Cast Away For A Rainy Day

[Shannon Bridget Murphy]

Teachers Week is a time of the year for gifts to be given to educators as a sign of appreciation throughout the year. I suggest Go Fish by Shawn Halwas. Published in January, it is a new book with a promising educational future.

Brightly colored cards fill the pages of the book designed as a game. Although the pages of cards can be copied from the book, it is advisable to make a single copy for your classroom. Based on a house and the objects within it, an international perspective is contrasted through the illustrated cards. There are a South American blanket, silverware and tableware with a foreign flavor and a South American coat and hat hanging in a closet.

Author Shawn Halwas has written five thirty minute lesson plans. These correspond with the cards in the book. Plans for the game can be practiced with the large illustrated cards. For added vocabulary, there are forty eight smaller cards.

Intermediate elementary and junior high classrooms can benefit from this book. This is because the lesson plans are structured at this level of learning. Illustrations within the book are objects that the students at these levels can relate with. The plans can be easily modified for beginning English classes.

This is a book that would be good for any teacher to have as part of their reference library. Simple lesson plans give the beginning teacher a solid framework and variety for their classes. These plans can be modified for individual classrooms. Aside from the game plans, participation is encouraged by the class through reading and other activities.

Word lists for the pictures in this book would make it more useful for students and teachers. This is because many of the words could be foreign to non-native speakers of English. Spelling and pronunctiation would be made easier with word lists. This could easily be the next chapter for Shawn Halwas to write or an assignment for the reader.

This is a good rainy day book for any ESL classroom to have.