Materials

It is vital to remember that the teacher and students are, if used skilfully and sensitively, a vast resource in themselves.  With our experience, this can be carefully exploited to cover a huge range of language points in a natural context.

The RLC approach is that materials should closely support the training programme.  They are not the basis for the programme; this must always be the students’ and organisation’s needs.  As needs become increasingly specific and communicative situations become more international, it is essential to use materials from a variety of sources.  RLC does not have an off-the-shelf approach to course materials.

Course books are one option, but our policy is only to use a course book that meets the following criteria: the level is appropriate; the majority of content is focused and relevant; the content is flexible enough to adapt within the classroom; the supplementary material can easily be added.

Too often, course books can be used as an easy option.  They can be extremely useful, especially for lower levels where a clear, systematic structure covering basic language points is helpful for the students.  RLC is very careful when selecting course books; the decision needs to be carefully discussed with the student(s).

The most common sources of materials used are:

• RLC materials – we have a very extensive collection of material developed over the years.  This covers the essential grammar, functional language, vocabulary, listening and reading areas for different levels.  We also have a large variety of communication exercises and sector/country-specific material.

• The client organisation – a very important and up-to-date source of real working material

• The student(s) – wherever possible, we encourage students to use their own real, work-related material.  This is key to tailoring and motivation.

• The internet is a fantastic resource, enabling RLC to produce a wide range of highly tailored, extremely topical materials.  Content is carefully screened before it is selected for use.

• Course books
  

Tailoring is absolutely centre to RLC’s training approach, as it directly benefits the teacher, students and client organisation.

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