Universidad Autónoma de Sinaloa

Syllabus Design

BA in ELT – 7th Semester

Tutor: Carlos Raúl López Reatiga

Student: Raquel Arenas Cázares

December 2008

Materials Design Course

Course Description
This is an active and dynamic course especially designed for BA in ELT students. Through this
course students will develop important abilities and skills that will help them design their own
materials for their lessons. The course is given online and the use of technology is mandatory since
they will have to design a variety of materials to be used with different technology appliances. The
course will cover 21 hours of instruction and participation is a must. Students will have time enough
to plan their own schedule for working on the different assignments. Each week they will have to
dedicate 3 hours to different conferences and assignments to carry out the activities.

Instructor: Raquel Arenas Cázares

raque-ba@hotmail.com
667-160-0375

Office Hours: Monday-Friday 8 am- 2 pm

Course Goals and Objectives

• To be able to design creative materials
• To be able to use technology for educational purposes
• To be able to plan lessons using a wide variety of materials

Topics or activities to be covered for each class meeting

The course will cover 20 hours which will be divided in 7 different activities to be carried out in 7
weeks. Each week there will be a different activity. The 7 different topics will be:
• Authentic materials and realia
• Digital stories
• Power point presentations
• Making a pronunciation video
• Puppets in the language classroom
• Songs and music
 • Animations

Materials Design is given in the 7th semester of the BA. This subject plays an important role in the
BA program since Ss will be able to apply all the knowledge acquired during the first 3 years of
instruction.

Course Expectations
During this course late work is given a lower grade. It is mandatory to turn in all the assignments on
time. Since there won’t be any F2F session, participation includes turn in assignments/homework as
they are required and quality/relevant participation in conferences that show students’
understanding and knowledge. Attendance will be graded with students’ participation in conferences
and assignments. Attendance can be affected by tardiness in conferences.
Students are expected to be autonomous learners. This must be reflected in their participation in
conferences and quality homework/assignments.

Learning Outcomes
After taking this course students will feel more self-confident when designing their own materials.
They will have the knowledge and ability they need to make decisions towards the use of materials.
They will have certain experience using technology. They will have the ability to design a course
syllabus without using a specific textbook.

Teaching /learning methods

The teacher in this course will play the role of guide and facilitator. Students will work independently
and most of the knowledge will be constructed by them, through research and collaborative work.
Student-student and teacher- student interaction will be done online so using the proper netiquette
is mandatory.
This is a learner-centered course.

Materials to use in every lesson

• Computer / Internet access (for every lesson)
• Authentic materials and realia (for 1 activity)
• Puppets (for 1 activity)

Detailed course calendar (course outline and schedule)

Week 1 – Course introduction

Do research on the use of authentic materials and realia.
Conference 1 – Discuss benefits and drawbacks on the use of authentic materials
and realia. Plan a short lesson. Share experience.

Week 2 – Digital stories. Why should we bring digital stories to the language classroom?
Conference 2 – Persuade your e-mates to use digital stories in the classroom. Share
some websites by posting them in the link sharing space. Here is an example of one
you can analyze.
http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/learnshops/digital/examples.php

Week 3 – Power point presentation. Conference 3 – Design an educational power point

presentation to be used with your students. Plan a lesson, teach it and share the
experience. Post lesson plan and power point presentation.

Week 4 – Making a pronunciation video – Conference 4 – Choose an English sound your students
have difficulty with and create an educational video to teach them how to pronounce
it. Send it to your tutor and e-mates. Post in the conference the advantages and
 disadvantages of using videos for teaching pronunciation. Sample video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wxzieu-WXt4

Week 5 – Puppets in the language classroom – Conference 5 – Make research and explain why we
should use puppets in the language classroom. Cite your sources. Plan a short
lesson, teach the class and send the evidence to your tutor and e-mates (pictures,
video, or recording)

Week 6 – Songs and music – Read the following article about using songs and music in the
language classroom. Make a summary and post it in conference 6.
http://www.britishcouncil.org/languageassistant-tips-music.htm
Post in conference a list of activities you can use with music and songs. Discuss
them with e-mates.

Week 7 – Animations – Visit the following website http://goanimate.com/ analyze it and create your
own educational video. Think of a grammar aspect, vocabulary, pronunciation or skill
you would like your students to improve and create a fun animation to help them
overcome that problem. Send the animation to your e-mates and tutor and post in the
conference how you would use it with your students.

Course requirements
• To be in the 7th semester of the BA in ELT
• To be able to use a computer and internet
• To have the willingness of using technology for educational purposes

Evaluation specifics

Attendance to conferences (on time) 14%

Participation in conferences (relevant) 56%
Final Assignments 30% Deadline February 28

In each conference you can obtain up to 10 points (2 for attending on time and 8 for relevant
participation)

Grading

Final Assignments
Write a 1000 words essay reflecting the process of the course, the learning outcomes and the
benefits you have found on designing your own materials. This essay is 15% of your grade.

Make a power point presentation highlighting the relevant information about your essay. Use your
creativity to make it fun and engaging.
This power point presentation is 15% of your grade.

Extra credit
If you missed a conference but you do not want to miss your points think of a different way of using
technology for teaching a lesson (something we did not use throughout the course), design your
materials, and send them to your tutor and e-mates. You can use iPod, DVD’s, tapes, or another
resource available in the net.
Explain how you would use those materials.

Explanation and materials should be relevant in order to obtain 10 points.