# Adapting and Writing Language Lessons/Appendix G

APPENDIX G
TO
CHAPTER 4
MUTUALLY-DERIVABLE MATERIALS IN TECHNICAL SPECIALITIES (THAI)
THE PROBLEM
Thailand 33, a Peace Corps training program, was to prepare Volunteers to work in three medical specialties: malaria control, leprosy control, and laboratory technology. Training was to take place during the period November 9 - January 27. A number of sets of lessons for teaching elementary Thai were already available, but none of them covered the technical areas of this program. There was therefore a call for providing effective 'tech-specific' materials. The first question was:
This part of the problem had come up in many programs in dozens of languages, had been recognized, and had been dealt with in one way or another. Two other aspects of the problem, however, have usually received little or no attention. They were:
* How readily will those in charge of later programs be able to change these materials without destroying them?
* Will the existence of these materials make it any easier to write tech-specific materials in other specialties, such as tuberculosis control or vocational agriculture?
In general, the more specialized a set of lessons, the higher their cost per student-hour. The goal of the project was to deal with all three of these aspects of the problem: to write usable materials on a relatively low budget; to write them in such a way ​that subsequent users could change them as easily as possible to suit their own needs and pedagogical preferences; and to provide a basis from which to derive future courses in other technical specialties.
THE RESOURCES
Although the budget was very low, and the amount of lead time very small, the personnel available for this project were extraordinarily well-suited to undertake it. Professor Sutira Ariyapongse had participated, as language instructor or as coordinator, in Thai language training for over a dozen groups of Peace Corps Volunteers. In some of these programs she had also served as materials writer. She had also had some medical training, and had observed medical Volunteers at work in Thailand.
General supervision of the project was the responsibility of Dale P. Crowley, Chief of the Language unit in the University of Hawaii's Center for Cross-Cultural Training and Research (CCCTR), at which the program was to take place. Besides having run dozens of Peace Corps language training programs for Thailand and elsewhere, Crowley had a personal command of Thai sufficient to enable him to monitor the project at all levels. Less heavily involved, but of crucial importance in laying the groundwork, were two returned Volunteers: Carl Hirth, who had worked in Thailand for two years as a malaria control specialist, and Mark Brinkman, who had worked the same amount of time in leprosy control. Hirth and Brinkman served as spokesmen for the future 'audience' (Chapter 4, p.135) of Thai villagers and co-workers.
​The project also depended heavily on Miss Surapha Rojanavipart, Keenan Eiting, and the language instructional staff for Thailand 33: on technical suggestions from other knowledgable CCCTR professional staff; and on the typing and reproduction facilities of CCCTR.
The principal textbook for the first part of the course was to be Marvin Brown's A.U.A. Language Center Thai Course, but two other sets of materials that had been developed in previous Thai programs were available to supplement it. In particular, this meant that:
* Much non-technical (and very little technical) vocabulary was already presented in the existing materials.
* Many but by no means all grammatical points were explained and drilled in the existing materials.
* There would be a definite advantage in following Brown's format as closely as possible. In his books, each lesson consists of ten numbered parts:
* (1) Vocabulary and expansions.
* (2) [New] patterns.
* (3) Dialog.
* (4) Tone identification and production.
* (5) Tone manipulation.
* (6) Drills on vowels and consonants.
* (7) Grammar.
* (8) Numbers.
* (9) Conversation.
* (10) Writing.
​THE PROCEDURE
The team spent the period November 10-13 in tooling up for the project. As a by-product of this activity they produced one complete lesson in malaria control and a parallel lesson in leprosy control. The sequence of the work is set forth below.
* The team first drew up a list of question-types which they thought would enable the student to elicit the content vocabulary of a specialized field.
* Within the general areas of 'malaria control' and 'leprosy control,' the team then listed several component activities in which volunteers would spend much of their time. For the tooling-up period, they then selected one of these sub-specialties for malaria, and one for leprosy. The centers of interest that they selected were 'Spraying' and 'Examining Patients for Leprosy.'
* The list of question-types was adapted for each subspecialty. The results for 'Spraying' and 'Leprosy Examinations' are reproduced on pp. 161-164.
* Hirth and Brinkman provided in English multiple answers to each question in the indices, based on their own experience of the needs of health Volunteers in Thailand. Their answers were then edited and translated into Thai. Parallel samples are found on pages 165-170. (Throughout the project, Thai and English were placed on consecutive pages. Because few of the readers of this account can be expected to read Thai, and in order to conserve space and the reader's time, most of the samples will be given in English only. ) ​
* For each sub-specialty, Professor Sutira wrote a number of exchange sequences. Each consisted of three of the questions from the index, with one answer for each question.
