Summary of the Project

RAINBOW
ReAl life eNglish WIthOut Borders

Not only in Turkey but also in Europe , the biggest problem is that students can not use English in daily life because they do not know how to do it, they only memorise things and that’s all.However , our dear students need to acquire English.If they achieve this , they can use it in everywhere, in every situation like their mothertongue.

We all know that teaching English isn’t easy.Teachers should have the ability to make the lessons enjoyable and attractive.According to me, the way you teach English should be same as  a rainbow.I mean it should be colorful,eye-catching,different,realistic  and various.We as teachers ought to use authentic materials ,real life situations in our lessons while teaching four  skills (reading,listening,speaking and writing) ,grammar and vocabulary.

Nunan and Miller (1995) define authentic materials as those which were not created or edited expressly for language learners. This means that most everyday objects in the target language qualify as authentic materials. Another definition of authentic materials is from Peacock (1997): materials that have been produced to fulfill some social purpose in the language community .Here is a wide sampling of authentic materials that can be used in the ELT classroom :

train schedules ,pictures of road signs ,business cards ,labels ,menus ,brochures ,receipts ,currency ,music, literature ,fashion, newspapers ,televisions programs , radio broadcasts ,films ,internet websites , advertisements, photographs, models, weather forecasts, news, REALIAS and etc..

I wrote “REALIA” while giving examples to authentic materials above .Have you ever heard it ? What is it ? I will explain it for those who dont know the meaning of it..
‘Realia’ means any real objects we use in the classroom to bring the class to life. 
The main advantage of using real objects into the classroom is to make the learning experience more realistic and catchy for the learners.
1. For instance, if you are going to teach vocabulary of animals, clothing, fruit ,vegetables and etc. ,you had beter use actual objects.It is a very useful tool in making the abstract concrete.I mean , students can touch, smell and see the objects at the same time as hearing the new word. This would appeal to a wider range of learner styles than a simple flashcard picture of the piece of the target vocabulary.
2.A second example is that if you are going to teach some functional language for asking for the timetable for a train. You can use a fictitious timetable or you can use a real one from the local train station or one from the internet, .In this way They will see information about prices, discounts, bank holidays etc.
3. If you want to  introduce a country like Canada to your students , you can use a Canadian flag, a map of the world, and photographs of Canada and talk about them . What realia allows you to do is create a picture of the country, introduce and practice target vocabulary and sentence patterns.

4.Realia is also useful in teaching prepositions of place (such as on, in, under, next to, in front of, over). Objects can be placed on a desk, in a vase, under a table and so on. You can want your students to make sentences about them or you can ask questions to the students realted with the places of objects.

5.Realia can be used to tell a story. You can use Christmas cards as a means to explain the concept of Christmas and some of its many traditions , to illustrate Christmas images such as Santa Claus, reindeer, candy cane, Christmas trees, poinsettia and to teach Christmas greetings such as "Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Christmas cards provided a springboard to get your students to talk about their own holidays and customs.

As a summary, using realia in the ELT classroom serves to foster a more creative and active teaching-learning environment and promotes cultural understanding. As we all know, there's a connection between language and culture. Helping language learners see the connection helps them understand more clearly the meaning of language.

ACTIVITIES

1.I will prepare a downloadable website so that we can share videos and pictures of our lessons and so on.

2.We should prepare brochures and posters related to  our title or subject.

3.We will share sample lessons of real language teaching. (I have already had them J )

4.We will prepare realia,authentic materials with our students or we will find the via internet.

5.Our students will be penfriends and also they can talk via Messenger.This is the best real life activity.