STUDENT TEACHERS’ OPINIONS ABOUT USING AUTHENTIC MATERIALS AND TASKS FOR ACQUIRING ESTONIAN CULTURAL HISTORY

According to the Estonian National Curriculum for Basic Schools (2011), students should value their cultural heritage. Therefore, schools should do everything to develop students’ cultural awareness and knowledge. Despite the importance of the topic the curriculum does not specify how and where it should be taught and does not say which material to use. One possibility to address the problem is to use authentic materials and tasks. The latter offer numerous ways to learn about one’s cultural history, and help to create a bridge between the classroom and real life. Authentic materials are not specifically created for pedagogic purposes while authentic tasks require students to learn, practise and evaluate material the same way as they would do in real life. The focus of the use authentic materials has so far been mostly on foreign language teaching and learning. However, they have a huge potential in acquiring cultural knowledge as they offer both current and historical information. The aim of the study was to find out future primary school teachers’ opinions about the authentic materials and tasks used during the course “The Child in Estonian Cultural History”. 25 first-year students who attended the course participated in the study. The data was collected from the students’ written reflection and analysed qualitatively. The results revealed that the students understood the relevance of authentic materials and tasks in acquiring and appreciating one’s cultural history. They believed that authentic materials and tasks enrich the teaching and learning process, and help to make connections to their everyday life. It also became evident that the students needed better instructions of how to find appropriate authentic materials and exploit them effectively in their future teaching career.