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Assignment C - Part 3: Essay

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Zakir Ahmed
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7K views2 pages

Assignment C - Part 3: Essay

Uploaded by

Zakir Ahmed
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Assignment C - Part 3

Essay

600-700 word Essay on Using Authentic Materials and the Internet


Please write the essay under the four headings given.

a) The value of using authentic materials in foreign language teaching:

English is not just a means of communication constructed with grammar and lexis but a tool that
carries culture embedded into it through its subtleties such as idioms and other formulaic
language components. Authentic materials provide the students not just with ‘how the English
speak English’ but a window into the culture of the English-speaking world. While advanced-level
students may appreciate these scopes into realizing how much closer authentic materials can bring
them to the mastery of the language, lower-level students with proper scaffolding can benefit from
communicating naturally as well. This can help avoid embarrassing situations arising from cultural
differences and cognates (The TEFL Academy).

b) Reasons for the selection of this text and the 12 vocabulary items. Rationale for changes to
text, if applicable.

The paradigm shifts in society due to COVID-19 make this neutral text a logical starting point to
think about the environment and one’s well-being. It fits well with the rising awareness of self-
healing and the environment.

The text provides a good portion of advanced and intermediate-level vocabulary (The TEFL
Academy). These will be useful for general English skills (I used the vocabulary profiler and my
judgment). The selection helps text comprehension without making it too easy.

This text also provides a thematic starting point for other lessons. Like a receptive skills lesson
using a Ted Talk video on saving our oceans. In brief, this text allows creating future logically linking
classes.

The original article was curtailed from 969 to 784 words as otherwise, it would be too long for a
50–60-minute lesson. Vital information for understanding the conveyed meaning was kept intact.
The language was not modified or graded for preserving authenticity.

© 2020 The TEFL Academy. All rights reserved. 1


c) Why my activities are appropriate for this class:

The Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary focuses on practical language and examples, useful
in a real-world context. The dictionary activities involve challenging vocabulary, while the pre-
teaching stage involves general language chunks (The TEFL Academy). E.g., bioremediation is a
beta-level vocabulary in the Cambridge English Corpus ("Help - Cambridge Dictionary", n.d.) and
not yet published in the dictionary. The idea here is also to introduce advanced-level students to
this corpus. English is evolving faster than before. Many words won’t be available in a dictionary
that these students would see in their professional or private lives. Likewise, Mycophobia is not
even considered within the corpus yet. The objective here is to see if students can find ‘myco’ by
themselves and formulate the meaning in their minds. The two exercises encourage autonomy in
dictionary usage and vocabulary extensions (The TEFL Academy) like finding synonyms or
antonyms. The vocabulary is appropriate for any mix of students.

The engaging activity of using online resources is multi-faceted and prepares the students to use
the internet for finding information. It is usable in a productive skills lesson. The tasks I designed
will get the students to be analytical. It introduces the students to different search engines, tips,
and tricks to select native sources of information, etc. The second exercise encourages the
students to skim and scan (The TEFL Academy) the internet on a related topic. The suggested
websites provide the relevant support.

The grammar-based activity uses CEFR C1 level grammatical components and links to the broader
theme. It will get the students to talk within themselves and do a relevant gap-fill. These phrasal
verbs will add to the students’ knowledge bank to participate in discourse on sustainability and the
environment.

d) Advantages and disadvantages of using the internet as a resource for classroom teaching:
(You are not required to talk about teaching online)

The internet provides abundant resources for classroom teaching at one’s fingertips. Traditionally
this was a time-consuming and tiring process for teachers. Now we can find everything online.
While this can make teachers lazy, it can also save a lot of preparation time. One needs to be
attentive to the accuracy and authenticity of the materials (The TEFL Academy).

The internet, like any technology, can malfunction. It can hamper a well-planned and timed lesson.
A teacher can prepare for this by always keeping hardcopies and materials handy. In the beginning,
it can require substantial preparation, but with time a teacher will have developed lots of such
materials (The TEFL Academy).

624 words (excluding the in text citations and questions)

© 2020 The TEFL Academy. All rights reserved. 2

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