Teaching English Radio is Back !

Series 3 of Teaching English Radio has kicked off!

Today's topic was 'Getting the most from the course book ' and among today's guests were Hada,Primary School Teacher Trainer,Latifa,Primary school teacher,Maaouia,Secondary Teacher and Inspector,Lamia ,University Professor and Teacher Inspector, Patric Fawcett,Teacher Trainer and ELT/ICT Coordinator at British Council Tunis.

Course books can provide an English teaching syllabus and give structure to a lesson as well as having

useful recyling and revision activities.

Not all the materials in a coursebook are relevant to the students so the teacher can adapt ideas from a book to use with their own materials.Teachers need not be independent on the coursebook and can try many different ways to present language and engage their students during the lesson.

At the beginning of the discussion the key points were:

that the course book can be used as a reference/record of the language items that have been taught,

and that it can be used as a source of inspiration for instance an interesting picture or topic in the course book to engage the students's interest.Maamouia said that the course books in Tunisia need to be updated and there are ongoing plans to resolve this issue.Lamia mentioned that she uses a lot of her own material for her university classes and that students' involvement is important.

The topic of fun and enjoyable activities are an important element of learning a language;Maamouia stated

' You cannot teach English with out fun!

The needs of the learner also need to be considered when using the coursebook and selecting the most relevant sections.

Re the question of what makes a good coursebook: Patric mentioned that his students at the British Coucil had told him that the most important sections were grammar and vocabalary whilst Maaouia and Hada said that ' a course book should be appealing to the learners and it also needs to be updated '.

Later on Patric emphasised the importance of the students having plenty of time to practice the language and mentioned that his young learners had done a poster on the topic of theme parks with a follow up activity of a poster presentation to their classmates; thus ensuring practice of speaking as well as their writing.

By the way here are some strategies to resolve some problems you might have with your course book:

When the task/exercise doesn't suit the learners' style ,change the interaction pattern eg. use a matching task as a mingling activity,
When the activities in the book always follow the same sequence, change the order of the material or
get the students have their books closed so that they focus on the lesson,
When the texts are too easy,get the students to make up their own questions and write an extension of the text and do a role play activity related to the people in the text

Click http://www.radiotunisienne.tn/rtci/sounds/anglais/ang01112013.mp3
to listen to the programme.

By the way don't miss the next programme of series 3 on the 6th December!