about the matter of titles, and so the task is also stimulating. Students very quickly recognize busy work, so a useful, specific, open-ended but nonstimulating task will probably be non-productive.
We have discussed 'occasions for use' before the other three components because writers and teachers so often slight them, or ignore them altogether. It is true that the student normally performs them at the end of a lesson, if at all, but a writer or adapter would be wise to begin thinking about them as soon as he has chosen a lesson. Even in the student's book, the planned occasions for use might be listed at the head of the lesson, so that the student can form a clearer idea of the potential strength of the rest of the lesson. Occasions for use should certainly affect the writing or revision of every other component.
Component 2: a sample of language use
Every lesson should contain a sample of how the language is used. The sample should be:
- long enough to be viable. (Two-line dialogs, no matter how timely or realistic, have proved not to meet this requirement.)
- short enough to be covered, with the rest of the lesson, in 1-4 hours of class time.
- related to a socio-topical matrix that the students accept as expressing their needs and interests.
The sample may take any of several forms. Many courses in the past 25 years have used the 'basic dialog' to fulfill this role, but other kinds of sample are more useful for some purposes.The most concrete is probably the 'action chain' (or 'action script'), which lists a series of activities that normally occur together.
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