SELECTING, ADAPTING AND DEVELOPING MATERIALS FOR LANGUAGE TEACHING

NAME: Rosario Corradini

Examples of Materials Adaptation

In order to exemplify some of the adaptation principles and techniques mentioned in this
chapter, you will read two real teaching scenarios and select published coursebooks that could
be realistically used in each of the scenarios.

The authors suggest specific adaptations for each coursebook in order to tailor the materials
better to each teaching scenario, your assignment will be to identify the adaptation
technique suggested in each case suggested by Mares and Islam. Please complete the task in
the comments sections available in this document.

Scenario One

A class of 34 junior high school students in a Japanese public (not private) school. The students
are 12 to 13 years old, and there are 17 boys and 17 girls in the class.

The students have all had between one and two years of English instruction at elementary
school but have difficulty in understanding simple oral communication. The students currently
spend five hours a week in English class. This group of students needs more exposure to a wide
and rich range of language input in a variety of contexts. The coursebook used for this class is
New Horizon 1 (Tokyo Shoseki, 2002).

Rationale for Adaptation

Page 50 of New Horizon 1 (see Figure 5.1) presents everyday verbs in the present simple. Four
verbs are presented in a single context and only in writing. The activity lacks kinaesthetic and
auditory sensory input. The input is also limited and impoverished. Students are not given a
choice about how they learn nor are they given an opportunity to personalize the input.
SELECTING, ADAPTING AND DEVELOPING MATERIALS FOR LANGUAGE TEACHING
NAME: Rosario Corradini

Adaptations:

Activity 1

1. Teacher mimes Becky’s daily routine. Asks students to guess what Becky does each day.
2. Teacher acts out Becky’s daily routine while reading the script.
3. Students act Becky’s routine while teacher reads the script.
SELECTING, ADAPTING AND DEVELOPING MATERIALS FOR LANGUAGE TEACHING
NAME: Rosario Corradini

Becky’s Daily Routine (script)

Every day Becky wakes up at 6:30 in the morning.
She stretches her arms and rubs her eyes and she yawns.
Then she brushes her teeth and takes a shower.
Sometimes she likes to sing in the shower.
She puts on her clothes and eats her breakfast, usually toast and coffee.
After breakfast, she speaks to her dog.
At 7:30 she leaves her apartment and takes the subway to school.
On Saturday and Sunday she usually wakes up at 9:30 in the morning.
She stretches her arms and rubs her eyes and she yawns.
Then she brushes her teeth and takes a shower.
On Saturday she usually plays tennis or runs in the park.

Activity 2:

Students write sentences that they remember about Becky’s routine.

Students underline the verbs in the sentences about Becky.

Students put verbs in two columns, regular and irregular verbs.

Activity 3:

Teacher gives students written version of script. Students change script to make it true for
themselves. For example, ‘Every day I wake up at 7:20 in the morning.’ Or Student tells a
partner his/her daily routine.

Scenario Two

A class of sixteen private language school students. The students range from 18 to 46 years
old. Ten of the students are women and six are men. The majority of the students are
professional business people but five are undergraduates at the local university. The students
attend the private language school for three hours a week in the evening and they are in the
middle of their third year of study at the school. They have been classified at a lower-
intermediate level of proficiency and have difficulty in communicating more than simple
personal information.

This group of students needs more opportunities to use English and activities which engage
their interest. The coursebook used for this class is New Headway Pre-Intermediate (OUP,
2001).
SELECTING, ADAPTING AND DEVELOPING MATERIALS FOR LANGUAGE TEACHING
NAME: Rosario Corradini

Rationale for Adaptation

The topic, ‘rooms’, has the potential for vocabulary development but would be more effective
with an initial personalized context in order better to engage students, activate topic schema,
create as well as activate linguistic schema and create a need for the target vocabulary.

Adaptation

Activity 1:

1. Ask a partner:

How many rooms do you have in your house or apartment? Which room do you use most?
Which room do you use least? Which is your favourite room?

Activity 2:
SELECTING, ADAPTING AND DEVELOPING MATERIALS FOR LANGUAGE TEACHING
NAME: Rosario Corradini

2. Draw a floor plan of your favourite room and label the furniture and other features,
including wall colours, windows, etc. Describe the room to your partner, then tell him/her
what you do in that room.

Example:

My favourite room is my bedroom. The bed is next to the window. The window looks out onto
the backyard. My computer is on a desk next to my bed . . . The walls are blue and the curtains
are . . . I study in my room, listen to music and . . . I spend a lot of time in my bedroom.