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CHAPTER 4
WRITING ADAPTABLE MATERIALS

(This sort of stuff is called a 'dialog' in some textbooks. The difference is that a exchange sequence so emphasizes lightness and transparency (p.47f) that it is credible only in a language classroom.) Put each exchange sequence on a separate sheet of paper.

If you think it expedient to do so, go on and write some genuine, lifelike dialog that incorporates the contents of the exchange sequence but goes beyond it. Either kind of dialog has certain advantages: it provides a change of pace from the very short Cummings devices or the situationa11y disjointed drills (see Newmark and Reibel, 1968, p.149 )i it provides a kind of transition from them to the connected discourse that the students will have to produce as they 'apply' their Sarkhanese at the end of the 1esson; it provides a vehicle for introducing set expressions, sentence connectors, and other items that do not lend themselves to drills or Cummings devices.

8. Write whatever drill materials seem necessary. Put each drill on a separate sheet of paper, double-spaced, with plenty of white space around it. (For examples, see Appendix G, pp.165-182, and Appendix I, pp. 206-214).

9. Leave room for additions and changes, and show that you expect them. That, of course, was the reason for doub1espacing the items in steps 7 and 8, and especially for putting each one on a separate sheet of paper.

If you have followed the instructions in steps 1-9, your lessons will be clusters of available items that support one another, rather than fixed sequences of activity. The users of your lessons will be able to modify or replace any item. Whatever items they choose, they can use in any of several orders:

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