Page 138 - Teaching English at Primary Level: From Theory into the Classroom

Language Learning Materials

Classroom Insight: Course Book as Support
In teaching different levels of YLs, Anita likes to a text or activity in the course book
to combine different materials, stories and and then tells the pupils to check in the
picture books, textbook materials, activities book. She uses questions like: Do you
and worksheets she finds online, but also ma- think ... is true? Did you know that ...?
terials which she develops herself for differ- Does anybody know how/who/when ...?
ent purposes. When using a course book, she • Before starting with the activity, she car-
always tries to introduce the texts and activi- ries out a game with the pupils in which
ties in an interesting, discovery-oriented way. they need to find something in the book
Rather than starting a textbook activity by which is related to that activity (a word, a
asking the students to open their books at a sentence, a picture, etc.) as quickly as pos-
certain page and then telling them what they sible.
need to do, she uses a number of different • She prepares a list of statements and asks
strategies to raise their interest about a topic the students to decide whether they are
and motivate them into the course book. true or false. Then she tells the pupils to
Here are some of the strategies she uses: check in the coursebook.
• Before doing an activity with the course By doing thisshe makessure pupilsunder-
book, they discuss a topic, watch a video, stand the textbook as a support to their
read a story, etc. and then use the text- learning and as one of the materials in the
book ‘to find out more about it.’ classroom which help them in their learning
• She asks a challenging question related path.

orderthinkingskills.Forexample,pupilsmaybeaskedto createtheirown vo-
cabulary board games which involves several important steps, such as think-
ing deeply about the content, organizing the information, and presenting it
in a coherent and understandable format. In addition, when learners are ac-
tively involved in creating their own materials, they take ownership of their
learning which increases both motivation and a deeper connection to the
content.

Key Takeaways
• Traditional textbooks are less appropriate for teaching YLLs.
• Textbooks are primarily a collection of resources and a support to learning
and teaching.
• When (re)evaluating textbooks and other materials, we need to consider
different aspects, such as the methodology employed, the type of activi-
ties, the ways competences are developed and textbook layout and struc-
ture.

Further Reading
Ghosn, I. K. (2019). Materials for early language learning. In S. Garton & F. Cop-
land The Routledge handbook of teaching English to young learners (pp.
374–389). Routledge.

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