* She then placed the exchange sequences in order relative to one another and began to develop a lesson around each. The format was that of 'clusters' (Chapter 4, p. 150), in which each drill, exchange sequence, Cummings device, etc. was placed on a separate sheet of paper and punched for looseleaf binding. The order of components which most closely paralleled that of the A.U.A. Course (P.156, above) was the following:
* (0) Statement of 'objectives' for using Thai. On the same sheet were references to the question series, and to grammatical exposition in other textbooks.(This item is numbered '0' because it precedes the items that correspond to numbered sections in the A.U.A. course.) Examples are found on pp.171-172.
* (1) New vocabulary from the pages in the question series (see step 3, above).
* (2) Pattern drills for structures not covered in basic lessons. In the lessons from which these illustrations are being taken, the pattern that corresponds to English 'use something for some purpose' was in that category. It was treated as shown on pp.173-177.
* (3) The exchange sequence. The ones used in the two lessons on which we are concentrating our attention are found on pp. 179-180. A longer and more realistic one from a lesson on malaria surveillance, is found on p.181.
* (4) Extra drills on the new structures introduced in (2), and also 'routine manipulations' (Chapter 8) on persistent grammatical problems covered in the basic lessons, but emphasizing vocabulary from the lesson. An example from the first malaria lesson is on p. 182. The parallel example from leprosy is obvious and will not be reproduced here.
* (5) Materials to be prepared outside of class. Some, but not all of these items contained new, genuine information. See pp. 183-184.
* (6) 'Applications:' Suggestions for using Thai in class or outside, in ways that will be rewarding either esthetically (humor, competition, etc.), or in demonstrating attainment of objectives (0, above), or preferably both. See pages 185f for the examples from the first lessons on malaria and leprosy, and pp. 187-188 for corresponding pages from other lessons.
After the tooling-up period, work proceeded rapidly. Other Subtopics were covered within malaria and leprosy control, and a new series of lessons were written for laboratory technologists. Parallelism among the series was even closer than had been expected. Reception of the new materials in the training program itself was encouraging.
SUMMARY
Quod erat demonstrandum. The team did in fact succeed in writing materials with replaceable parts on a number of different scales. The materials are in this sense highly 'modular'. They seem, in fact, to have achieved that degree of modularity which ​will permit mutual derivability: any one of the set of parallel units provides a basis for reconstructing any of the others, or for constructing new units on topics yet to be selected. This quality is obviously of great economic importance in training international Volunteers, or commercial, industrial and diplomatic personnel, where each trainee has some clearly defined technical specialty that he must be able to discuss in his new language. Possibly of equal interest, however, are the applications of mutual derivability in enhancing the strength, or socio-topical relevance of teaching in schools and colleges.
The question remains, however, whether this set of materials is merely a mildly interesting tour de force, with no wider significance. Could the same series of basic questions be applied to Thai cooking, or Thai boxing, or malaria control in Lingala, or French cuisine in French? Can the same 'cluster' format that seems to have worked in this program be applied to teaching by Quechua speakers in the Andes? Or to teaching of English by Thais in Thailand?
The answers are not apparent. The general approach of Chapter 4 is only general, and this specific case study describes only one ad hoc solution. Together, however, we hope that they represent a potentially fruitful trend in finding other ad hoc solutions to other problems. Writers of language lessons can do no more than that.
