How To Get Awesome EFL Teaching Materials On A Budget

Do you spend a lot of time looking for resources to suit your class?

Do you sometimes find the perfect lesson online, but then realise you need to pay for it?

Do you wish you had more time to create your own materials?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, then read on and let’s be honest, we all said yes, didn’t we?

Finding the time to find resources and materials which are appropriate and effective for our classes can be an impossible task. After all, there are only so many hours in the day and each class we teach is different. So let’s be smart and come up with ways you can source the lessons you need, without pulling all-nighters or breaking the bank.

1. Use the Internet, but be smart

The obvious place to look is online but beware the deep, dark rabbit hole that is the internet. You can probably find exactly what you are looking for online but it may take you a week or two to wade through all the other stuff first. Instead, find the websites you know work for you and only look on those. Onestopenglish, TEFLtastic and Linguahouse are all good options because they offer a variety of topics, levels and activities. You may need to subscribe to access some of the materials, but there is plenty of free stuff for you to utilise if you don’t want to spend the money.

2. Use your staffroom

If you are teaching the present perfect to your teenage learners, chances are someone in your school has had to do the same thing at some point or other. Chat to other teachers in the staffroom and see if they have any bright ideas you can use. Because staffrooms are a mix of teachers with different experiences and from different backgrounds, there is bound to be someone who has an idea you haven’t heard of before.

3. Use authentic materials

This may take a bit longer to prepare but the beauty of authentic materials is that they have already been created – all you have to do is decide how to utilise them. Using authentic materials takes the choice out of the content of your lessons, which automatically saves you time deciding which is the best way to teach a certain lesson. Authentic materials already have a context and content, all you need to do is come up with the activities.

Sourcing the right materials for your lessons is such an important part of lesson preparation. However, it’s such a shame when you find yourself losing sleep over it or spending your hard-earned salary on resource books. Rather, use these ideas to make your lesson planning easier and more affordable.