My portfolio teaching practice 2 training | Page 13

films on video the list is endless. Because authentic materials are not
designed for the EFL student they are not graded for level, although some
are obviously more difficult to understand than others (As they would be
for native speakers).
The teacher should select the material carefully, with the needs and
interest of the students in mind, and decide what the students are to do
with the material. So, the same piece of authentic material can be used
at different levels; an easier task can be set for lower level students and
more difficult task set for higher level students.
Why do we use authentic materials in the classroom?
For most student’s authentic materials, because they are “real”, are
intrinsically more interesting and motivating and they give students
confidence when they understand them.
They provide examples of language as it is really used. By being exposed
to authentic materials students can acquire or pick up language.
The real cultural content of many authentic materials encourages
involvement and comparisons (especially in a multicultural group).
5 Developing skills and strategies
Productive skills: Speaking
Roleplays
A roleplay is when students take the part of a particular person: a
customer, a manager, a shop assistant, for example, as this person they
take part in a situation, acting out a conversation. It is unscripted,
although general ideas about what they are going to say might be
prepared beforehand. These might well come out of a Tet or a previous
context. Roleplay can be used to:
Remind the students of situations they might be in.
Give the students an opportunity to try out language recently introduced
or revised and practiced in a more controlled way.
Give students the opportunity to improve their fluency, through a wide
range of language in a variety of situations and with different speakers.
Help you plan which areas to work on through the diagnosis of the
strengths and weaknesses of the students’ English.
Simulations
A simulation is slightly different from a roleplay in that the students are
not playing roles but being themselves. They are confronted by a task to
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