​Malaria: QUESTION INDEX: (Spraying)
| Pages |
| (M1-2): | A. | What is this? |
| (M3-4): | B. | What is his work? (OR Who is he?) |
| (M5-6): | C. | What does the sprayman use? |
| (M7-8): | D. | Where is (thing) kept? |
| (M9-10): | E. | What is (thing) used for? |
| (M11-12): | F. | What is wrong with (thing)? |
| (M13-14): | G. | Which spray can do you use? |
| (M15-16): | H. | What are the parts of a spraycan? |
| (M17-18): | I. | What is (thing)? (It's a kind of category or larger unit) |
| (M19-20): | J. | Whose (thing) is this? |
| (M21-22): | K. | What kind of furniture is that? |
| (M23-24): | L. | Where does he work? Where does he go to spray? |
| (M25-26): | M. | What all is in the house?(From point of view of spraying crew) |
| (M27-28): | N. | What does (person) do? |
| (M29-30): | O. | What does the squad chief have to do with the sprayman? |
| (M31-32): | P. | How much …… ? (Answer with certain number.) |
| (M33-34): | Q. | How to make judgments (Criteria). |
| (M35-36): | R. | When does one do something (Verb)? (cues) |
| (M37-38): | S. | Why does one have to do so. (Verb)? ​ | (M39-40): | T. | How does one do something (Verb)? (Steps of doing) |
| (M41-42): | U. | What are the parts of a house? |
| (M43-44): | V. | Who are working at the zone office? (Spraying section) (OR what kind of people are at the zone office) |
| (M45-46): | W. | Where is (place) or (person)? |
| (M47-48): | X. | Which one is (person)? |
| (M49-50): | Y. | What must one pay attention to when he is going to spray? |
​Leprosy: Question Index:(Examination)
| Pages |
| (L1-2): | A. | What is this? |
| (L3-4): | B. | What is his work?(OR: Who is he?) |
| (L5-6): | C. | What does the leprosy worker use? |
| (L7-8): | D. | Where is (thing) kept? |
| (L9-10): | E. | What is (thing) used for? |
| (Lll-12): | F. | What is wrong with (thing)? |
| (L13-14): | G. | Which one (thing) do you use? |
| (L15-16): | H. | What equipment and supplies are there in the UNICEF bag? |
| (L17-18): | I. | What is (thing)? (It's a kind of category or larger unit) |
| (L19-20): | J. | Whose (thing) is this? |
| (L21-22): | K. | What kinds of medicine does the leprosy worker have? What are the doses of DDS? What are the names of some skin diseases? What are the other names of leprosy? |
| (L23-24): | L. | Where does he work? |
| (L25-26): | M. | What is in an examination room? |
| (L27-28): | N. | What does the leprosy worker do? |
| (L29-30): | O. | What does the leprosy worker have to do with the patient? |
| (L31-32): | P. | What does (person) have to do with (person)? |
| (L33-34): | Q. | How much …… ? (Answer with certain number) |
| (L35-36): | R. | How to make judgments. (Criteria) |
| (L37-38): | S. | When does one do something (Verb)?(cues) |
| (L39-40):} | T. | Why does one have to do so (Verb)? |
| (L41-42): | U. | How does one do something)(Verb)? (Steps of doing) |
| (L43-44): | V. | What are the parts of the body? ​ |
| (L45-46): | W. | Who all are working at the sector office and Leprosy Control Division? (OR: What kind of people are at the sector office and Leprosy Control Division?) |
| (L47-48): | X. | Where is (place) or (person)? |
| (L49-50): | Y. | Which one is (person)? |
| (L51-52): | Z. | What must one pay attention to when he is working? |
(A)
malaaria: (kaan phôn DDT) nîi ˀaray nîi khrʉ̂ŋphôn phǒŋ DDT thǎŋ kapǒoŋ bàt pracam bâan prɛɛŋ sǐi khǎykhuaŋ khiim kuncɛɛ lʉ̂an kruay phɛ̌ɛnthîi khʉ̂aŋchâŋ fɛ̀ɛm bɛ̀ɛp room
M:1
(A)
<poem> What is this? This is a spray can. DDT powder mixing pail house card brush paint screwdriver pliers wrench funnel map scale folder forms <poem>
M:2 # # #
(E)
What is a spray can used for?
It is used for spraying DDT. :
| mixing pail | mixing IDT keeping water carrying water |
| DDT | killing mosquitoes |
| water | mixing DDT washing the spray can |
| scale | weighing DDT |
| maps | finding the village finding the house |
| funnel | pouring DDT into the spray can |
| paint | writing on the house after spraying |
| screwdriver | tightening the screws stirring DDT |
M:10 # # #
(A)
rooknan:(kaan trùat ráksăa)
nîi ˀaray nîi mîitkoon pàakkhîip sǎmlii ˀɛɛlkɔɔhɔɔ (kracòk)saláy phɛ̀ɛn saláy kracòk phaa kɔ́ɔs phaa yaaŋ pìt phlěe pláatsatə̌ə khěm mùt takiaŋ bɛ̀ɛp fɔɔm fɛ́ɛm yaa khîlphʉ̌ŋ (yaa) DDS yaa bamruŋ lʉ̌at (yaa) wítaamin kapǎw yuu ni seep kapǎw yaa kapaw mɔ̌ɔ
L:l
(A)
What is this? This is a razor blade. forceps cotton alcohol a slide a cover slip gauze adhesive tape plaster (adhesive tape) a pin a lamp a form a folder salve DDS iron complex vitamins UNICEF bag UNICEF bag, or medical kit medical kit
L:2
(E)
What is a razor blade used for?
