Authors: George Kanyama (Zambia), Muhaymina Talib Omar (Tanzania), Stella Lawson (Nigeria), and Thandi Mosholi (South Africa) | Published on 13 November 2025
Question: What should we teach when we have been assigned a new curriculum, but we don’t yet have any materials?
Answer: Plan, collaborate with other teachers and find out how your new curriculum overlaps with the old one.
Introduction
Starting a new curriculum without materials is like being asked to cook a new meal without a recipe. You still have your cooking skills, your sense of taste, and your creativity.
In the same way, teachers can use their professional judgment, teamwork, and local resources to create meaningful learning experiences even before the official materials arrive.
This checklist offers simple, practical steps with examples to help teachers teach confidently and effectively during this transition period.
Before the lesson
Read the curriculum guide carefully → Identify what students should know and be able to do.
Example: If the new English curriculum focuses on “communicative writing,” note that the goal is for students to express ideas clearly, not just write grammatically correct sentences. Make sure you understand the learning points.
Check for overlap with the old curriculum → Reuse familiar content and adapt it.
Example: If the old curriculum had lessons on ‘Describing People,’ you can reuse the same activities while adding new vocabulary or grammar structures from the new curriculum.
Search for alternative resources such as on websites like Teaching English Africa, newspapers, community examples, and local stories.
Example: Use a local newspaper article to discuss current events or a community story to practice reading comprehension.
Plan at least one interactive activity—like a discussion, role play, debate, or group task.
Example: In a lesson on hobbies, ask the students to survey each other and find out what other students in the class like to do with their free time.
Collaborate with colleagues → Share lesson ideas and divide planning tasks.
Example: One teacher can design reading comprehension activities while another prepares vocabulary lists and games for the same topic.
During the lesson
Begin with a real-life example to connect the topic to students’ everyday experiences.
Example: An anecdote or a fact about something local.
Focus on skills and understanding, not just content delivery.
Example: Instead of just defining ‘adjectives,’ have students describe objects in the classroom using as many adjectives as possible.
Encourage student participation through pair work, group projects, or peer teaching.
Example: Let students work in pairs to summarise a story and then present it to the class.
Use improvised teaching aids such as charts, drawings, and real objects.
Example: Draw a food pyramid on cardboard or use real fruits to teach ‘healthy eating.’
Check learning with quick formative assessments—like a show of hands, oral questions, or exit slips.
Example: Ask, ‘Who can give me one example of a green food?’ before ending the lesson.
After the Lesson
Reflect: Did students achieve the intended learning outcomes?
Example: If the goal was to use past tense correctly, check if students applied it in their class stories.
Note what worked well—activities, examples, or resources.
Example: Not just activities that the students enjoyed, but activities which helped them develop confidence and mastery of the learning point.
Share successful lessons with other teachers so everyone benefits.
Example: Present your adapted materials at a staff meeting or upload them to a shared folder.
Revise and improve your lesson plan before the next class.
Example: If students struggled with a topic, simplify the examples or provide more visuals next time. Don’t file your lesson away unedited if it wasn’t successful.
Keep a running folder or shared drive—this becomes your mini resource bank.
Example: Store printed worksheets, improvised flashcards, and copies of your best activities for future use.
Takeaway points
- Teaching without materials is challenging but possible. The teacher and the students are the first and most important resources
- Collaboration multiplies creativity. Share what works and borrow what helps.
- Students and their environment are valuable resources. Use what’s around you.
- Focus on skills, not pages; understanding, not memorisation.
Like a cook experimenting before the recipe book arrives, a teacher’s innovation and teamwork can make the learning experience rich and rewarding.