Teaching materials: adopting and adapting

 
Considerations for adapting activities 
If teachers want to design their own 
activities or adapt activities for the best 
learning result, some considerations listed 
by teachers in Brazil, North American and 
in the United States in designing materials 
can be followed (Graves, 2001). The 
considerations and justification are 
presented as well as examples of 
activities. 
1. Activities should draw on what 
students know (their experience, their 
current situation) and be relevant to 
them. The purposes are to draw on what 
they know before moving to what is new; 
to validate their experience; and to 
engage their interest. 
Examples:
- Students make a list of what they 
consider when they want to buy a new 
mobile phone. 
- Students describe how to go about 
finding a mobile phone. 
- Write “a mobile phone” on the white

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board; make a word map in response to 
“What does it mean to you?” 
- Students describe their mobile phone 
as a basis for vocabulary. 
2. Activities should focus on students’ 
daily life needs. 
Examples: 
- Brainstorm issues and questions about 
their actual mobile phone unit. 
- Students make a list of what they 
need in a mobile phone. 
- Use various search engines to 
determine where to find this information. 
3. Activities should build students’ 
confidences. So students can feel 
confident in transferring what learned 
outside of class. 
Examples:
- Sequence the activities from simple 
to gradually more difficult so they provide 
enough practice and achievement.
-Narrow the focus of the activity so 
students can be successful.
This could start from making a list of 
existing brands, describe each function, 
and then discuss how to operate it, etc. 
4. Activities should allow students to 
problem-solve, discover, analyze, so that 
student will have opportunity to engaged 
and practice using language. 
Examples:
- Analyze why mobile phone Advertise- 
ments are written the way they are. 
- Students figure out in small groups 
then get together and share. 
- Brainstorm questions to ask sales 
persons. 
5. Activities should help students 
develop specific skills and strategies so 
that they can transfer skill. 
Examples:
- Read for main idea then read for 
specific information. 
- Matching exercises (parts of a 
sentence, word explanation). 
6. Activities should help students 
develop specific language and skills they 
need for authentic communication so that 
students learn and practice vocabulary, 
grammar, functions that they can use in 
real situations. 
Examples:
- Work on vocabulary so they can 
access text and be able to speak. 
- Work on grammar and four skills 
before culture. 
- Brainstorm questions to ask sales 
persons prior to role play 
7. Activities should integrate the four 
skills of speaking, listening, reading and 
writing because the four skills mutually 
reinforce each other. 
Examples: 
- Follow up reading with telephone

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activity to answer and; role-play 
buyer/seller. 
- Write an advertisement for their 
current mobile phone. 
8. Activities should enable students to 
understand cultural context and cultural 
differences So that they can have more 
confidence in target culture and 
understand own culture better. 
Examples:
- Discuss how a mobile phone is 
popular in their community. 
- Analyzing the advertisement to see 
that the way the ad is written tell you 
about specific culture. 
- Compare local ads with ads published 
in other countries. Are they different? 
Discuss why? 
9. Activities should enable students to 
develop social awareness so they can 
navigate systems in target culture. 
Examples:
- Help students to know rights and 
responsibilities. 
- Make sure students understand not 
only customs/etiquettes with respect to 
using a mobile phone, but also issues 
such as hazard that is relevant to using 
mobile phones. 
10. Activities should vary the roles and 
groupings within the class so that students 
get different types of practice and 
responsibilities. With respect to social 
context, students experience and analyze 
different social roles. 
Examples:
- Students figure out (e.g. why mobile 
phone ads are written the way they are) in 
small groups, then get together and share. 
- Students present what they know: 
students become teachers. 
- Students role-play buyer/seller 
11. Activities should be of various types 
and purposes to provide adequate 
practice. 
Example:
- Students create own advertisement. 
- Students role-play. 
12. Activities should employ a variety 
of materials to engage students and meet 
different learning needs 
Example:
- Visuals (pictures), print, audio, video, 
objects, realia.