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As deceptively easy as our handouts may appear, they
should never deflect from the principles of effective
teaching, or mislead you into avoiding preparing properly
for every class that you teach!
Even the authors of these handouts
may find themselves caught out in class if they've
not thought through how to use these supplementary
materials effectively. So;
1. Prepare
Consider carefully your aims and objectives of the
entire class and hence if supplementary materials
are really necessary. If you have a text, will that
suffice? Will your students have any problems? You
know your students best and can anticipate difficulties.
Will the book fully explain and illustrate material
covered? Teachers can easily describe textbooks as
'bad' however bad textbooks are quite rare - because
they simply don't sell. The same - unfortunately -
can't be said of ill-prepared teachers!
So, you need supplementary material... but when to
use it? Is it a 'warmer'? And end of class review?
Will it fit neatly between sections in the textbook?
Have you allocated appropriate time for it? Will your
students need more or less time to complete the activities
than Handouts Online recommends?
2. Consider subject matter
Choose subject matter carefully! Is this handout appropriate
to my course? Do the students need to study this?
Did they understand it enough last class? Am I just
looking to fill time? Does the supplementary material
offer a new approach to material I need to present?
3. Anticipate problems
"Treat the handout as
part |
of the regular
curriculum." |
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Is it level appropriate for your
students? Can you extend the activity yourself? Can
you make it more relevant to your particular class?
Think about the worst-case scenario and how you'd
deal with in. In other words, treat the handout as
part of the regular curriculum.
4. Have fun!
Supplementary material is supposed
to provide a different approach to the class topic,
provide a change in atmosphere and/or a break from
the regular curriculum. Handouts Online material is
designed to be practical but also fun. Go for it!
Let the students get involved!
5. Be flexible.
Sometimes handouts can get out-of hand! This can be
a good thing where the students are using target vocabulary
or structures correctly, learning from errors and
the teacher is effectively managing and monitoring
activities including effective feedback. Why interrupt
students effective language production time, purely
to keep to your own inflexible class plan?
Next Page: Using
different kinds of activities.
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