In this post, we’ll share some reasons why educators might modify their English Language Teaching coursebook and explain how Dynamic Lessons, a new teaching tool from National Geographic Learning, can help educators create a more tailored, relevant classroom experience with their existing course materials. Read on to learn more!
The value of ELT coursebooks
At National Geographic Learning, we believe English language coursebooks are a wonderful and invaluable resource for English language teachers and learners. Here are some reasons coursebooks are important for teachers and students alike:
- They can provide great (and level appropriate) content — high-interest reading texts, thought-provoking images and videos, and real-world content (think National Geographic and TED Talk content for example) that not only get students talking, but thinking too.
- They provide structure, consistency, guidance, and support for teachers and students alike.
- They integrate skills practice alongside grammar and vocabulary input, as well as exam practice and preparation.
- They can expose learners to different cultures, customs, and perspectives, which helps foster intercultural competence and global awareness.
- They can show students’ progress and development through various assessment tools, which can be motivating for students.
- They are a time-saving resource for busy teachers who are teaching multiple classes and simply don’t have time to create their own materials from scratch.
The value of coursebooks is clear, and even Jordan and Grey in their critique of coursebooks (ELT Journal Volume 73/4, October 2019) concede that: “Coursebooks offer order, security, purpose, direction, a beginning and an end, and a clear way through.”
Limitations of a coursebook
However, it’s also important to note that while coursebooks offer valuable support, they do have some limitations. For example, coursebooks are written for global markets and so teachers will naturally need to adapt or add content to reflect their students’ learning experiences, lives, and culture. Similarly, lesson lengths vary all over the world and so the amount of content in a coursebook lesson might either be too much or too little, requiring teachers to adjust what is presented in the book.
Another point to make is that no class is the same. Indeed, no student is the same. They all have different levels of English, different aptitudes, and different learning styles. What we’re talking about here is the differentiated classroom, and that is something that teachers have to manage carefully alongside use of their core materials.
The key point to remember here is that a coursebook is not, and should never be, the totality of the learning experience. It is just one tool of many available to teachers to create a well-rounded and engaging language learning experience for students. A tool to facilitate their students’ language learning journeys. A tool that teachers can utilize to achieve the goals and outcomes of their curriculum.
As Stacey Hughes points out,
“Modern coursebooks can be seen less as books and more as a set of resources that teachers can choose to use as-is or adapt, extend, or supplement. Most include topics that are ‘googlable’, i.e. authentically sourced so that students can find them online, but simplified for the level to ensure the comprehensible input needed for acquisition.”
ELT Journal Volume 73/4 October 2019
Why and how teachers might modify the coursebook
Despite any limitations of language coursebooks, teachers tend to be very good at modifying content in their chosen materials. Teachers may not always go step-by-step through every exercise in a coursebook. Indeed, teacher training courses often instruct teachers to take a “skip, replace, adapt, add” approach to coursebooks, encouraging them to teach the students in front of them rather than just teaching the book.
In today’s evolving educational landscape, teachers and learners require something more flexible, responsive and dynamic to use alongside their coursebooks — something that allows educators to focus on teaching the student, and not the book. Here are some reasons why and suggestions how teachers might modify their coursebooks.
- While coursebooks provide well-researched, effective exercises on grammar or vocabulary, teachers often want to add activities that engage their learners in more meaningful, real-world language use.
- By mixing pre-designed materials with teacher made content, classrooms can become more creative, personalized environments where structure and teacher input coexist. If a class needs additional grammar practice to support struggling students or challenge stronger students, teachers can insert additional, level appropriate exercises, supporting differentiation in the classroom.
- Similarly, a teacher might want to add a project-based activity to a unit on environmental conservation, or simply embed multimedia links to other external content. This type of customization facilitates student learning, while allowing them to engage with the material on a deeper level.
- Teachers might want to switch things around in the coursebook to better suit their students’ needs and to achieve lesson outcomes. For example, they might want to try a ‘test-teach-test’ approach for a spoken production task, in which they start the lesson by doing the final task, before returning to it at the end of the lesson after the necessary input stages.
How technology can help
So, how can we effectively bridge the gap between great content in coursebooks and empowering teachers to use, adapt, and supplement that content to create lessons that work for their students?
In a word, technology. In the fast-paced world of education, the traditional coursebook needs to evolve into something more dynamic, flexible, and engaging, and technology is playing a key role in that transformation. But in a sense, this technological shift has already begun with teachers having taken the matter into their own hands. Globally teachers are already taking coursebook content, “cutting” it up, and adding it to their own PowerPoints®, alongside their own materials and links to other content like YouTube videos to ensure their lessons are as meaningful, engaging, and relevant to their students as possible.
Of course, this process can be time-consuming and not every teacher has the time, or indeed digital skills, to create these “hybrid” lessons. So, what can be done to help all teachers to bridge this divide?
Introducing Dynamic Lessons
With Dynamic Lessons, a new tool on National Geographic Learning’s Spark platform, teachers are gaining the freedom to shape lessons that are relevant and tailored to the unique needs of their students.
This shift from fixed, linear coursebooks to editable and interactive digital lessons marks a significant leap forward in the world of ELT. Dynamic Lessons provide teachers with the best of both worlds — they benefit from high-quality, research-backed materials, while also having the flexibility to introduce personalized touches that make lessons more engaging and relevant to their students. It empowers teachers to manage both the essential curriculum and the unique needs of their students and add differentiation to the coursebook without the time-consuming process of PowerPoint® creation.
In this Dynamic Lessons demo from National Geographic Learning author John Hughes, we can see how the Dynamic Lessons tool breaks the lesson into its component parts, allowing the teacher to not only focus attention and engage students in class, but also to move things around, delete exercises, and streamline the lesson planning process. Check out the demo below!
So, where to end? Dynamic Lessons functionality is designed to empower teachers to focus on teaching the student, not the book, creating a classroom where both the teacher’s expertise and the coursebook’s high-quality content come together to deliver a richer, more dynamic learning experience. Ultimately, learning is a dynamic process, and that should be reflected in our teaching materials and methodologies. And Dynamic Lessons on National Geographic Learning’s Spark platform facilitate just that.
Dynamic Lessons are now available on Spark! To learn more about National Geographic Learning programs and which ones have this exciting new feature, visit this page!
Further Reading:
We need to talk about coursebooks, Geoff Jordan and Humphrey Gray, ELT Journal Volume 73/4 October 2019;
Coursebooks: Is there more than meets the eye?, Stacey Holliday Hughes, ELT Journal Volume 73/4 October 2019
6 Reasons for Using Coursebooks (From a Teacher Who Doesn’t Usually Like Them), Dodgson, D, Modern English Teacher, April 2019
