So many things to expect from this module!

Right before the second year of the TESOL Diploma had kicked in, I remember myself trying to find some information about the modules I’d attend this year. Around the end of October 2017, I came across the description of the ‘Materials’ module. My first reaction to it had two different dimensions: I felt excited about all the things I would learn, the idea of having my own portfolio and materials, but at the same time I felt scared: ‘How am I going to do this?’, ‘How am I going to have a presentation on materials? And even more so, my own materials?!’. Then, I thought to myself: ‘Well, that’s probably why you ‘re on this course’.

As a teacher, I’ve always liked adapting materials. I’ve never been an avid fan of just using the course book and going from exercise to exercise and then another. I even wonder why I sometimes like to make things more ‘complicated’ or ‘difficult’ when I could just use a ready-made exercise. I’ve now realised that this probably stems from the time when I was a non-native learner of English myself. Back in Greece, about 20 years ago, we all learnt the language from a course book and long lists of vocabulary that we had to memorise. The idea of games and communicative activities was completely unknown to almost everyone. Even to this day, a lot of students learn the language by just doing exercises or memorising words without engaging into real-life conversations.

One thing I kept from our first seminar with Paul, and one that will definitely follow me to the end of this module, is, indeed, the idea of adapting materials. To my mind, this is what makes teachers and students stand out. What we should be able to do is help each and every individual in our classes to make the most of their learning experience and evaluate which tasks and activities work for different students of various nationalities and cultures. Unfortunately, not all course books have managed to do this so far. I also want my students to stand out. I want them to be able to communicate effectively, not just by sticking to the formality of course books. That’s what adapting materials means to me: Being able to take a worksheet or a page from a book and choose what I’m going to do with it and how I’m going to use it so as to create the maximum positive effect for my students.

While I was reading Tomlinson’s article for our first seminar, one of the points he made about CLT and PPP made me think: ‘This is so right!’. The idea of Communicative Language Teaching and the PPP method were mentioned as well as to what extent course books promote the one or the other. What course books have undoubtedly tried to do is base their content on the CLT approach. What I think, however, is that some of them are far from being communicative, and this is probably the reason why adapting materials is so important, a point which was also mentioned by our group when we presented our poster of what we expect from this module. Lastly, I ‘d like to think the idea of adapting materials as the missing piece of a puzzle which, once found and used, can make everything else fall into place!

What is even more interesting and was mentioned by the majority of the students in our seminar was the idea of creating our own materials. I personally find this part of this module both scary and fascinating. At the moment, I have no idea how I could possibly get there but I’m sure everything will have fallen into place by the end of the course. Creating something that is entirely yours, something you ‘ve put a lot of effort into -always keeping learners and their needs in mind- that’s what fascinates me. This also correlates with something Paul mentioned which, at the time, made me feel a bit worried: the fact that technology is highly praised to the extent that some companies/corporations believe it will completely replace the role of the teacher. I do not want to think that this will ever happen. I want to think that teachers who love what they do are the ones who will turn our profession into one that means more than merely doing exercises or completing worksheets. Teachers are far from being just that. They are facilitators, educators, and, in my opinion, they play a major role in helping learners achieve their goals by constantly motivating them and leading them to autonomy. No machine can do that. These teachers are ‘excellent teachers’, as Paul mentioned, and, I believe, they are the ones who also create their own materials and show that they care for what they do more than technological advancements ever will.

Last but not least, two questions that I hope to have found the answers to by the end of the module: ‘What is the set of criteria that will determine how we evaluate materials? And most importantly, what are the criteria we need to make use of if we want to create our own materials?’. These two questions are stuck in my head, and I think they could also be a great reason for further research.

One thing I can say without doubt: I’m ready for this journey into the world of ELT materials. Let’s see where it’ll take me and all of us on this course!

References

Tomlinson, B. (2012). ‘Materials development for language learning and teaching’. 45/2: pp.143-179.