Job Discussion Forums

[naturegirl321]

Agreed, however, your boss also has to be open to the idea.

I didn't mean for the thread to get like this. I just want opinions on good non-grammar based books.

[spiral78]

Agreed. Have you presented such a proposal to your boss?

[coffeedrinker]

Regarding spiral78's comments..

I feel a little insulted. I'm writing a post on a forum, not teaching a class, to be helpful about a book which I used for one or two classes a few years ago. I'm not directly attacking you or criticizing your comment about writing your own course by describing Inside Out.

I don't know why you feel the need to be so rude about an informal post. She asked for more information about a book - I answered her question instead of telling her more than once to do something that she had already said was not a possibility. Instead of ignoring the question, or directing someone to google it, I shared my impressions.

I'm comparing it to Cutting Edge, where teachers sharing the class can break up activities so the lessons still make sense. I did not enjoy nor did I find it useful going through grammar points my students felt were trivial based on a text or a listening that took an hour to get through in the last class the week before. If people were absent or you needed to skip a text or listening so that you got through the grammar that was on the test, little from the unit was usable. I did not find that a problem with Cutting Edge, maybe because even in the advanced book, the readings and listenings were not so lengthy.

Maybe this was all a result of my incompetency (or laziness) or that of the other teacher. Maybe all of my students were just slow learners.

This was my impression of the book. If you disagree, maybe you could express that in an intelligent way instead of representing me as an idiot.

[Sherri]

I am with spiral78 on the use of texts and the benefits of developing your own materials and curriculum, however I realize that not every school has that luxury or the teachers skilled enough to do this.

The Cobuild series was (is it still in print?) a lexical-based text. I like the Cambridge series Touchstone developed by Michael McCarthy and is the next generation corpus-driven textbook. We have been using it where I work and students and teachers seem to like it. The Quest series from McGraw Hill is content -based and may be an option you could look into.

The BBC website offers a lot of material for teachers, listenings, reading passages and activities, worksheets which you could use to supplement or replace texts.

Hope this helps
Sherri

[naturegirl321]

[John Hall]

I worked with one of the Touchstone books last year, and liked it very much. Yes, it is lexical-based. But couldn't each lesson in Touchstone be considered task-based? The book seems to enable students to "do things" in English.

[sallycat]

[spiral78]

I wasn't trying to be rude, or to imply that anyone who isn't writing their own courses is lazy. I did make the point that it's optimal, particularly when you've got the quals and experience, as Naturegirl has, to do it.

Suggesting this as an option and even urging her to suggest it to the school owner is, in fact, an indication that I recognize her professionalism to the extent that I think she'd find it a rewarding experience.

Obviously I realize that the school would have to agree and to fund such an undertaking, and that might well not happen.

But the suggestion itself is in no way negative.

[coffeedrinker]