Abstract: The subscription of Nigeria to MDGs and the attendant efforts of providing qualitative universal basic education by governments made international interventions in the sector visible in all parts of Nigeria. Such intervention is usually technical that tends to provide stakeholders, especially teachers, with internationally tested models that will boost their service delivery and bring improved output from teaching and learning activities. Jolly Phonics is one of such models that aim at teaching reading and writing to pupils at Primary 1&2 with letter sounds that are introduced through child centred strategies of songs, stories and 'actions'. Using Jolly Phonics Project of Zamfara State Universal Basic Education as a reference point, this paper features the critical role of home academics in adapting the model to the local linguistic and cultural environment of the host state.