| It is used for | slitting the skin. |
| | scraping the skin |
| alcohol and cotton | sterilizing the razor blade |
| | sterilizing the skin |
| | wiping the blood |
| | cleaning the wound |
| | testing for anesthesia |
| | flaming the slide |
| gauze | covering the wound |
| pin | checking for anesthesia |
| DDS | treating leprosy |
| cover slip | covering the smear on the slide |
| Vitamin B | helping the nervous system |
L:10
MALARIA
TECH LESSON 1
(Spraying)
* Objectives:
* Basic Functional Questions:
* Gramnatica1 references to materials used earlier in the course. Basic Lessons 4, Pages 9-10 " 10, " 30-31 " 12, " 37 " 20, " 72 " 21, " 81 Microwave Cycle " XV AUA Book I, lesson 8, Page 83 " 13, " 137-145
ML:1
LEPROSY
TECH LESSON 1
(Examination)
* Objectives:
** To identify items terms used in examimation.
** To tell what each item is used for
** To tell to whom each item belongs
* Basic Functional Questions:
** A (Pages 1-2)
** E (Pages 9-10)
** J (Pages 19-20)
* Grammatical references to materials used earlier in the course. Basic Lessons 4, Pages 9-10 " 10, " 30-31 " 12, " 37 " 20, " 72 " 21, " 81 Microwave Cycle XII " XV AUA Book I, Lesson 8, Page 83   " 13, " 137-145
LL:l
​Pattern Drill:(AEJ)
Give one or more sentences that the
cháy sǎmràp tham ˀaray
cháy sǎmràp phasǒm DDT
cháy sǎmràp khon DDT
cháy sǎmràp phôn DDT
What do we use that for?
We use that for mixing DDT.
We use that for stirring DDT.
We use that for spraying DDT.
ML:3
(AEJ)
Drills on "cháy ..x.. sămràp ..y.."
​Drills on "Use __x__ for __y"_(AEJ)
ML:5
​Pattern Drill: (from Leprosy series)(AEJ)
cháy sǎmràp tham ˀaray
cháy sǎmràp krìit phǐwnǎŋ
cháy sǎmràp khùut phǐwnǎŋ
cháy sǎmràp chét phǐwnǎŋ
What do we use that for?
We use that for slitting the skin.
We use that for scraping the skin.
We use that for sterilizing the skin.
LL:3
(AEJ)
Drills on "cháy ..X.. sǎmràp ..Y.."
LL:4
​Drills on "...use..X.. for ..Y." (ACFG)
LL:5
​malaaria (kaanphôn DDT)
bòtsǒnthanaa thiam I(AEJ)
A: nîi ɔaray kh.
B: thǎŋ kh.
A: cháy thǎŋ sǎmràp tham ɔaray kh.
B: chéy thǎŋ (sǎmràp) phasǒm DDT kh.
A: thǎŋ bay níi khɔ̌n khray kh.
B: khɔ̌ŋ khun suphát kh.
Malaria (Spraying)
Pseudo-dialog I(AEJ)
A. What is this?
B: It's a pail.
A: What do you use it for?
B: For mixing DDT.
A: Whose pail is this?
B: It's Khun Suphat's pail.
ML:2 ###
​rôokrʉ́an: (kaantrùat ráksǎa)
bòtsǒnthanaa thiam I (AEJ)}}
A: nîi ɔaray kh.
B: mîitkoon kh.
A; cháy mîitkoon (sǎmràp tham ɔaray kh.
B; cháy mîitkoon (sǎmràp) krìit phǐwnǎŋ kh.
A: mîitkoon ɔan níi khɔ̌ŋ khray kh.
B: khɔ̌ŋ khun chaan kh.
Leprosy (Examination)
Exchange Sequence I(AEJ)
A: What is this?
B: It's a razor blade.
A: What do you use it for?
B: For slitting the skin.
A: Whose razor blade is this? (Whose is this razor blade?)
B: It's Khun Chaan's razor blade.
