On many occasions in recent times, at conferences and in reports, it has been said that it is of considerable importance to produce curriculum materials which are relevant to the lives of Australian children. In particular, it has been asserted that language teaching programs for Australian Aboriginal children and for the children of recently arrived community groups would be facilitated, if there were materials available to which these children could relate. Many materials presently available in schools are criticized, because they have been designed for child audiences in the United Kingdom and the United States, or that minor ‘cosmetic’ adaptations have been made to suit them to an Australian market. One argument put forward for the use of these ‘imported’ materials is that the Australian market is too small to support the development and production of materials designed specifically for Australian conditions. Contributing factors to this cost element are the use of four-colour printing, high quality glossy paper and expensive binding techniques. It is asserted also, that the use of these materials may be necessary*as they form part of integrated language teaching programs. In many instances, however, the classroom practitioner may develop an ideosyncratic language teaching regime which incorporates facets of several ‘recognized’ schemes. The problem arises therefore of how to capitalize upon the techniques and skills of the teacher with ‘established’ methods and yet provide materials with which the children can achieve a degree of empathy and self-identity and thereby, through the materials, experience stimulus motivation.