Unit 16

WORKSHEET – UNIT 16


Task 1 – State the advantages and disadvantages of authentic and created materials. Which kind of materials would you favour for a class of intermediate students? Why?

Creative material is useful for English beginners as it often allows students to experiment or match words with pictures.

Authentic materials are real which helps boost the confidence of students as the students feel they can really understand English when they read a newspaper or understand a TV show.

I would favour authentic material for a class of intermediate students as they have already formed their foundations from using creative material.

Task 2 – What do you consider to be the advantages and disadvantages of using course books with a class?

Advantages
Expected by students
Easier than creating own material
Well researched to correct student level
Offers a good balance of grammar, vocabulary and skills work
Offers continuity and progression
Has been experimented with greatly
Attractive and appealing to the eye
Offers many good ideas for an inexperienced teacher

Disadvantages
Does not fit specifically with students needs
Students may disagree with the book
Lots of book work can become predictable and boring for the students
Can make the teacher lazy
A course book is almost always a compromise
Many course books can be obsolete
Course books dictate what is being taught




Task 3 – How can the teacher use the course book to maximum effect?

Use most suitable range
Do not use course book for an entire lesson
Work your way around bad course book material
Create a balanced lesson by estimating time of course book tasks
Explore ways to match the book material with the students requirements
Be critical of the material
Don’t base all lessons around the book
The course book is not the solution to everything

Task 4 – Find an authentic reading text of your choice online appropriate for an upper-intermediate class, and devise a full ESA lesson plan that revolves around the text. As always, include your aims, context, learner objectives, etc, as well as the procedure.

Include all exercises and worksheets when submitting your lesson plan.

Please see following pages

Teacher: Adam
Room: 1A
Observer: n/a
Expected numbers: 12
Date & Time: 20/4/08
Class level: Upper-intermediate
Context:
News report
Focus:
Life in 2008
Teaching aids: News source (www.news.com.au)
Learner objectives:
For students to achieve greater fluency by using authentic material
Personal aims:
Students should have a better understanding of reported speech
Anticipated problems for students:
Students will require a large vocabulary to understand article
Solution:
Read article out loud and make sure students understand in the engage stage, assist with crossword puzzle to cover various vocabulary from the story
Anticipated problems for teacher:
Students not participating in role-play activity
Solution:
Allow them to role-play in a group first
Procedure
Phase
Timing
Interaction
Read story out loud and ask students various questions about the meaning of the story
Engage
10 Mins
T-S
Hand out crossword puzzle to the students, correct it as a class
Study
10 mins
T-S
Students complete the exercises ‘true and false’ and ‘correct tense’ using the article as a guide. Again correct this as a class to be sure that all students understand the material
Study
10 mins
T-S
Students join small groups and predict things which will happen 40 years from today, then each group must present their ideas to the class
Activate
15 mins
S-S
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

Authentic material taken from http://www.news.com.au/technology/story/0,25642,23439615-5014239,00.html

Life in 2008

CASHLESS transactions, artificial organ transplants, space tourism and newspapers you can read on a screen may sound like common fare today, but 40 years ago they were the stuff of science fiction fantasies.
A magazine article printed four decades ago containing predictions of what life would be like in 2008 has been republished online, and it holds some surprisingly accurate details.
In-car computers that can monitor traffic and navigate between destinations – similar to current-day GPS units – phones with TV screens and computer screens that can record a drawing sketched onto them and relay it across the world were some of the predictions given by James R Berry in his article "40 Years In The Future".
"Money has all but disappeared. Employers deposit salary checks directly into their employees' accounts. Credit cards are used for paying all bills," he wrote in Mechanix Illustrated in 1968.
"Each time you buy something, the card's number is fed into the store's computer station. A master computer then deducts the charge from your bank balance."
Berry's prediction that the population of the US would grow to 350 million by the year 2008 wasn't far off either. The US Census Bureau currently estimates there are 303 million people in the country.
However some of Berry's predictions remain fantastical even by today's standards, including science fiction staples such as cities contained in enormous see-through domes, underwater hotels built among ancient ruins and plastic highways.
"Dwellings for the most part are assembled from prefabricated modules which can be attached speedily in the configuration that best suits the homeowner," he wrote.
"A typical wedding present for the 21st century newlyweds is a fully equipped bedroom, kitchen or living room module."
Other wrong guesses are more poignant than amusing.
"Medical research has guaranteed that most babies born in the 21st century will live long and healthy lives. Heart disease has virtually been eliminated by drugs and diet," Berry wrote of the one of the biggest killers in contemporary Western society.
"No need to worry about failing memory or intelligence either," he wrote.
"Slow learners or people struck with forgetfulness are given pills which increase the production of enzymes controlling production of the chemicals known to control learning and memory. Everyone is able to use his full mental potential."
Exercises

True or false

a)James R Berry is the author of this story
b)There are 350 million people living in America
c)Underwater hotels do exist
d)This story was republished because it is accurate
e)The following statement is reported speech:
Berry's prediction that the population of the US would grow to 350 million by the year 2008 wasn't far off either.

Which tense are the following sentences written in?
a)"No need to worry about failing memory or intelligence either," he wrote.
b)The US Census Bureau currently estimates there are 303 million people in the country.
c)Everyone is able to use his full mental potential.
d)Employers deposit salary checks directly into their employees' accounts.
Worksheet

Crossword puzzle:
(Uses words from the article to increase students’ vocabulary)