LL:2 # # #
​Malaria: (Surveillance)(Bbzc)
Dialog 4:
P -- Peace Corps Volunteer V -- Villager S -- Sick person
P: Hello. I'm a house visitor. I came from the Malaria Eradication Center.
Is there anyone sick with fever in this house?
V: Yes, there is. He is in the room. Please go in.
P: How do you feel?
S: I have a terrible headache, and am also very cold.
P: Does he have a fever every day?
S: No, he does not. He is feverish every other day.
P: May I take your blood sample?
S: O.K. where will you prick?
P: Any finger (is all right). It won't hurt.
ML:61
​(c) Making negative by using "mây chây + N". [see Basic Lesson 10]
* This spray can is the squad chief's.
* This pliers is the assistant zone chief's.
* This scale is the sector chief's.
* This screwdriver is the sprayman's.
* This folder is the zone chief's.
* This form is Khun Suphat's.
* This brush is the mop-up sprayman's.
* This pail is the doctor's.
* This funnel is the chief's.
* This DDT is Khun Prasong's.
ML:10 # # #
​Out-of-Class Research (Spraying: AEJ)
I. This is a stick. It is used for stir-ring DUI‘. It is Khun Suphat's stick.
Questions [Questions are not necessarily in the same order as the facts.]
* What is this?
* Whose is it?
* What is it used for?
II. This is a pencil. It is used for filling out the form. It is not Khun Suphat's pencil.
Questions:
* What is this?
* Whose is it?
* What is it used for?
ML:16
​Out-of-Class Research (Examination) (AEJ)
I. These are scissors. They are used for cutting the gauze.
They are Khun Chaan's scissors.
Qustions: (Questions are not necessarily in the same order as the facts.)
* What is it?
* Whose is it?
* What is it used for?
II. This is a pencil. It is used for filling out the form.
It is not Khun Chaan's pencil
Questions:
* What is it?
* Whose is it?
* What is it used for?
LL:16
​Applications of the Lesson (Spraying: AEJ)
* See who can name all the spraying gear in good Thai in the shortest time.
* One person points to an object. The other person tells all he knows about it. He should bring in materials that he remembers from the Basic Lessons and AUA Book. (One-minute limit.)
* Trade instructors for the Last 5-10 minutes of class, and let the students try to impress the visiting instructor.
* Outside of class, learn the name of one object and what it is used for.
* Each student is given a different word to find the meaning of.
ML:84
​Applications of the Lesson: (kaantrùat ráksǎa) (AEJ)
1. See who can name all the exemination gear in good Thai in the shortest time.
2. One person points to one object. The other person tells all he knows about it. He should bring in materials that he remembers from the Basic Lessons, AUA Book. (0ne—minute limit)
3. Trade instructors for the last 5-1O minutes of class, and let the students try to impress the visiting instructor.
4. Outside of class, learn the name of one object and what it is used for.
5. Each student is given a different word to find out the meaning of.
ML:17
(cUf)
Application of the Lesson:
1. (From out-of-Class Research No. I) Identify the different parts of various objects such as bottles, cans, boxes, etc.
2. (From Out-of-Class Research No. II) Describe a situation in which you would feel:
(a) cayklâa
(b) khɛ̌ɛngay
(c) caykhɛ̌ɛn
(d) frʉ́ʉncay
(e) camcay
See who can tell all that he has to pay attention to when:
(a) he releases blood from the blood bank.
(b) he performs the CSF test.
(c) he performs a fecal examination.
(d) he performs a urinalysis.
Let each student describe some activities from his daily work in which there could easily be a mix-up. Then he should suggest ways of avoiding them.
Have one person name as many abbreviations as he can that are used in the lab report, and have the other students explain each abbreviation in Thai.
MTL:116
(BbZc)
* (From Out-of-Class Research No. II) Identify the different parts of various objects such as bottles, cans, boxes, etc.
* In one-minute limit, each student tells the symptoms of malaria fever.
* Each student is given the titles of people who work in the M.E. project or Malaria Zone Office and asked to describe their jobs.
* Have each person pantamine some action from his daily work, and have other class members guess what he is doing and the tine of day that it is usually done. They must then give the reasons why they guessed as they did.
* Have each person take a tum to be a house owner or surveillance worker. On a rouse-visiting trip, the surveillance worker interviews the rouse-owner. (Three-minute limit
* Have each person take a turn to be a patient or a surveillance worker having a conversation during the house visit. (Three-minute limit)
ML:84