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[User N. Ame]

Thinking of doing a bit of teaching on the side here in Canada. Most of the Asian students here studying already have mid-to-high level of eikaiwa skills. I've talked to a few who want to do extra study on the side, on weekends.

Any suggestions on a text I can use as a guide to teaching English conversation skills? Back in Japan, I always had the school's texts and lesson plans, never had to find my own text.

Thanks in advance.

[cornishmuppet]

The ones I liked -

For adults - (New) Headway, English File.

Teenagers - (New) Snapshot, Objective KET/PET/CAE.

I'm a Brit, so hence my choices (though you can get American Headway, a US version). An American book I'm using with a single private student is WAY1 (What About You? 1 ). I met the author at a book fair and he gave me free copies, hence my choice, but its not bad. Also good because it has the tapescripts in the back so you can use it without buying the CDs. I'm not keen on spending a lot on materials for the odd private class.

If you ring up the distributors and pretend you are a small private school, they might send you a sample copy of each (though you won't get any teachers books or workbooks). It worked for me a couple of times, and at worst, the books just don't turn up.

[seanmcginty]

I've always like the New Interchange series, they are pretty well made and each unit usually has pretty good activities that can be used for either groups or private lessons. The only downside is you have to buy the classroom audio CD seperately, and they cost a bit, but that would be an issue for most textbooks.