Dr. Dat Bao from the faculty of education, Monash University gave lectures to the fifth semester students of the English Education Department about Material Development in the Post Method Era from November 28th-December 3rd 2013. The students’ enthusiasm were noticed by their participation in the lecture, they looked engaged. “The materilas in the lecture support the mastery of the subject I recently learned in this semester, English Instructional Technology, moreover the post-method instruction is still new for me,” said Fitri, an English Education Department student year 2011. Nuri Supriyanti, the chief of the committee, explained the background of choosing the post-method era as the topic of the lecture. Based on the different conditions of the class, they have different needs. “Favourite classes and non-favourite classes have different needs. The context for vocational and general classes are different too, even the contexts for similar classes are not the same,” she said.

For that reason, future-teachers need to have deep understanding about the students’ needs in their classrooms so that they can use the best and suitable method for the class. “In the post-method instruction, it doesn’t mean that we leave the previous method and do not need to master those methods, but we take the good sides according to the class context,” Nury, who believes that the ideal class is the student centered one, explained.

In the post method era, Dr. Dat Bao, the expert in material development, gave some inspiration for the students to apply media for teaching, that is pictures and cartoons. “ The pictures we choose can stimulate students’ creative and critical thinking,” she explained.

In one of the sessions, he gave an example for prompting students’ creative thinking by using pictures. Pictures showing emotion and meaning can be used to create poems, writing book titles, or choosing the right song for the picture. “The students can imagine the character of a picture and just look how they can actively express their thoughts,” he said. During five days, Dr. Dat Bao and his assistant did not only accompany the students. His expertise in curriculum design was also shared to the lectures in the English Education Department regarding the internationalization of the Department curriculum. With the lectures of the English Education Department, the Vietnamese blood man discussed the core competency concept and supporting competency for the Department graduates up to the course subjects determination principles. The result of the discussion will be considered to design the new curriculum for the department.

Dr. Dat Bao is an active lecturer in the Monash University. He used to work as a researcher in British, Australia, People’s Republic of China, Philiphines, and Thailand. He has published 20 books and international journals. In four continents, he has given a lot of presentations and became key note speaker in conferences. Beside curriculum design and material development, his expertise areas include classroom reticence, literacy development, intercultural communication, creative pedagogy, and visual pedagogy in Language Education. He is also a creative writer publishing his work in Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Argentina, and other countries. (Febi)