material production

[zohreh_am]

Hi, i wanna produce 40 pages as material for EFL learners but I am really confused. I dont know where i should begin.
should I prepare it as 2 separate units, each discussing a separate topic as an example. or shall I make one unit with 40 pages. I mean is it possible to have 40 pages for only one topic? furthermore I dont know whether my material should contain only one skill or it should be integrated.
what can I do to make my material look more appealing and suitable for self study.
I am supposed to get, say, a reading text from a story book or newspaper, and make M/C and T/F questions for them. i mean authentic sources.
My prof. is interested in films as a good project. PLZ help me . what can I exactly do. I wanna get the highest mark.
should I include pictures? and what should I do for making questions for a film.
A special thanks in advance from those who will help

[*canary*]

What makes a text good and useful?1. suitability - that is how far the textbook suits the needs of students.2. to match (to agree with) the learners' level.3. It should contain enough illustrations, pictures etc, well chosen and organized.4. carefully graded and suitably selected.You should be careful in grading ;i.e. proper ordering of the course material which will help the students to learn step by step, smoothly and easily. The purpose of grading is to make the students capable of using the language in a gradual but steady way.In short grading means the organization of the learning process by ordering the text materials from simple to difficult. so, if you want to produce a good material you should take into account:*There are two kinds of books; -General TB: used for teaching English as a foreign language, in any foreign country. - Specific TB: used for teaching English in a certain country, for example in Yemen there are Crescent Books used for teaching English especially to Yemeni students, they are match our culture, traditions ad religion.# It's easy to compose General TB. I think it will be boring. So you should to divide the book into two units or three. Each unit talks about a certain topics, so the lessons of the unit have the same general subject. after the end of the unit, make an evaluation for the grammatical and structural rules that the unit has. It's preferred to be integrated.***In each lesson you should insert new vocabulary to enrich the students' vocabulary.I prefer to make your material also into a CD using simple programs like pwoerpoint, flash; and animated pictures, sounds.I wish you all the best zohreh_am

[Tdol]

It's understandable, unavoidable even, that you are thinking along these lines, and I understand the need to get good marks, but you seem rather locked into the assessment and the teacher and this will probably end up restricting and inhibiting you. For instance, you say that he is interested in film. That's fine and if you can create materials that interest him so much the better, but your first thoughts should be about the learners and what would benefit them. To be honest, if this your first time for preparing materials, creating a 40-page unit must be daunting. I reckon you'd be better off starting with smaller chunks, which you can maybe later link up.

Are you going to teach with these materials and what level/age, etc, are the intended students?
Could you print the exact wording of the task or question here?

[zohreh_am]

Originally Posted by Tdol

It's understandable, unavoidable even, that you are thinking along these lines, and I understand the need to get good marks, but you seem rather locked into the assessment and the teacher and this will probably end up restricting and inhibiting you. For instance, you say that he is interested in film. That's fine and if you can create materials that interest him so much the better, but your first thoughts should be about the learners and what would benefit them. To be honest, if this your first time for preparing materials, creating a 40-page unit must be daunting. I reckon you'd be better off which you can maybe later link up.

Are you going to teach with these materials and what level/age, etc, are the intended students?
Could you print the exact wording of the task or question here?

Dear Tdol u r right its my first time that I'm gonna produce materials but I think assigning such discouraging task is my prof.'s fault. anyway I will decide on the level and age of students and it is optional,
no i am not going to teach anything, just produce material for learners. it doesnt matter for what age and level. so whats ur suggestion to me? and what do u mean by starting with smaller chunks,what can I do exactly. u know it seems like a torture to me!!!

