Name: Abel Andres Perinan Morales Tittle: importance of using different materials in ELT.

Amazonia University

Teaching English has been matter of study during the last century. So, new methodologies and approaches have been created by many erudite in the field of English as a second language (ESL) and lots of improvements have been done. Teachers have made use of different strategies and activities in order to make English learning more meaningful for the students. In this endless process, the role of the different aids, materials or resources as supplementary aids according to the activity that is carried out and the context in which is taught have been very essential indeed. Teachers face tougher situations inside a classroom every day and they have to engage students in learning, they have to innovate, they have to reflect and try to create different ways to get students learn easily and meaningfully. A teacher who is attempting to teach, without inspiring the pupil with a desire to learn, is hammering on a cold iron." Horace Mann (1796-1859) "If the child is not learning the way you are teaching, then you must teach in the way the child learns" - Rita Dunn. "If what you're doing isn't working, try something else!" - NLP adage. That is why knowing the different material or resources we can use; implementing and using them correctly according to the context where teaching and learning takes place can make the difference in our English lessons, in this way engaging our students and easing things for them.

In some places the different trends in teaching have advanced and the use of the Information and Communications Technology in English Language Teaching (ICT in ELT) has been an indispensable and very useful tool. Teachers now have to be updated about the last information online and that is

because students are using in their everyday lives theses sources of information and they definitely like being surfing on the web. Many activities can be conducted by using this kind of materials. These activities are called Computer Assisted Language Learning. As Levy (1997: p. 1) states, these activities are done looking for a way of implementing the use and application or computer in language teaching and learning. I think many teachers and educators have at least once made use of computers or their benefits or activities related to the use of the web in their English classes and have realized of the good results it brings. In my case, I work in an English academy and in a high school. In the academy, I count on excellent audiovisual aids and technology; I can make use of computers, English lab, video beam and so forth. Sometimes, I have used Skype in some lessons and I and my students have chatted with some native English speakers who are friends of mine. We have listened different accents, studied them by making comparisons because I have some folks from all over and by doing that I realized that their attitudes toward leaning English rose. They were more motivated and happier to be in my class. I could reinforce previous lesson in a more enjoyable way. That day we were working on how to introduce yourself, so they did it and then they asked my friend about their personal information; they were scared to ask by at the end they did it well. Using ICT IN ELT or being more precise the advantages of the Web 2.0 (JCR Licklider 1960) claims that using networked computing to connect people in order to boost their knowledge and their ability to learn helps in the teaching and learning process. As a consequence it helps teachers for the preparation of their classes. We can find unlimited sources for the classes such as learning activities, videos and so on. Web 2.0 also surrounds students outside the classroom when they are at home for instance.so I could say that if teachers find a way to take advantage of web 2.0 apart from using Facebook or Skype just for chatting, then teachers could have their students engage all day every day in different activities. So the teacher could make use of the web 2.0 benefits to maintain students every day updated about what he wants them to

learn by giving them websites for them to seek the information, such as online dictionaries, cloze exercises websites, learning blogs or wikis or just by posting a link of a website on their Facebook walls so it would be easier for them to get the information. So, their time on the web is going to be used not only to be on Facebook but also to be researching, studying about the contents studied in class; revising the contents while they have fun on the web. That is why, teachers must be updated with the last trends in teaching English as a second or foreign language and if possible try to make different activities using CALL or making use of web 2.0; so the students will see in English an interesting subject to learn.

Using ICT, CALL or the benefits of WEB 2.0 is very indispensable nowadays, but in some cases these tools are not easy to get for teachers or even for schools. So the teacher has to create their materials according to the context in which he/she is working and also according to the students needs. He/she might use other kind of material easier to get, or try to modify them, so that could be used for the classes. The Teacher could make use of all the things that surround him/her; things that are not designed properly for teaching. These are called authentic materials. Nunan (1999) defines authentic materials as spoken or written language data that has been produced in the course of genuine. On the other hand, Bacon & Finnemann (1990) state that: authentic materials are texts produced by native speakers for a non-pedagogical purpose. In addition to that Burns, Gollin and Joyce (1997) claim that authentic spoken texts provide an important link to interaction outside the classroom and prepare students for the unpredictability of everyday communication. The issue is that such materials as they are not done for teaching purposes tend to be very difficult to understand for some students; so the teacher has to give an adequate use to them regarding the level that is being taught. Authentic materials must be used in concordance with students ability. (Baird, 2004) That is why some authors give their point of view in

