1. Unit 25 Selection and use of supplementary materials and activities

2. How do we select and use supplementary material and activities?
Including skills development materials, grammar, vocabulary and phonology practice materials, collection of communicative activities, teacher’s resources and web materials.
Recognising that we need something different from the material in the coursebook.
Knowing where to find the most appropriate kinds of material.

3. We use supplementary materials and activities to provide something that is missing from the coursebook, to give learners extra practice, or just to bring something different to our lessons.

4. Key concept
There are various reasons why we might want to use supplementary materials and activities.
Some of the main reasons are as follows:
to replace unsuitable material in the coursebook
to provide material missing from the coursebook
to provide suitable material for learners’ particular needs and interests
to give learners extra language or skill practice
to add variety to our teaching

5. Supplementary materials Possible advantage Possible disadvantage
Here are some of the possible advantages and disadvantages of using various kinds of supplementary materials:
Supplementary materials
Possible
advantage
Possible disadvantage
DVDs
• provide visual context
• source of cultural information
• show body language
• equipment may not always be available
• language may not be graded
Language practice books
• extra practice
• learners can work alone
• without teacher’s help
• repetitive exercises
• little or no context
Games
• enjoyment
• language practice
• may not be suitable for older leaners
• preparation may take a long time
Skills practice books
• focus on individual skills
• may not fit coursebooks/syllabus

6. Selection of supplementary materials and activities
It’s always important to think about exactly how supplementary material will replace or improve on material in the coursebook.
It is important for us to think carefully about all the skills that they require learners to use.
Before deciding to use these materials, however, the first step is to consider how appropriate the level is for our learners, and to think about the language they will need to understand or to produce.

7. Use of supplementary materials and activities
We can grade the activities by marking the learners’ tasks more or less challenging.
In a mixed ability/ mixed level class, we can give different tasks to different groups, pairs or individuals which are more suited to their level.
We may need to input new vocabulary or language patterns before we can use supplementary materials and activities.