Designing EFL Materials that Work
Let’s Go has the distinction of being the first EFL course book series for children, and of remaining one of the world’s best-selling course books through five editions for nearly 30 years. As co-author, Barbara has seen trends come and go in materials design for young learners, but some fundamentals have withstood the test of time. She will talk about these in terms of guidelines that can help teachers create effective EFL materials, whether for learners in their own classes or for learners in classrooms around the world. Participants will then apply these guidelines in turning content into coursebook pages. Barbara will bring material for participants to work with, but if you have a coursebook you’d like to analyze and perhaps improve based on the guidelines we explore, please bring it along with you to this session. The principles covered will apply to materials for all levels of learners.
Barbara Hoskins Sakamoto holds a US English teaching license and an MATESOL, and has taught Language Arts, ESL, and EFL. Barbara is co-author of one of the world’s best-selling textbook series for children learning English, Let's Go (Oxford University Press), co-author of the online course, English for Teachers (International Teacher Development Institute), and author of the chapter, The role of technology in early years language education, in Early Years Second Language Education (Routledge, 2015). She is an English Language Specialist with the United States State Department, and is Course Director for International Teacher Development Institute (iTDi.pro). Barbara has been invited to give keynote and plenary talks at a number of international conferences, and has conducted teacher training workshops in Asia, Europe, and the Americas. She conducts courses and teacher training online. Her webinars are always popular with teachers around the world.