[zohreh_am]

Originally Posted by *canary*

What makes a text good and useful?1. suitability - that is how far the textbook suits the needs of students.2. to match (to agree with) the learners' level.3. It should contain enough illustrations, pictures etc, well chosen and organized.4. carefully graded and suitably selected.You should be careful in grading ;i.e. proper ordering of the course material which will help the students to learn step by step, smoothly and easily. The purpose of grading is to make the students capable of using the language in a gradual but steady way.In short grading means the organization of the learning process by ordering the text materials from simple to difficult. so, if you want to produce a good material you should take into account:*There are two kinds of books; -General TB: used for teaching English as a foreign language, in any foreign country. - Specific TB: used for teaching English in a certain country, for example in Yemen there are Crescent Books used for teaching English especially to Yemeni students, they are match our culture, traditions ad religion.# It's easy to compose General TB. I think it will be boring. So you should to divide the book into two units or three. Each unit talks about a certain topics, so the lessons of the unit have the same general subject. after the end of the unit, make an evaluation for the grammatical and structural rules that the unit has. It's preferred to be integrated.***In each lesson you should insert new vocabulary to enrich the students' vocabulary.I prefer to make your material also into a CD using simple programs like pwoerpoint, flash; and animated pictures, sounds.I wish you all the best zohreh_am

Dear friend I think u have a brilliant mind. superb suggestions!! but as this is my first time, i'd be thankful of u if u help me through this project.. is it possible for u to participate in this task? actually i should not copy and paste different materials and I myself should produce for example M/C and T/F questions for authentic materials, I really need a close participation
Thanks a lot in advance

[*canary*]

Actually, I haven't compose any material before, but the prof. asked us to analyze a textbook. So I am presenting my suggestions according to the analysis principles. If you are going to compose for advanced level you should make the lessons of the unit talk about the same subject. For example, the subject of the unit is "ENERGY", start the unit with ENERGY SOURCES, then move to THE BAD EMPLOYMENT OF THE ENERGY, then RATIONING THE USAGE OF THE ENERGY. Each topic should contain a certain grammatical structure.But if you want to compose a material for self study, you can start with the alphabets, write a short conversation using simple words, in the following lesson discuss the sentence structure (SVO) using some sentences from the previous conversation. Then move to the tenses (simple, then continuous, the perfect) from easy to difficult. Then you can move to the passive voice, then forming questions (Yes/No, Wh-, question tags) So you can divide your material into the following units (it's up to you):The first unit is INTRODUCTION.The second is VERB TENSES.The third is PUNCTUATIONS The fourth is PASSIVE VOICED.The fifth is FORMING QUESTIONS.The topics are graded so you can omit whatever you want.Don't forget that each unit should contain stories (with its questions), conversations, and they should be also graded from simple to difficult. Be careful each of these topic should contain new different vocabulary.

[heidita]

Just as a matter of discipline I would say: do not use chat talk, especially not on a forum, where you will find lots of students of English!

I'd be thankful of you if you help (not correct )

I would be grateful if you could help me.

[zohreh_am]

Originally Posted by heidita

Just as a matter of discipline I would say: do not use chat talk, especially not on a forum, where you will find lots of students of English!

I'd be thankful of you if you help (not correct )

I would be grateful if you could help me.

hello, correct what, what do u mean ? help u in what? did i correct? and what was it that I corrected? make ur statements clear plz

[heidita]

Originally Posted by zohreh_am

hello, correct what, what do u mean ? help u in what? did i correct? and what was it that I corrected? make ur statements clear plz

I said, your sentence is not correct and if you wish to speak correct English, please do not use this appalling spelling.

[zohreh_am]

Originally Posted by heidita

I said, your sentence is not correct and if you wish to speak correct English, please do not use this appalling spelling.

First, i think in the modern life everything is at speed, so the way of typing has been also affected by the speed of life. yes I wanna improve my English, but i think my way of learning is economical . secondly im not writing a paper to be published somewhere for learners. and ur own english has some grammatical mistakes too. and nowadays,teachers of english know it better, that if learners communicate their purpose of their talking well enough , too many correction of them is not recommended. finally ur tone of talking seems a little impolite and offensive, if u use ur english this way u will discourage the learners of English from learning..so plz change it