english

Teacher Resources: Web Guide

Authentic Materials

Authentic materials can make English "come alive" for students of all ages in interesting and fun ways. For example, you can watch videos and read about "offbeat" or "wacky" (unusual) news and events at National Geographic Newshttp://news.nationalgeographic.com/ for teens and adults, and at National Geographic News for Kidshttp://news.nationalgeographic.com/kids/ . This web guide contains links to freely available sites with information and practical resources related to the use of authentic materials in English Language Teaching. See more web sites below for information in the areas of:

Definitions for "authentic" and some other key terms.

Articles about the why's and how's of teaching with authentic materials.

Some recommended sources of authentic materials in English:
Reading Materials
Listening Materials
Images and Multimedia Materials

Glossary and Definitions

Authentic materials: Materials used in the target culture for actual communicative needs. They should enable the learner to hear, read, and produce language as it is used in the target culture. Authentic tasks: Tasks or activities that are part of the "real" world for actual communication needs. Teachers can have learners do authentic tasks for practice or for real world application. Extensive reading / listening: Voluntary reading of or listening to material that the learner chooses for pleasure or other personal purposes. For more on this topic, see:

Extensive Reading: Why? And How?
http://iteslj.org/Articles/Bell-Reading.html%20 A useful overview by Timothy Bell.

Extensive Reading Pages
http://www.extensivereading.net/Holistic language: Language treated as a whole, with integration of skills.Realia: Objects used for teaching aides, such as food, photographs, tools, clothing, tools, items from nature, etc. Target audience: The people for whom something is created or performed. For example, a tourism brochure targets tourists and uses pictures and language that will appeal and be accessible to them. When students create a project, their target audience is whoever will be reading or using it.

Articles

  • Following are some pedagogical and practical approaches to working with authentic materials.

Adapting Authentic Materials for Language Teaching, FORUM, Steven Darian
http://exchanges.state.gov/forum/vols/vol39/no2/p2.htm"Adapting original materials for language teaching is a subtle process–half art, half science. I have drawn on my experience in preparing an intermediate-level 300-page ESL text for business. The process is basically the same for the primary or secondary school classroom, too."

Effective Ways to Use Authentic Materials with ESL/EFL Students, I-TESL-J
http://aitech.ac.jp/~iteslj/Techniques/Kelly-Authentic.htmlThis paper explains how authentic materials can be effectively used in the ESL classroom. Each pair of students is given a copy of the authentic material accompanied by a set of questions about the contents of the handout. Students work together with a partner to extract pertinent information that is necessary to answer the questions.

Enhancing Authentic Language Learning Experiences Through Internet Technology, ERIC Digest
http://www.cal.org/ericcll/digest/0002enhancing.htmlWith the focus on language, communication, and culture in the national standards for foreign language learning (1996), foreign language teachers are continually searching for better ways of accessing authentic materials and providing experiences that will improve their students' knowledge and skills in these target areas. As the Internet transforms communication around the world, it is natural that it should play a major role in the foreign language classroom."

Meeting the Challenge of Content Instruction
http://www.everythingesl.net/inservices/judith.phpIdeas on how to adapt content area curriculum to the language needs of an ESL/EFL population.

The Outside World as an Extension of the EFL/ESL Classroom, by Mark A. Pegrum. Internet TESL Journal.
http://iteslj.org/Lessons/Pegrum-OutsideWorld.htmlExposing students to "pieces" of the outside world has an important function in respect of providing realistic language input, establishing a dynamic and meaningful context for learning, and increasing student motivation.

Second Language Literacy Through Student-Centered Learning, I-TESL-J
http://iteslj.org/Articles/Caprio-StudentCentered.htmlIntroducing students to conducting research in a foreign language using authentic materials.

Selecting Authentic Materials (Reading, Listening, Viewing)
http://www.richmond.edu/%7Eterry/Middlebury/authentic.htmA checklist of things to consider when selecting authentic materials for the language classroom.

Using Authentic Materials, by Sam Shepherd, BBC

 

Sources of Authentic Materials in English

Reading Materials

Bartleby's Online Books, Reference and Verse
http://www.bartleby.com/

Create Your Own Newspaper (CRAYON)
http://www.crayon.net/

Newslink (International)
http://newslink.org/news.html

Newspaper Links (USA and Canada)
http://www.newspaperlinks.com/

Online Books Page
http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/

Online Newspapers
http://www.onlinenewspapers.com/

Project Gutenberg, Free eBooks
http://www.gutenberg.org/

Reference Desk, Newspapers
http://www.refdesk.com/paper.html

Listening Materials

Images and Multimedia Materials

BBC World Service, Learning English
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/

CalPhoto Image Library
http://elib.cs.berkeley.edu/photos/

The History Channel
http://www.historychannel.com/

Learning Resources, from Western/Pacific Literacy Network
http://literacynet.org/cnnsf/home.html

NASA Science
http://science.nasa.gov/

NASA Kids Club
http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forkids/kidsclub/flash/index.html

National Geographic News
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/

National Geographic News, Kids News
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/kids/

New York Times Learning Network, Grades 3-12
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/

New York Times Student Connections, Grades 6-12
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/students/index.html

Smithsonian Education
http://smithsonianeducation.org/