Should you avoid any types of company-related content? It probably goes without saying, but avoid negative reviews and press. Also, steer clear of news stories relating to lay-offs or other topics that could cause your students stress.
What are examples of authentic materials?
Here are some examples of authentic materials and how to use them.
Newspaper or magazine articles
Starting with the basics, newspaper or magazine articles are fairly easy to work with in the online classroom. The length and complexity of the authentic texts you select will depend on your class objectives, your students’ interests, and their level of proficiency. You can select headlines, clips, or full articles for your class.
If you are unsure if an authentic text is suitable, or if you are worried the vocabulary is too difficult for your students, copy and paste it into Text Inspector. This free tool grades the level of the text, aligning vocabulary to the CEFR. It also helps you pick out difficult words for pre-teaching activities.
In general, it’s best to choose shorter, less complex texts for lower level learners. Articles with clear images or illustrations can also help provide context and improve understanding too.
Non-controversial recent news topics are great because students will very often be familiar with the story and have their own opinion. This can lead to interesting discussions in class and lots of language learning opportunities.
What activities can you try in class?
Just like an ELT coursebook text, you can use pre-reading activities to cover complex or new vocabulary. You can include all the regular prediction activities to help students think critically, comprehension exercises, quizzes, ordering activities, role-plays, etc.
For starters, a simple news article headline or article can turn into:
A prediction activity: After reading the headline, ask students to predict what happened next.
