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The use of didactic materials is essential in order to develop a lesson satisfactorily. These materials are “instruments that help us [teachers] to achieve any goal” (García, 1996, p.1). Therefore, these materials are essential tools for teachers; if they are not used well, lessons will not be effective. Teachers need to take into consideration relevant aspects such as the linguistic objective and cognitive target when designing their resources. Moreover, it is necessary to take into account students’ level and knowledge in order to design materials for students adequately. It is significant that teachers know students’ needs for them to acquire learning. Students are the reason for designing appropriate didactic resources (Augusto, 2015, para. 12; Minister of Education Guyana, 2016, para.1). The most important parts of a lesson are the teacher, the students, and the didactic resources because these together give an effective learning process. However, it is hard to catch learners’ at...

              The main purpose of this workshop was to explain the importance of using posters in classrooms, and how they can be designed. During the workshop, it was presented the posters history, definition, use, advantages, disadvantages, tips to create them, and where to obtain them.  Regarding what we learned, there are two advantages that really caught our attention. The first one is that posters can motivate students’ learning; students feel excited and comfortable when posters are applied because they are innovative and different materials which catch students’ attention. The second one is that posters are versatile; it means that they can be adapted to any topic. On the other hand, there are two disadvantages that teachers should consider before designing them. The first one is that it takes a lot of time to create posters because they need to be attractive, legible, well-organized, and well-designed in order to be useful. The second on...

The main objective of this workshop was to explain the significance of using flashcards in classrooms. During the workshop, it was presented some important details about flashcards such as its history, definition, use, advantages, and disadvantages. Moreover,  it was presented how to design flashcards and where to obtain them.  There are two advantages of using flashcards that teachers should consider in order to implement them during their lessons. The first one is that flashcards facilitate students’ learning process because it is easier for them to learn by seeing or observing. The second one is that flashcards can be recycled; it means that teachers can use them several times. Flashcards can be adapted to any topic. Nevertheless, there are two disadvantages that teachers need to know. The first one is that creating flashcards takes a lot of time because they should be colorful and big enough in order for students appreciate them. The second one is that fla...

             The goal of this workshop was to show the usefulness of technology in classrooms. The history, use, advantages, disadvantages of technology were presented during it.  There are many advantages of using technology in classrooms; however, we consider that there are two that are very important. The first one is that technology engages and motivates students because this tool is very common nowadays; they feel excited and fascinated by it. The second one is that technology can be considered a time saver which is necessary for teachers because sometimes there is not enough time to plan and cover lessons adequately. However, there are two disadvantages that need to be taken into consideration when using technology. The first one is that it can be a distractor for students because they can use it for other purposes. The second one is that technology is not accessible to every teacher, student or institution. For this reason, teachers need n...

The target of this workshop was to teach how to implement and adapt literature in classrooms. The main points of this were based on its history, definition, use, advantages, and disadvantages. Regarding the workshop, using literature during English lessons has a lot of advantages; however, there are two that we consider are very important. The first one is that students are encouraged to interact with their classmates. Through the use of literature, students are motivated to participate. The second one is that literature helps students to improve their linguistic skills such as reading, writing, and speaking. Nevertheless, the use of literature can be boring for students. Using literature (legends, fairy tales, and short stories) during a lesson takes too much time. The most attractive part of the workshop was when we create our own material because we put into practice what we learned and work as a group. Moreover, it was very interesting because our classmate did their mat...

The aim of this workshop was to show the efficacy of using newspapers and magazines in EFL classes. The history, definition, use, advantages, disadvantages of newspapers and magazines were presented during it. In addition, it was explained some tips of how to create newspapers and magazines. Besides there are many advantages of using newspapers and magazines in classrooms, we consider that the following ones are the most important of them; the first one is that these tools are very cheap, so teachers can acquire them without investing a lot of money. These are also authentic materials; teachers can take advantage of these in order to teach how the language is really used. In contrast, newspapers and magazines have some drawbacks that teachers should consider. Looking for them can be extremely time-consuming for teachers is one of these. Teachers are usually very busy, and they do not have enough time to prepare very well their lessons. Another drawback is that not all the ...

The main purpose of this workshop was to explain the importance of using videos, movies in classrooms. Because we are in a technological era, teachers need to take advantage of it and use it in classrooms in order to encourage participation among students. History, definition, uses, advantages, disadvantages, how to make them, where to acquire them were some important details developed in the workshop. During this workshop, we take into account two important advantages. The first one is that the use of movie and videos in classrooms develops active learners because they are going to acquire knowledge while they are having fun. Moreover, students’ interests increase because of the use of technology. The second advantage is that students improve their listening and speaking skills. It is a great idea to use these authentic materials because students learn how the language is used. Nevertheless, using videos and movies have their disadvantages. For example, students pay m...

The objective of this workshop was to demonstrate the way listening activities are implemented in classes. During this workshop, it was explained its history, importance, use, advantages, disadvantages. Moreover, some types of listening resources were mentioned such as documents, meetings, cartoons, comedy shows, quiz shows, and speeches. Listening resources are very important; however, it also has advantages and disadvantages. listening to music motivates and inspires students; students feel comfortable because they are familiar with it. Teachers need to take into account that songs must be attractive and known by the students in order to be fun for them. Listening resources also encourages thinking and remembering. It is easy for the students to understanding better the language if they know the context it is used. For this reason, it is better to use authentic materials. on the other hand,  there are two disadvantages that need to be taken into consideration when us...

The use of didactic materials is essential for developing excellent lessons because they facilitates students’ learning. Didactic resources increase student achievement by supporting student learning. These materials help students to practice different linguistics skills acquired in class. Using listening resources, for example, improves listening skills. Other example is that technology has an important role in today’s classrooms because the way of teaching is adapted from traditional to digital. Based on this, it is realized that teachers need to work hard in order for them to accomplish well developed lessons. Another example is that other sources can be implemented in classes like videos, songs, movies, documentaries in order for students to have fun and learn, both at the same time. During this course, we can learn how to implement different teaching materials like ones mentioned before. In addition, how they are designed and the purpose they have. Another important thing it is t...

Augusto, Eliane. (2015). The design of Teaching materials as a tool in EFL teacher education.  Scielo, 68 (1), 123. http://dx.doi.org/10.5007/2175-8026.2015v68n1p121 García, O. (1996). Didactic resources for teaching English.  Semanticscholar . Retrieved from https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/3f23/da99bb95e5832ce2ff4fa98279f490548c59.pdf Ministry of Education Guyana. (2016). The importance of learning materials in teaching. Retrieved from http://education.gov.gy/web/index.php/teachers/tips-for-teaching/item/2036-the-importance-of-learning-materials-in-teaching

Students can feel bored if the didactic resources are overused. For this reason, it is essential to be creative when designing teaching materials. Teachers should take into consideration the multiple intelligences and different learning styles when designing teaching materials. It is important to consider students’ needs and level when creating materials and activities. Teachers should remember that didactic resources are only tools used to support their teaching; it means that teaching materials are useless without them.