Using Authentic Materials in Class

While my colleagues and I were in England, we made it a point to pick up some authentic materials we could use later in class. These can be newspapers, leaflets, brochures, magazines, ads, coins etc. Showing these things from "the good old England" is exciting for the students. They do the activities holding  something that was produced three thousand kilometers away from them. As most of the students have not travelled abroad, this is a big thing to them.
The particular brochure is an advertisement of a zoo. It is colourful, full of great pictures, which definitely attract the attention of the students.

The activity may take place as follows:
1. The class is divided into pairs or in groups of 3-4 students in each group.
2. Each group is given a brochure.

3. The activity may continue in one of the following ways:
3. 1. The teacher asks questions, one by one,  orally and the group, which first finds the answer in the leaflet, signals when they are ready, usually by raising a hand.
3.2.  Each group may receive a sheet of paper with questions they have to answer by using the information in the brochure.
3.3. This is the most difficult way to do the activity but probably the most exciting one. After each group is presented with a brochure, they have 3 minutes to try to remember as many details from the information in the brochure as possible. Then, the teacher takes the brochures back and gives a sheet of paper with questions, which each group has to answer.
4. After all the questions are answered, one of the groups is the winner.

5. This is a great warm-up activity, which can be followed by other communicative activities, reading comprehension tasks on the topic of travelling, zoos, animals, etc. It is a matter of imagination and some effort to make the class a great experience for our students.