Job Discussion Forums

Sashadroogie · Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2010 10:41 am Post subject:

Curiosity, even idler than before, though no less genuine for all that, getting the better of me: why are there not many course books on the market with a US slant? I only vaguely know of ... what's it called again... Interchange, or something, but seems more suited to the ESL market in the USA, rather than for use in foreign classrooms.

Anyone know of any other titles? (Apart from American Headway, that is.)

tomstone · Joined: 09 Dec 2009 Posts: 293

Because when most of the eastern world started learning English "the sun never set on the British Empire". Old habits die hard. I've seen them in the US (books for EFL), but they are mostly for the domestic market; overseas doesn't use them. "American" English was considered a bastardized version of "proper" (read: British) English. Okay, I'm ready, come on, people!

AjarnIam · Joined: 31 Jan 2010 Posts: 95 Location: Thailand

Sashadroogie · Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2010 8:43 pm Post subject:

Gosh?! Do you mean that the outside world doesn't think that American English is the alpha and the omega of EFL? What on Earth? So what are the course books of choice in Japan or Korea? Surely not Oxbridge materials?

(All those lines ended with question-marks - did you all see that?)

Justin Trullinger · Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2010 9:25 pm Post subject:

There are a number of decent US English based textbooks on the market. I've used American InsideOut for quite a while. (British publisher, I believe, but American English focus.)

Interchange is the same- it's an Oxbridge book, and some of the "American" accents in the recordings are highly improbably, but it is focused on American English.

The best books, in my opinion, are the ones that acknowledge that English is becoming global, and it's nonsense to claim that any one form should have predominance.

Funny thing. I'm from the US. My wife is from the UK. We understand each other pretty well.

Another funny thing. When working in Spain, a lot of students objected to me because they wanted to learn "real English," not "American." Many asked if I spoke English, or only American.

The same thing happened to my wife in Ecuador. Students wanted an American teacher, not some British throwback.

And gosh darn it, they all wound up sounding like...Spanish speakers with second language English.

Getting too far into "British vs American" is just silly. It's the same language with relatively trivial variations.

If students can't handle this, they need to learn that all languages do it.

If teachers can't handle it, they have no business working or living internationally.

Best,
Justin

Sashadroogie · Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2010 9:41 pm Post subject:

Heh heh, doesn't bother me... being neither one nor the other.

But is Interchange really a British publication originally? Never realised that. Aren't there any course books for American markets by American publishers? There has to be an American equivalent of Liz and John Soars somewhere, surely?

doner · Joined: 21 Jan 2010 Posts: 179

There is the American Lanugage Course

Justin Trullinger · Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2010 11:06 pm Post subject:

Funnily enough, I haven't ran into an American version of the Soars.

It seems that a LOT of the US market is still quite dominated by grammar focused texts, rather than fours skills stuff. Betty Azar's series is, sort of oddly imo, the core text in a number of US based ESL programs I'm aware of.

Best,
Justin

Sashadroogie · Posted: Fri Feb 12, 2010 6:06 am Post subject:

Aha! Gentlemen, I think I have an idea that can make us all rich. Rich, I say!

AjarnIam · Joined: 31 Jan 2010 Posts: 95 Location: Thailand

As anyone ever considered writing a Eng T-book, with all the modern approaches, but more related to the student's country/culture?

Sashadroogie · Posted: Fri Feb 12, 2010 6:26 am Post subject:

There are localised versions of standard course books. This usually means just changing a few photos to include local landmarks and sticking a few local names on the characters. E.G. People Like Us has a Russian edition with a girl called Tanya, or something.

Usually, publishers can only make a profit on large-run generic course books, aimed at the global market. Which is why you really never see a course book called 'English for Vietnamese in New Zealand'. I'm sure it exists, but you'd probably never see it for poor sales.

But an L&J type of book for the US, on the other hand! Rich, I say! Rich!!!

AjarnIam · Joined: 31 Jan 2010 Posts: 95 Location: Thailand

My Dean is all hung up on British higher education, so we are strongly encouraged to use books with a very British slant.

Kalima Shahada · Posted: Sat Feb 13, 2010 9:25 am Post subject:

Sashadroogie · Posted: Sat Feb 13, 2010 10:32 am Post subject:

Whatever problems they have in communicating with each other, it will be because of more profound issues than US or UK 'dialects'.

I don't know which British publishers say that British/American differences confuse students. Don't know any, actually. I would say, however, that it is much more likely that a LOT of American teachers will be confused.