According to Harmer (2007:273), “Authentic material […] is normal, natural language used by native or competent speakers of a language.” Because authentic materials are real, they present the type of language which the student will meet outside the classroom and so are more interesting and motivating than language teaching materials. They can also be much more varied – sources of authentic materials include: Newspapers, magazines, books, brochures, letters, poetry Photographs, pictures, maps Tape recordings, songs and song lyrics Authentic materials can be selected to match the interests of our students, and can be much more topical and up-to-date than published course books. They are an essential part of the rich input prescribed by Willis J. (2000) and Krashen (1982). In this workshop, participants collaboratively construct an outline plan for a reading lesson. They are then given an authentic reading text and work in groups to create activities for each stage of the lesson.

1. Keeping it real: Authentic materials
in the language classroom
Peter Beech
peter@peterbeech.com

2. What are authentic materials?

3. What are authentic materials?
“Authentic material is language where no
concessions are made to foreign speakers. It is
normal, natural language used by native or
competent speakers of a language.”
Harmer 2007: 273

4. Why use authentic materials?

5. Why use authentic materials?
• Authentic materials are real and so more interesting and
motivating than language teaching materials
• They are an essential part of the rich input prescribed by
Willis J. (2000) and Krashen (1982)
• They present the type of language which the student will
meet outside the classroom
• Students gain confidence when they understand them
• They can be geared to the interests of a particular group of
students

6. Sources of authentic materials

7. Sources of authentic materials
• Newspapers, magazines, books, brochures,
letters, poetry
• Photographs, pictures, maps
• Tape recordings, songs and song lyrics
• Realia

8. Structure of a Reading Lesson
• Context setting activity
• Pre-teach vocabulary
• Gist and main read activities
• Focus on grammar embedded in the text
• Controlled practice activity
• Free practice activity.

9. Context setting activity

10. Context setting activity
Entire village suspected over mayor's murder
· Official ambushed on Spanish mountain road
· Victim was repeatedly threatened, say colleagues

11. Pre-teach vocabulary
Police in northern Spain began questioning the entire population of a tiny
mountain village yesterday after the mayor was shot dead in an ambush on a
country road.
All 37 inhabitants of Fago, in the Pyrenees near France, are suspects in a
crime which police believe involved several of the many villagers who had
argued with the mayor, Miguel Grima.
Mr Grima was shot on Friday evening after rocks were thrown across a road
leading into the village, forcing him to stop or slow his car.

12. Pre-teach vocabulary
His body, peppered with shotgun pellets, was discovered in a gully beside the
road the following day while his battered Mercedes was found abandoned
down a forest track some eight miles away. Police believe several people,
possibly local huntsmen whom Mr Grima had been fighting through the local
courts, took part in the murder. Spanish news media were gripped by the
killing as rumours of longstanding feuds among the villagers began to
emerge.
"No one in the village is wicked enough to do anything like this," one resident,
who asked not to be named, told the news agency EFE while police went
around collecting shotguns.

13. Pre-teach vocabulary
But the mayor had a long list of enemies, including local builders to whom he
had refused licences. There were also a number of people who had been
prevented from registering as voters. He had also received threats. "These
were made repeatedly over a period of time," said Antonio Torres, a local
official for Mr Grima's People's party.
One resident found rocks scattered across the road, and moved them when
he returned home on Friday night. Another, who drove past the mayor's
Mercedes as it was stopped by the roadside at the same spot, said he was
waved on by a man carrying a flashlight - almost certainly one of the
murderers.
The village has only 22 registered voters, 17 of whom gave Mr Grima their
support at the last elections. But the mayor had reportedly fought about 40
court cases in which people living in Fago, or born there, challenged his
decisions.

14. Pre-teach vocabulary
Police reportedly believe that the plot to kill Mr Grima was hatched over time
and by several people. At least one of these would have followed him to the
nearby town of Jaca, where he attended a meeting of local mayors on Friday.
He would have then telephoned his accomplices when Mr Grima set off.
They would have set the trap for him on one of the roads into the village,
where cars are few and far between. "Revenge is best eaten cold," one
anonymous neighbour told the El País daily yesterday. Mr Grima's family, who
buried him in a nearby cemetery yesterday, have remained silent about the
crime.

