confidence by fostering cooperative learning and using positive feedback.
• Some students may not be able
to ask for or give information because they lack speaking skills.
• I will provide a model to ask for
and give information.
• Some students might not be able
to write a composition .
• I will give them a guide to write
the composition. Besides, they will use the information gathered during the class.
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PRESENTATION
MIND MAP FOR GROUP WORK
on nts
Presentatio
n Activatestudents’
schemata.
The teacher divides the class in five big groups and asks a student from each group to choose an envelope to brainstorm the vocabulary considering the students context. The envelopes contain a sentence “
Colombian holiday in February”, “Colombian holiday in April”, “Colombian holiday in October”, “Colombian holiday in December”,
“Colombian holiday in November”. They discuss what to write to complete a mind map in a piece of paper (appendix C). Students transfer the information to table on the board (appendix D)
The teacher elicits the cultural similarities and differences between Colombian and other nations celebrations through questions: Which nations celebrate carnivals, too?, Do they use the same music or dances?
10 minutes
T - S S - S
Practice Read about holidays.
Look for specific information. Ask for and give information
about holidays.
Students, in groups of 3, sit in their workstations and watch slides about holidays or festivals in other nations. The teacher asks them to identify the celebrations and answer if weather we celebrate those holidays in Colombia or not (see appendix E). The teacher asks: What questions should we use to ask for holidays’ information?: the name, place, date and activities people do. Students write the answers on the board.
The teacher divides the class in 8 groups. Each group reads about a
different holiday (appendix F). The teacher asks the students to conduct a survey to 3 different students using a model conversation
and a table to collect the information (appendix G ).
20 minutes
T – S S – S
Production Write about a
holiday
Compare cultural differences.
Assign homework
Students ,in pairs, write about a holiday that is celebrated in Colombia and other nation, too. They answer the following questions to produce a comparative text:
1st paragraph:
What international holiday are you
going to write about?, When is it celebrate it?,
Where?, What activities do people do?.
2
ndparagraph: What is the name of the holiday in
Colombia?, When is it celebrate it?, Where did you do
go last year to celebrate it?, What activities did you
or your friends do to celebrate it?
The students use the word processor to save the information (appendix H).
Design a calendar with the information you wrote. Use Word models for calendars and the image gallery.
20 minutes
USEFUL QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS FOR THE ACTIVITY
• What is the name of the celebration we are going to write about?
Let’s write about__________________
• When do we celebrate it?
In ______________________
• Where do we celebrate it?
We go to ___________________
• Where did you go to celebrate it last year?
I ________________ PRACTICE 14 Un Atlántico APPENDIX C COLOMBIAN HOLIDAY(S) IN ________________ Name:
Days of celebration: Place of celebration:
Activities you did to celebrate it last year:
Name:
Days of celebration: Place of celebration:
Activities you did to celebrate it last year:
WATCH THE MULTIMEDIA SLIDES. IDENTIFY THE HOLIDAYS AND WRITE A TICK IF WE CELEBRATE THOSE HOLIDAYS IN COLOMBIA
OR NOT. Do we c e l e b r a t e it i n C o l o m b i a ?
Holidays in other nations Yes No Colombian name for this holiday
1 2 3 4 5
Model Dialogue A. What was the celebration in slide n° 1?
B. It was________________________ and What holiday did you see in slide n° 2 A. It was ___________________________ . What about n°3?
B. I think it is _____________________. What did you write in n°4? A. __________________________. And what do you have in n° 5?
B. ____________________________ Did you write the Colombian names for these holidays?
A. Yes, they are _______________./ No, I didn’t. Did you? B. Yes, they are _______________./ No, I didn’t.
A. Thank you. B. Any time
Interview 3 partners. Find out about different holidays and festivals in other nations. Fill in the table with the information.
Partner Name of Holiday Place Date Activities
FOLLOW THE CONVERSATION TO INTERVIEW YOUR PARTNER A: Hi!
B: Hello!
A: Can you give me some information about a holiday, please? B: Sure.
A: What holiday did you read about?
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B: I read about _____________________________ A: Where do they celebrate it?
B: In _______________________ A: When do they celebrate it?
B: In / on _________________________________ A: How do people celebrate it?
B: _______________________________________ A: That’s all. Thanks.
B: Your welcome
WRITING
PAIR WORK ACTIVITY
Compare the way people celebrate a holiday in Colombia and in another country. Use the information given in the class. Answer the following questions to produce your text.
1st paragraph:
What international holiday are you going to write about?,
When is it celebrate it?, Where?, What activities do people do?.
2
ndparagraph: What is the name of the holiday in Colombia?, When is it
celebrate it?, Where did you do go last year to celebrate it?, What
activities did you or your friends do to celebrate it?
I’m going to write about
_________________________________________________
It is celebrated in ______________________________. People from
_____________
celebrate it in ________________________________. During this celebration
people__________________________________________________________________.
In my country, Colombia, we call this holiday
_____________________________. It is celebrated in _________________________
. Last year, I __________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
PRESENTATIONTABLE TO TRANSFER INFORMATION ON THE BOARD HOLIDAYS AND FESTIVALS IN COLOMBIA MONTH HOLIDAY(S
)
PLACE(S) DAY(S) ACTIVITIES
FEBRUARY APRIL OCTOBER NOVEMBER DECEMBER 18 Un Atlántico
NAMES: Jorge Gonzalez, Alexander James. Workstation 12.
Halloween is celebrated in
October 31
stin all the world.
In United States the children
and the adults dress
costumes. Children say:
“Trick or teat” to ask
candies. Adults celebrate
with parties. School dances and neighborhood
parties called “block parties” are popular among
young and old.
In my country, Colombia, we
call this holiday dia de las
brujitas or día de los niños.
I
n
Barranquilla it is the Day of the
Angels.
Halloween is
celebrated in October 31
stin
the evening and the Day of the
Angels is in November 1
stin the
morning. Last year I did not
use costume. I went to the
“
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