Which ONE piece of advice would you give a teacher who wanted to create their own classroom material?

Which ONE piece of advice would you give a teacher who wanted to create their own classroom material?

Don't fall down the rabbit hole! By that I mean, avoid those frustrating situations where you think you'll 'just' look for an interesting authentic text, only to realize 5 hours (or days) later you haven't done anything or got anywhere. I'd love to hear advice on how to avoid this.

The following materials were made with my class in mind.

The following materials were made with my class in mind. I've just started with a lunchtime class at a language school. Students have another 3 hours of class each day and they want the lunchtime sessions to focus on speaking with some language development. There is no set syllabus and we are asked to work around a theme.

The group is Advanced level. Within that there are some strong students who need stretching. There are also members who have just moved up from a B2 level group.

My rationale is that the students need input but I'm trying to limit this to shorter texts which act as a starting point as they are desperate to speak and tired after their other classes. Where possible I'm trying to lead into a communicative activity due to the nature of the class.

Sorry for the late submission
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1i-N-oaU7_zup3m-xG4fD0GZuPTInXFMx/view?usp=sharing

Hi everyone.

Hi everyone.

Finally finished a draft of the Week 2 materials assignment. It's for students preparing to take an undergrad or postgrad course in business and management (B2/C1), leading on from last week's work, and at this stage it's only looking at reading skills as I haven't got round to a language focus yet (and if I start that now I'll never get it finished in time).

All comments, suggestions welcome.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Otr7uXteEc-aZHmLcWaiNnMUe4mlWd5s/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Otr7uXteEc-aZHmLcWaiNnMUe4mlWd5s/view?usp=sharing

Hello, everyone.

Hello, everyone.
Apologies for being late with my assignment.
This is a lesson plan for my A2 level teenagers. It's based on a song which I have used to help my students revise pre-intermediate future forms (will/be going to/Present Continuous).
https://docs.google.com/document/d/13nT6UHgfkgEs1lsqCtjodl9cZKy2vAyLTCZJv15r9p8/edit?usp=sharing

I can see a number of comments on the discussion we were assigned for week 2.

I can see a number of comments on the discussion we were assigned for week 2. I have had an awfully hectic week and so I'd like to add my comment now. As a teacher in the classroom, I have used recorded material from native speakers and also from non-native sources. The variety, I think, is important. Sometimes we teach 'call center agents' and we need to get them comfortable with understanding the person they have called in an English speaking country. Our client also needs us to train their representatives on accents other than 'native' speaker accents. so we use both.

As far as 'storytelling' with adult learners is concerned, I use whatever is available - native or non-native. This is usually done as a public speaking skill or as social English so I use whatever is available.

Sometimes I deliberately get a piece of text that is grossly incomprehensible, and work with students to try and make sense from it with whatever they hear and then ask questions of all kinds - yes/no, information and question tags.

I personally believe all material is good material and we can use whatever we have in the best way that we can.

Which ONE piece of advice would you give a teacher who wanted to create their own classroom material?

Which ONE piece of advice would you give a teacher who wanted to create their own classroom material?

Think about the reality of your students. You know the people, you know where they live, you know where they are in their studies and you know where they want to be. Take advantage of all this "privileged information" when you create your own classroom material.

Which ONE piece of advice would you give a teacher who wanted to create their own classroom material?

Which ONE piece of advice would you give a teacher who wanted to create their own classroom material?

I would say: When this idea comes to your head, sit down and think very, very carefully. Where do you want to be in one year's time with your materials? In five years' time? In twenty years' time? Explore your motives and be honest with yourself.