Designing materials may be hard work due to the fact that you need to take into account many factors, like the ones mentioned by Howard and Major in their article "Guidelines Designing Effective Language Teaching Materials" (2005) .
The authors highlight the importance of considering, for example, the curriculum and the context, the resources and facilities available, among others.
The authors highlight the importance of considering, for example, the curriculum and the context, the resources and facilities available, among others.
They also provide us with guidelines to consider when designing English language teaching materials. We think that the most important guidelines are:1- "English Language Teaching Materials should be contextualized" and 2- "English language teaching materials should be attractive". The former refers to making the materials appropriate to the curriculum and the learners’ first language and experiences, and to present topics and issues that are relevant to our students. The latter involves the appearance of the materials, whether they could be reused, and whether they are user-friendly.
So, when designing and creating materials to take to the classroom, we can benefit from what technology offers us. However, when using technology in our classrooms, we should also choose topics which involve our students in the learning process because technology per se does not always guarantee a successful lesson. We can find websites to develop materials and be creative to get our students involved in what they are learning.
We should also make our materials -even the ones we will print to take into the classroom- more user- friendly, for example by providing enough space for students to write what they need. We also need to assess the possibility of using the same material again in another opportunity. Another important benefit technology has is that, for example, for many websites you do not even need to pay for the materials. For all these reasons, we, as future teachers, consider it relevant to include technology in our lessons. It is and it will be increasingly present in our lives and in our students’ lives. What we have noticed is that not only has technology changed the way learners learn, but also the way teachers teach.
We should also make our materials -even the ones we will print to take into the classroom- more user- friendly, for example by providing enough space for students to write what they need. We also need to assess the possibility of using the same material again in another opportunity. Another important benefit technology has is that, for example, for many websites you do not even need to pay for the materials. For all these reasons, we, as future teachers, consider it relevant to include technology in our lessons. It is and it will be increasingly present in our lives and in our students’ lives. What we have noticed is that not only has technology changed the way learners learn, but also the way teachers teach.
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