3.

Material workshop

The other way to reduce to reduce the burden of content teachers is by producing materials as a group in material workshop. Such a workshop involve mass production of materials and suggestions of workable and effective materials and putting together sets of activities which would be interesting and effective (which teachers still have to adapt to individualize). This is best done because for most part teachers understand their students better than textbook writers, they are familiar with the intended level of learners, and many of them are reflective teachers with rich classroom experience and a strong sense of self-improvement. This kind of workshop requires teachers who are experienced and well-qualified teachers who are capable of working in teams and show enthusiasm about material development. They should be able to evaluate their strengths and expertise: levels which the teachers have the most teaching experience in, activities which work well in their classes, and the kind of lessons which often fail in the classroom.

However, Dat B. (2oo3) in one of his article concerning material development also recommends involvement of academic scholar in such workshops since they are well informed in the field of methodological training, theoretical knowledge and involvement in academic research thus should be able to conceptualize the adaptability of current theories and research findings in the local educational context. Besides, many of them have worked with materials, including hands-on experience in material evaluation, selection and development. He also enlisted that since most of these scholars have traveled widely and have become effective inter-cultural communicators with rich experience in interacting with a broad range of people from various cultures, they should have practical knowledge about many foreign cultures that the intended learner will be

expected to interact with members of. Hence, they can give new ideas to teachers even though they have the tendency to overlook what students really want due to their lack of interaction with students; precisely why they should collaborate with teachers who are familiar with and sensitive to the intended students needs. Therefore, their role is to assists teachers with the skills that they need in order to co-write, to give an innovative perspectives on topics students most interested in so as to invite the learner to be more imaginative and creative rather than only applying common knowledge when engaged in such discussions.

Such workshop thus besides helping teachers in producing and collecting abundant materials also helps broaden their knowledge concerning students interests and needs. And through collaboration with scholars teachers are informed of the new development and findings in educational field.

4.

Internet

One of the challenges faced by the teachers is to meet their students needs- their views of what is required by the students may not always be right. The diversity of students attitudes and aptitudes making it hard for the teachers to choose the best material to work with in class. Thus, the invention of technology should be able to help teachers in many aspects. Fizler (1995) claims that technology, if used appropriately, promotes the kind of education being encouraged namely, multi-disciplinary tasks, performnace-based assessment, interactive instruction, collaborative work and students participation and exploration. This enables the task of authoring and creating teaching materials for the classrooms to be given to and shared with others who are highly

creative and critical. Enabling the tedious process to be diminish to merely a click of the mouse and a telecommunication table: the internet provides a vast information bank for the classroom use.

The Ministry of Education in Malaysia realizes the beneficial role internet and computer assisted learning in assisting instruction and supporting learning across the curriculum and hence strived in equipping the schools with internet connection and reveals that Information Technology would play significant role in the education system.

Internet provide students with authentic real to life materials and believable context via multi-media like sounds, pictures, animation and text which would help gain students interest in the subject matter besides providing them with the third network in order to activate multi-dimensional mental representation (sensory, motor, cognitive and affective) since this kind of approach enable students to apprehend before comprehend.

Some of the websites that are commonly visited by Malaysian English teachers are:

www.englishclub.com http://myenglishlessons.net http://www.webster.commnet.edu/grammar http://www.newhorizons.org

However, since there are prolific web pages available on the web, teachers need to be selective in choosing the web page they want to use for their students. Therefore, it is advisable that teachers should evaluate the websites prior to using them. According to Alexander and Tate (1996), there are five criteria that can be used to evaluate a website: authority (who is the author, his credentials, how to contact), accuracy (the source clear listed, free from misleading errors, graphic materials clearly labeled), objectivity (free from advertisement? Public service?), currency ( How recent is the material? When the data gathered? Is it up-to-date?), and coverage 9how thorough is the material, complete information or still upgraded?)

Therefore, it is recommended for teachers to utilize the facility provided by the ministry so as to make their life easier and their students life more enjoyable.

5. Collaboration with other teachers

Why do teachers make teaching materials? Davies (2002) once quoted the coursebook cannot provide everything- teacher imagination and creativity can fill the gap. Often, the teachers work as individuals like a martyr, sacrificing their time and energy for the sake of a good lesson. At the end, they find the task unbearable and tiring. And since even a Herculean task may be easy if it is shared, why do not teachers collaborate with each others?

Collaborate as defined in Oxford Paperback Dictionary Thesaurus means work jointly on an activity or project. The English language teacher may collaborate with content teachers and also with other language teachers. They may share material, ideas, suggestions among each other in making the most effective lesson. Building a network like this would benefit the teachers both pedagogically and also personally. They would find that their burden is lessen and the have some kind of support mentally and emotionally.

Through such collaboration the teachers may develop an awareness of their own students, themselves and their teaching context. They would also further develop their capabilities for critical and creative application and development of learning theories and of teaching methods. Therefore, this would lead to the development in the skills of achieving clear, impactful, engaging and involving performance in class; leaving them feel empowered besides enabling them to discover and fulfill their potential and gain satisfaction through such experience.

So, it is recommended that teachers work as a community, not as an individual as working together in a positive constructive environment would brings a lot of benefits to both the teachers and also the students. Teachers should not suffer to deliver a lesson. The lesson should be a enjoyable and changing experience that would make us teachers better people.