TKT教科书电子版

Unit24 Selection and use of supplementary

Materials and activities

How do select and use supplementary materials and activities?

Supplementary materials are books and other materials we can use in addition to the coursebook. They include skills development materials, grammar, vocabulary and phonology practice materials, collections of communicative activities and teacher’s resource materials. Supplementary materials may also come from authentic sources (e.g. newspaper and magazine articles, video, etc.). Some coursebook packages include supplementary materials and activities specially designed to fit the coursebook syllabus, and there are also many websites where you can download supplementary materials. We select supplementary materials and activities first by recognizing that we need something more than (or different from) the material in the coursebook, and than by knowing where to find the most appropriate kinds of material.

Key concepts

Make a list of all the reasons you can think of for using supplementary materials and activities. What are the advantages and disadvantages of using the supplementary materials in the box below?

There are various reasons why we might want to use supplementary materials and activities. Some of the main reasons are as follows:

to replace unsuitable material in the coursebook

to fill gaps in the coursebook

to provide suitable material for learners’ particular needs and interests

to give learners extra language or skills practice

to add variety to our teaching

Coursebooks are organized according to a syllabus, and they are often carefully graded (i.e. grammatical structures, vocabulary, skills, etc. are presented in a helpful sequence for learning), so that learners’ knowledge of the language builds up step by step through the book. Supplementary materials and activities can provide