15. Pre-teach vocabulary
"We feel now as though we are all suspects," one neighbour told El Periódico
newspaper. "Grima had enemies but he had friends too." Neighbours
suggested that Mr Grima, who had set up a small hotel in the village, had not
respected the customs of those born and bred there. "Few people are going
to cry," one neighbour told state television TVE.
In this case, he added, he doubted that the villagers would turn up en masse
for the funeral. "I don't think people are very sad," he said. "But I can't believe
his murder has anything to do with the rows in the village."

16. Gist read activity
Why was the mayor murdered?

17. Detailed read activity
1. Who do the police suspect?
2. How did the murderers make the mayor stop his car?
3. What was the murder weapon?
4. Who had a motive for the murder?
5. Was he a popular mayor?
6. How did the murderers know when the mayor was approaching?
7. What is the reaction of the villagers to the murder?

18. Grammar focus
Police in northern Spain began questioning the entire population of a tiny
mountain village yesterday after the mayor was shot dead in an ambush on a
country road.
All 37 inhabitants of Fago, in the Pyrenees near France, are suspects in a
crime which police believe involved several of the many villagers who had
argued with the mayor, Miguel Grima.
Mr Grima was shot on Friday evening after rocks were thrown across a road
leading into the village, forcing him to stop or slow his car.

19. Grammar focus
His body, peppered with shotgun pellets, was discovered in a gully beside the
road the following day while his battered Mercedes was found abandoned
down a forest track some eight miles away. Police believe several people,
possibly local huntsmen whom Mr Grima had been fighting through the local
courts, took part in the murder. Spanish news media were gripped by the
killing as rumours of longstanding feuds among the villagers began to
emerge.
"No one in the village is wicked enough to do anything like this," one resident,
who asked not to be named, told the news agency EFE while police went
around collecting shotguns.

20. Grammar focus
But the mayor had a long list of enemies, including local builders to whom he
had refused licences. There were also a number of people who had been
prevented from registering as voters. He had also received threats. "These
were made repeatedly over a period of time," said Antonio Torres, a local
official for Mr Grima's People's party.
One resident found rocks scattered across the road, and moved them when
he returned home on Friday night. Another, who drove past the mayor's
Mercedes as it was stopped by the roadside at the same spot, said he was
waved on by a man carrying a flashlight - almost certainly one of the
murderers.
The village has only 22 registered voters, 17 of whom gave Mr Grima their
support at the last elections. But the mayor had reportedly fought about 40
court cases in which people living in Fago, or born there, challenged his
decisions.

21. Grammar focus
Police reportedly believe that the plot to kill Mr Grima was hatched over time
and by several people. At least one of these would have followed him to the
nearby town of Jaca, where he attended a meeting of local mayors on Friday.
He would have then telephoned his accomplices when Mr Grima set off.
They would have set the trap for him on one of the roads into the village,
where cars are few and far between. "Revenge is best eaten cold," one
anonymous neighbour told the El País daily yesterday. Mr Grima's family, who
buried him in a nearby cemetery yesterday, have remained silent about the
crime.

22. Grammar focus
"We feel now as though we are all suspects," one neighbour told El Periódico
newspaper. "Grima had enemies but he had friends too." Neighbours
suggested that Mr Grima, who had set up a small hotel in the village, had not
respected the customs of those born and bred there. "Few people are going
to cry," one neighbour told state television TVE.
In this case, he added, he doubted that the villagers would turn up en masse
for the funeral. "I don't think people are very sad," he said. "But I can't believe
his murder has anything to do with the rows in the village."

23. Keeping it real: Authentic materials
in the language classroom
Peter Beech
mail@peterbeech.com
PALSO Fthiotidas, Lamia 7 – 8 November 2009