Where would you like to see yourself 12 months from now, in terms of being a materials writer?

Where would you like to see yourself 12 months from now, in terms of being a materials writer?

I would like to have built up a bank of resources that I can use in my lessons, and have them all indexed according to subject/level/grammar/function/topic. I would like to feel that I was in a position to start a website of some description and be able to start sharing resources with teachers working in a similar context to myself.

Attached is my Week 4 assignment.

Attached is my Week 4 assignment. It was quite difficult to think of creating puzzle materials for my context, being 1-2-1 online teaching - everyone else's activities seem really exciting and colourful, but I find with my context it's often more engaging for learners in 1-2-1 online lessons if you can create the content during the lesson - so I will use the interactive whiteboard a lot to draw etc.

Anyway, one game I play quite frequently is Twenty Questions, which is a very popular British travel game, so I have created a worksheet to explain how to use this as a game to practise question forms and workplace vocabulary. I use it with B1 learners, and I only use it once with each learner. The word I think of is always 'stapler'. I find this works really well because it's an object that many people use every day, but that (in my experience) they don't know the English word for. It's really interesting to hear them try to describe it to me, and how to use it, and really extends their vocabulary.

I would say 'keep it simple' - start with one resource, whether that is a picture or text and look at how you can...

I would say 'keep it simple' - start with one resource, whether that is a picture or text and look at how you can exploit that resource for different levels, different grammar/language points, for classroom or 1-2-1 lessons.

Here is my week 3 assignment, using pictures from the flickr/elt account.

Here is my week 3 assignment, using pictures from the flickr/elt account. I have designed it as a self-study lesson, to take approximately half an hour, with another 20 minutes of homework (task 5). It is designed for B2/C1 level Business English students.

Apologies for submitting this assignment late.

Apologies for submitting this assignment late. The attached lesson plan is for B2/C1 Business English learners. It is designed for 60 minute 1-2-1 Skype class. I removed one paragraph from the original article to make it shorter. When I did the vocab profiling, almost 20% of the words were 'off-list'. Many of these were the more interesting business/marketing words and this vocabulary would be crucial to having a good understanding of, and ability to discuss the topic, hence I believe this article would be most suited to higher level learners than the profile results would suggest. I would use an interactive whiteboard throughout the lesson to illustrate the grammar points/lexis that are the focus of the lesson.

When using an authentic audio or video it is important to use only ‘native speakers’.

When using an authentic audio or video it is important to use only ‘native speakers’. Do you agree or disagree? Give reasons.
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Overall, I disagree with this statement - I don't think we should use ONLY native speakers, for many of the reasons that other participants have posted. However, I think it depends on the purpose of the audio/video, as well as a learner's objectives and context.

For example, for someone coming to study/work in a native English speaking country, being exposed to speakers from that country would be really important (including regional accents), to develop both their speaking and listening skills. However, for someone who is learning English for business, perhaps because they work for a multinational firm, I think that while it would be important for them to hear audio/video from non-native speakers to develop their listening skills, it would be just as important for them to hear audio/video from native speakers to develop their own speaking skills (i.e. pronunciation). Which 'native English' might depend on the learner's context (e.g. geographical location, HQ location (eg. USA/UK etc)). I think it's quite important that learners who aren't living in an English-speaking country have a model of pronunciation/intonation that they can aim for, and that other learners are also aiming for, so that then when they practise their listening skills they are able to understand other non-native speakers by how the features of their pronunciation differ from that of a native speaker. Not sure if I have expressed myself very clearly!

Basically, as native British English speaker, when I hear someone from New Zealand or South Africa speak (and even Scotland sometimes), I can have difficulty understanding them.
For New Zealand native speakers, I have to prepare myself to hear much shorter, clipped vowels than I'm used to - to develop a 'listening strategy' so that I can understand them clearly. I'm sure it works the other way round for native speakers from those countries listening to British English. But if you're a non-native speaker, you don't automatically have that baseline to interpret sounds from, so as teachers, we should provide a native model through audio/video materials. But not necessarily just British/American English.

The most important principle of material design for me is probably versatility.

The most important principle of material design for me is probably versatility. The learners I teach usually come to me because they want bespoke lessons to achieve their (sometimes, very!) specific learning goals. I don't have a lot of time to create materials so I keep my eye open for stimuli/activities that I could adapt for multiple objectives. I don't limit myself to obviously 'business-related' stimuli as I love the links you can make between other aspects of life (e.g. sport, music, art etc and business).

Hello

Hello
My resource (ppt link below) is based on 3 proverbs, and designed specifically for my teaching context:
- Business English
- 1-2-1 via Skype
I designed this for a particular learner and used it for the first time this week. This learner moved to the UK six months ago and has a marketing role at a UK company. Her English level is already high but she wants to increase her business-related vocabulary and feel more confident generally in using English in business situations. While I have prettied-up the presentation for this assignment, I sourced the pictures and thought of the wraparound activities only about 10 mins before the start of the lesson (this is always the way with me).

During the lesson, I shared the presentation via Skype's 'screen share' function, and used it as an introductory activity for the main part of the lesson, in which we discussed a business case study and how making different management decisions could have changed the course of events (it was about the downfall of Kodak). As well as activating the learner's vocabulary on this subject, it had the added benefit of teaching her new non-business vocabulary that she didn't know, and she enjoyed this e.g. 'broth', 'stitch', 'hatch', the difference between 'chef' and 'cook'. It took about half an hour.

Teaching 1-2-1 online, I've never actually shared my resources with anyone before, so I'm really keen to take on board your feedback.

Thanks!

Hi Everyone

Hi Everyone

I'm Ellie - I live in Birmingham, in the UK. I teach Business English online and I also have some one-to-one face-to-face students periodically, to whom I teach Business or general English. At the moment, when I need to, I create very basic resources for my students but usually I mine the internet for things I can adapt. I'd like to know how to create effective, professional resources, hence signing up for this course. I'd like to build up a bank of resources too, because at the moment my resource creation is very hand-to-mouth and it can be quite stressful(!). I'm also looking forward to learning from all of the other participants, as well as Katherine.