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FrenchLieutenant'sWoman · Joined: 24 Jan 2010 Posts: 53 Location: France(ish)

Looking through my shelves I realise I have quite a few books about English/Teaching/English Language Teaching but there are definitely some books I use more frequently than others! This slightly inane observation got me thinking...

If your house was on fire which 5 EFL related books (reference books, photocopiable resources, activity files) would you save?

johnslat · Posted: Wed Apr 21, 2010 5:06 pm Post subject:

Dear FrenchLieutenant'sWoman,

Were my house on fire, I'm afraid ESL related books would be so low on my list of priorities that the place would be totally consumed long before I ever got around to saving any.

Now, which I would want to take with me when I set off for a job in some godforsaken, remote area of the globe, well, that might be a different story.
I'll think about it and return.

Regards,
John

Sashadroogie · Posted: Wed Apr 21, 2010 5:55 pm Post subject:

I think it would be my portable hard drive. God bless torrents!

fluffyhamster · Posted: Wed Apr 21, 2010 6:44 pm Post subject:

The first two items I'd save would unquestionably be the COBUILD Grammar Patterns 1: Verbs and 2: Nouns and Adjectives, because both are very useful but unfortunately out of print.

Next up for saving would be Huddleston & Pullum's Cambridge Grammar of the English Language closely followed by Biber et al's Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English. These two books are still very much in print, but would be quite expensive to replace.

Finally, probably Brazil's A Grammar of Speech (very interesting and appealing, but also out of print), though something by Sampson (primarily, The Language Instinct Debate), or Hudson, or even Matthews (e.g. A Short History of Structural Linguistics) might get grabbed instead in a smoke and cough-filled luxurious last-minute change of mind. Smile

(Damn, then there's Taylor's Cognitive Grammar...easily replaced, but still too nice a book to let burn...). Or maybe I should throw in a more immediately "practical" book such as Bygate et al's out-of-print Grammar and the Language Teacher ... (Obviously the last, less empirical sort of book is proving harder for me to choose!).

Now, which of my Chinese books should I save...and my travel books...oh, and all those martial arts ones...now for the classical CDs...and the movies on DVD...(etc etc). Very Happy

Best thing would be to live in a flame-proof bunker and not smoke, but that's hard to maintain when frequenting Dave's and being ESL sex incarnate. Laughing

coledavis · Joined: 21 Jun 2003 Posts: 1838

Jeremy Harmer, How to teach English (not his other book which I consider to be tosh. Good for reviewing one's performance.
Michael Lewis, The English Verb. Tips for more advanced teachers on how to teach grammar.
Martin Parrott, Grammar for English Teachers. Useful reference.

I really would take a good couple of novels as my other two choices. Which reminds me, why does Desert Island Disks insist on giving you the Bible and Shakespeare? I try to avoid both (and yes, I have read the Bible and several of the Bard's plays). Why don't schools focus on Ben Jonson? His comedies are still capable of making a modern person laugh, whereas having to be told why Shakespeare is supposed to be good is likely to just put people off reading serious literature. (End of rant.)

sharter · Joined: 25 Jun 2008 Posts: 878 Location: All over the place

I wouldn't save one..........I'd be too busy rescuing the drinks cabinet.

Insubordination · Joined: 07 Nov 2007 Posts: 394 Location: Sydney

Obviously, it depends which level & skill I'm teaching but here are my most used books in no particular order.

Successful Writing - Upper Int - Virginia Evans
Better Writing - Richard Harrison
Ready to Write - Blanchard/Root
Certificates 1-3 in Spoken and Written English - Various
Tech Talk - Pre Int

I could add another 5 which are just as good but don't want to bore you.