My experience on the creation of teaching materials
Creating teaching materials is a long and labor-intensive, but at the same time fascinating and interesting process that requires not only knowledge of a particular subject, but also the ability to structure a lesson in such a way as to convey accurate information to students. This year, I began working on the creation of teaching materials for the middle school students. I chose two directions:
- Creating a collection of texts and assignments for 7th-8th grade students — this choice was due to the fact that I teach these classes this academic year. It was important for me to have a didactic material at hand that contains interesting texts and assignments.
- Creating a collection of audio materials for 9th grade students. Zhanna Albertovna Akopyan suggested that we work on this collection together. In the 9th grade, listening is one of the most important aspects of language learning as students are required to take an oral exam in a foreign language, which always includes a question on listening comprehension.
The first stage of work (the most important) is defining the goals and objectives of the collection. I have identified several key aspects for myself:
1. To develop reading skills in a foreign language.
2. To develop skills in analyzing a piece of fiction.
3. To deepen understanding of the grammar and stylistics of the Russian language through working with the text.
4. To maintain students’ interest in the Russian language.
5. To develop students’ creative abilities.
These goals and objectives helped me to structure the collected material and choose the most suitable topics. Let’s talk in more detail about each type of work. I started working on creating teaching materials during the summer holidays. During this period, I had to read a large number of fiction texts and select the most interesting ones that were age-appropriate for my students. In my work, I used various sources: scientific articles, books, online resources, and the experience of colleagues. From all the collected material, I selected thirty texts that, in my opinion, are not only informative, but also very interesting making students want to discuss and analyze them.
After the first stage, I moved on to developing tasks for each text. First, students have to answer the questions on the content of the text, and then move on to the tasks. I divided the exercises into two main groups: grammar and vocabulary tasks and creative ones. The first group included tasks related to vocabulary, for example:
1. Write down and explain the meaning of the words that you don’t know.
2. Explain the meaning of the proverb/phrase
3. Rebuild the sentence so that the nouns/verbs/adverbs are in the correct form.
Creative tasks were included in the second group, for example:
1. Write an essay on the topic “Mercy in modern society”. Use ideas and examples from the text to support your thoughts.
2. Create a poster: Create a poster or infographic illustrating the main ideas of the text about mercy. Include definitions, examples and significance of mercy.
3. Write a story: Write a short story about a person who showed mercy in a difficult situation, based on the ideas mentioned in the text.
I suggest that each student should independently choose one of the creative tasks and complete it, because all the proposed exercises require a lot of effort from the child and are quite voluminous. After selecting the texts and compiling the tasks, I needed to test the collection I created in real lessons. Therefore, I presented this teaching material in the classrooms. Indeed, the children read the recommended text with interest, actively participated in the analysis and discussion, and asked questions if they failed to understand any fragment or a separate word. For example, many леарнерс were unfamiliar with the word “освеeдомиться”, which means “to ask”, “to find out” or “to clarify”.
However, I came to the conclusion that it is impossible to complete all the proposed tasks during one lesson, so they should be divided into two lessons. The first lesson is spent by reading and discussing the fiction text. The students express their opinions, which, in turn, finds a response in the class. The entire second lesson is spent solving the tasks for the text. Each creative task is explained in detail so that the students understand what is required of them and they can choose the task that suits them. The students complete the creative task at home, so that in the next lesson they can present their results: read an essay/story, demonstrate a presentation/illustration, etc.
Today, the collection of texts and tasks for students of Grades 7-8 is being revised. It needs to be brought into the appropriate form. Based on the errors identified, I edit the tasks, remove some, and add others. Students suggested adding role-playing games to a number of creative tasks. This is an interactive approach that allows children to fully immerse themselves in the learning process, and not just passively perceive information. Role-playing games involve students’ in an activity or situation where they play certain roles. I support student initiatives, so role-playing games were added to the creative tasks of this collection.
Now I will tell you about the work on creating an audio collection for the 9th grade students (together with Zhanna Akopyan). We chose different areas of work for ourselves. I am engaged in the selection of news clips, and Zhanna Albertovna – short films. The principle of work here is similar to the creation of a written collection. The experience of such work is exciting and educational, combining the creative aspect and the technical component. In Internet news resources, I found interesting videos related to innovative discoveries, art, history, science, etc. After selecting the videos, I watched them again to highlight the main points for myself. After structuring and systematizing the news materials, I was engaged in composing questions on the presented topic. They help analyze the audio material.
In my opinion, news clips are good because in addition to the audio track that students hear, they have the opportunity to view video materials, which help to better memorize information. In this way, the associative series is connected, several types of memory work: figurative, emotional, visual and auditory. This work is useful as it improves the perception of a foreign language, replenishes vocabulary, and also broadens the horizons of students. In the Internet space, I have not yet come across an audio collection of the Russian language that specializes in news materials and short films that make children think about the content, because understanding the plot is not enough to understand a feature film.
Our audio collection is still under development. Despite this, Zhanna Albertovna has already tested several audio materials during her lessons. The students liked the new form of work. Thus, I would like to conclude that creating a collection of texts and tasks for grades 7-8 and creating an audio collection for students in grades 9 has become for me not only a creative challenge, but also an opportunity to better understand the needs of students. I have become convinced that my own ideas can make a lesson more interactive and students more interested. This experience inspires me to continue working on new projects and using new alternative teaching methods.