Teacher Discussion Forums

[ttgwalton]

Hello. I'm going to be teaching very low level teenage boys at a Buddhist temple in Korea soon. I'm looking for a few good books that will have mostly speaking activities. In the past I used a series of books that came highly recommended by my CELTA course, by Macmillan (I think!), and have totally gone blank with the name. I believe the series had four levels (starter/beginner, high-beginner, intermeditate, upper intermediate, and possibly advanced). The class atmosphre here will be very low pressure, I'm just looking for books with ideas/activities/photocopiable worksheets to get them speaking- light on grammar and good for a low-pressure teaching/learning environment. Sorry I can't be more specific, but any ideas would be extremely helpful. Thanks so much.

[alexcase]

Were they textbooks, skills books or photocopiable worksheet books? If textbooks, were they short courses or long course (usually easy to tell as the short courses are thinner and have only 2 pages per unit)? Can you remember anything about the appearance?

My recommendation would be New English File Elementary. Make sure you get the teacher's book too, because it has lots of nice photocopiable materials.

TEFLtastic blog- www.tefl.net/alexcase

[ESLchocofish]

Wow! Teaching in a buddist temple must be an amazing experience. Instead of giving you book suggestions, I would recommend that you create some activities. Most textbooks are written for students of a specific culture and your students may not be interested in attending your classes so much. Activities adapted to the reality in which your students are living in will encourage them and you will get their attention easily.
Teach them the vocabulary related to buddism and temples. Later on, ask them to teach you how to pray, to give you a guided tour of the temple, etc., all that using English. Have fun!!