Materials Development and Adaptation
Dr Barbara Gillette

Materials Design

The workshop started with a brief discussion of the teaching materials used in Morocco and the teachers’need to supplement these materials on different occasions and for different reasons. After the discussion, Dr Barbara Gillette presented the class with the following five-step plan to be used for materials development and adaptation:

Step1	Advanced Organizer
Step 2	Core Text
Step 3	Global Understanding
Step 4	Relevant Details
Step 5	Skills Transfer

The plan was discussed and compared to similar ones as those used in Morocco and the participants referred mainly to: Pre-viewing, while viewing and post-viewing activities. Then “The Yellowstone Buffalo War” from CBS Sunday Morning April 16, 1997, was distributed so that it might be used as a model by the participants while they start doing the tasks. Dr Gillette talked about authentic material and defined it as “material made by the Americans for the Americans.”

Before embarking on the tasks, the participants were divided into groups of three and each group was required to design pre-viewing, while viewing and post-viewing activities based on a video dealing with a news report on “Americans Learn a New Game to Keep up with Their Kids” from ABC World News Tonight.

After they had watched the video three times, the participants were given twenty minutes to fulfill the tasks. But before they started, Dr Gillette highlighted the following points:

1. The importance of using a visual in step one (Advance Organizer) as it sets the stage for the learners and prepares them for the lesson.
2. A good materials designer should always give choices.
3. Global questions should show the logic of the text being used for a particular lesson.
4. If we are to simplify, then we should simplify the task and not the text. 5- Never start a listening lesson without pre-listening activities.

When the tasks were completed, each group delegated a reporter to present the activities designed by the members of that group, to comment on them and to justify the choices if need be. During the feedback session that followed, it was noticed that each group came up with very sound and varied proposals. It was noticed also that the proposed activities could be used with students of different levels of proficiency: beginners, intermediate or advanced. The workshop was very informative and the participants concluded that they had learned a lot from Dr Gillette and from one another.

Reporter: Abderrahim Saadouni