relation to this topic. Kilickaya (2004) and Kim (2000) claim that authentic materials can be used with intermediate and advanced level students only. On the other hand, others believe that all levels of students, even lower levels, are able to manage using authentic materials (McNeil, 1994; Miller, 2005). Other authors disagree with these opinions. Day (2003) claims that such materials are too difficult for many typical language students and so have damaging effects on motivation and attitude.

Authentic materials are not neither good nor bad. The job of a teacher if he/she wants to work using those materials is to adapt them. According to Evans (1998) adapting is modifying activities, vocabulary, grammar and content to make them suitable for learners needs. So, personalization and pre/postreading activities could be done, as well as prediction tasks and brainstorming existing knowledge activities. I have adapted authentic materials in some occasions when working with intermediate and advanced levels. Once, the topic for my class was how it is like to travel abroad? So, the first thing I did to introduced the topic was to ask them if they had travel abroad before or if they would like to. I was working with high level students and I knew some of them had already traveled abroad. I just had to ask firstly. Then as I had traveled abroad, I told my own story about the trip to the states, and my first impact with the English language which was when I got on the plane. So I asked them for what information they would think to listen when being inside the plane. They answered what I expected them to say like: what the captains commands were, the height the plane was, the weather outside and so forth. By doing this, I brainstormed students existing knowledge. So that I could proceed with the next activity. It was a commercial video of an airline in which the safety instructions in a plane were explained. The students listened to it and they understood mostly of the things the captain was saying. Actually they said them before in the previous one activity. After this, they were given the listening script

and listened the commercial as it was. Finally they had to pretend to be an airplane captain and create their own speech. As many authentic materials exist, many strategies for adapting them as well. Teachers must look for the better way to adapt them according to the context, and the students needs. And try to vary when using materials in class.

Using authentic materials and adapting them is a way a teacher can use for motivating students and improving the communicative aspects of the language. On the other hand, teachers can find materials designed for teaching purposes, in which language used in not naturally. It contains well-formed utterances so the students can understand easier the target language. That is why; Implementing non-authentic materials have many benefits. One of the most used non-authentic materials are books and workbooks. They provide a structure and syllabus; they help the English learning process to be more regular and efficient because effective language or input is given step by step. Using books nowadays carries a big responsibility. It depends on which approach you are working with. Teachers should evaluate the books before using them, so books should be revised carefully. Sometime, books are oldfashioned and teachers have to adapt them anyway for better results; or not just using the book during the whole lesson, it would be sometimes boring to say ok students please open your books in page 29 and continue with the exercise that would not motivate students at all. The routine would actually bore them. For this reason mixing activities is absolutely important when teaching English.

Teaching English trying to engage students in each lesson in not an easy task. The teacher has to be very creative, recursive and organized when bringing the activities to conduct lesson. Sometimes when using a book as guidance for a period of time does not go well, some changes have to be made.

So, the teacher realizes of the existence of a gap in the students learning, and by creating his/her own materials he/she tries to foster a particular aspect. It depends basically of the context and the kind of population that is taught. Creating your own materials may have some problems. It is a time consuming activity, it requires dedication and patience. So, not many teachers tend to create their own materials, they prefer just looking for activities on internet and printing a sheet of paper sometimes without modifying it. But when creating own materials the teacher realizes that the gap he/she was trying to seal is actually solved. Creating materials is very used by teachers who work in the country because the population there lives under other characteristics and so the students have other needs.

English language teaching involves many factors for it to be effective. The teacher must have a wide knowledge regarding to methods and approaches in language teaching. Moreover, he/she must know the context and obviously the population that is being taught. In this way, he/she could choose a specific methodology and within it different set of activities and strategies to be applied. Also, using different materials periodically in order to have a more efficient, understandable and enjoyable class. In other words teachers have to reflect about the job they do, they have to be researchers and try to implement new trends or strategies so they can improve in the teaching practicum.