Reflection on “Authentic Materials in Education” Webinar

     On May 16th we attended our last seminar of the first year of studies, which was on the topic of 'Authentic Materials'. It was conducted by Ms. Paulina Andruszkiewicz-Glińska, who we previously had the pleasure of meeting during a different webinar. The experience lasted an hour and a half, consisted of a presentation, as well as practical activities, and inspired me a lot to include this topic in my own teaching. In my post I wanted to summarize the knowledge from the seminar, as well as provide my opinions on the topic and the overall experience.

    Authentic materials are ones that were not created for the purpose of teaching English - they were created by the native speakers of the language for other native speakers and everyday use. Many things can count as authentic materials - from songs and movies, through magazines and books, to even receipts or food labels. There's many ways to use authentic materials to teach different topics. A tube of toothpaste can be an authentic material and with it we can teach topics, such as health, hygiene, body parts, shopping, or even professions. You can be creative and connect it to many different topics, which is why I believe they are an incredible and engaging resource to use in the classroom. We also learned why to use authentic materials and not just course books - to make lessons special, unique, significant, and real. We want learners to see the significance and use of the language. When they see the real world situations, where the language can be used, they feel much more engaged and motivated to learn, because they see the purpose. Authentic materials also present natural usage and context of language, which is not manufactured for ESL or course book purposes. They can also present foreign cultures, which broaden the horizons of students, especially from mono-cultural countries. Another topic we spoke about is how to actually use these authentic materials. They can be useful for different kinds of skills and vocabulary, but it's important to incorporate them seamlessly into the lesson. We also need to be mindful of the potential problems or how we need to scaffold students while using these materials. Sometimes the materials can be too demanding, time consuming, or outdated, which is why we need to carefully pick them as teachers. 

    My personal feelings about this webinar are very positive. This was probably my favorite topic we have covered this year in our different seminars. I found it fascinating and very useful. It's an easy and very effective tool that can make any lesson much more engaging and interesting. It also aligns perfectly with my teaching philosophy. I believe in showing students real-world applications of the language in order to make them more connected to it. By doing that we engage them more and show them why they're learning these skills. Students often feel like they are not going to use the knowledge from school, which is why showing them the importance of English could make them fall in love with the subject and increase their interest in learning it. I was inspired by this topic and it showed me new ways of brining my ideas of how to make English classes more engaging to life. 

    In conclusion, the presenter created an amazing learning experience for us that has a lot of usefulness in ESL teaching. I was very inspired to search for my own authentic materials and come up with creative ways of incorporating them into my own teaching. I am grateful for another opportunity to learn various unique teaching methods that can boost our performance and skill as teachers of the English language. I am looking forward to future webinars in the second year and all the new knowledge they will bring.