Materials and methodology: How to teach creatively using the textbook

Working in contexts where textbooks are the main resource for learning, teachers research and share how to use the textbook creatively.

In this video, Shahid Fiaz from Pakistan talks about how teachers can play with and supplement the textbook, often the only teaching resource in low-resource contexts, to inject variation into lessons and better engage learners.

Changing the order of textbook lessons, supplementing texts with dialogues and role plays or bringing in magazine pictures are some of the suggestions for making lessons more varied. He describes how introducing simple activities such as warmers, brainstorming or crossword puzzles can lift the lesson and energise learners. He also describes how teachers can easily exploit reading texts to achieve different outcomes by focusing on other aspects of language, e.g. punctuation, vocabulary or verb tenses.

As Shahid points out, teaching creatively is about implementing simple yet effective teaching ideas which help learners achieve the aims and objectives in an interesting and motivating way.

Reflection and discussion

One of the purposes of these resources is to help you with your own teacher development in related contexts. The questions in task 1 and task 2 are designed for you to think about and discuss with colleagues, either informally or as part of your formal professional development.

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Comments

Submitted by Trinh Thi Xuan Mai on Wed, 10/06/2021 - 04:08

Thanks a lot for proving me ways to teach creatively using the textbook. I strongly believe that I will apply the techniques when teaching especially paying attention to four skills equally. 

I will certainly :

-modifying the lessons

-using newspaper and magazine

-increasing vocabulary

-paying attention to culture

-teaching four skills equally ( not ignore speaking and listening because they are not tested.

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