Page:Adapting and Writing Language Lessons.pdf/217

CHAPTER 4 (2) Foreign Service Officers need to be alert to more than the superficial information contained in what they read and hear. A surname is a partial guide to the ethnic background of its bearer.

(d) Find out from the instructor what might be the ethnic origin of each of the six elected officers.

(e) Discuss such questions as: Are the officers from a single ethnic group, or do they represent a cross-section of Kenya? How do the origins of the officers correspond to the geographical location of their branch of the union?

(3) A Foreign Service Officer is often called on to deal tactfully with a wide variety of questions, where he is in fact, though perhaps not officially, representing his country.

(f) Students and instructor pose to one another questions that they think can be answered briefly with the Swahili at their disposal. For example, one of the team members was asked by a Nairobi taxi driver, 'What do Americans think of Tom Mboya?'

Since the new materials were not in actual classroom use, there was no direct way of demonstrating how much time would be required in order to update the file.

There are however reasons to believe that this time would be very short if we can assume that the teacher is reasonably adept at improvising routine manipulative drill if he is given