Teacher Discussion Forums

Can anyone tell me what the copyright implications of photocopying different lessons from different published books are?

If I have a student and photocopy seven lessons from four different books for the student to use, will I get into trouble?

Isn’t this how you use material in ESP? Surely the student isn’t supposed to buy all the books just to use one or two lessons from each book.

Many thanks

G Wolf

Sorry for not saying in the above post. The reason I posted this question here is because if I do have problems then the alternative is to write my own material for each lesson, which is not practical. This is supposed to be how you supply material for ESP students.

Any help welcome

G Wolf

Gary,

Lots of trainers write their own material. if you have experience, that's the best way.

Technically, you're not suposed to copy copyright material, but this also depends on the country you're in. Some countries have lax laws. here in Malaysia, there's a special law which allows teachers to use a certain percentage of a book.

The other thing is, how likely is it that you'll get caught and would anybody care? I have written an ESL book, and I encourage all the teachers I know to copy chapters for use in their classes. After all, not many people write ESL material to get rich, trust me on that one!

Still, I recommend that you write your own stuff; it'll help you to bemore creative in the end.

emile

Thanks for your response. It just takes a long time to write your own material. I agree with the professional development comment. You say you write your own material. Where do you get the input material from? ie, the reading or listening that you develop into ESL material? How does copyright work with that?

Many thanks

GaryWolf

Gary,

Well, I work for an ESL software developer so I have access to a recording studio as well as multimedia designers, so I guess I'm the lucky one. I write my own scripts and get them recorded. I'm pretty sure you don't have a studio at your fingertips so here's what I would suggest:

1) See if there is a recording studio in your area. The rates may be lower than you think.
2) Usually if you ask whether you can use audio in a course, the company will agree. For example, I found some audio from the Reader's Digest website and they gave me permission to use it. The BBC website has some interesting audio.
3) You can record audio on your computer. if you play around with it enough, you can get it to sound not too bad. Go to start=>accessories=>entertainment=>sound recorder
Play around with the settings, you should save in MP3 or WAV format

As for reading, I either write my own or occassionally do 'R & C' (research and copy), I'll cut paste and modify beyond recognition.

I've got a lot more tips on this topic, but I'd better get back to work


Emile

Emile

Thanks very much for the tips. I’m gonna try the Readers Digest site to see what’s on offer. Do you work only with general English, or do you do some ESP?

Many thanks for your tips

GaryWolf

Gary,

I am working on one major project, which is Business English, but I also develop some materials for various smaller contracts when they come in; they are mainly ESP.

The ESP market is a good one to get into, especially if you want to go freelance. After a while you can do seminars on Business Communication, which pay well. Developing your own materials is a key in this, which is why I feel it's worthwhile. After a while, you will have a 'bank' of material to draw from.

Emile