Job Discussion Forums

[Cerlin]

Hello Everyone,

My question is pretty basic, I am looking for a good book to use to teach all levels of basic English to Japanese speakers. I was an Eikaiwa Teacher for two years but now I am on my own and I need to find something solid to teach from.

What ideas do you all have? Thanks!

[fluffyhamster]

I quite like textbooks that focus on short conversational exchanges - the likes of Side by Side and Interchange.

You might find these threads of interest:
http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewtopic.php?t=67932
http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewtopic.php?t=80627

[Glenski]

IMO, there is no one book to teach all levels.

[fluffyhamster]

Well, yes, Cerlin would probably need for example to get all of Books 1-4 in the Side by Side series, or all those in the Interchange or Murphy's Grammar in Use series, to be really able to cater for a wide enough range of students/abilities.

One solution (at least partial/supplementive) of course is to get a comprehensive-enough reference grammar (I mean one for teachers rather than necessarily for students themselves directly), and a good dictionary, and use them to help create one's own custom-tailored actvities (but I appreciate that doing so for several different levels at once would be tough...hence Cerlin apparently asking for "a good book" singular!).

I guess that "conversational gambit"-based books wouldn't be bad for covering a range of phrases/exponents/functions (but you might need to sometimes teach whatever grammar can be lurking within those phrases). Something like Blundell et al's Function in English (which seemed pretty comprehensive) could be just the thing, but it's unfortunately out of print, so second-hand availability may be limited on Amazon etc. Edit: I've also just remembered DHC's 英会話とっさのひとこと辞典 Dictionary of English for Unexpected Situations, which covers quite a range of situations, has an English index that lists every example sentence by its initial word, and is obviously useful in that it provides Japanese translations for everything! It is available not only in dinky flexicover book format but also in certain electronic dictionaries, such as those by Seiko. (I've got the E-J version in a Seiko, and also bought a very interesting Chinese-Japanese version of the book (中国話会話とっさのひとこと辞典)).

[Mr_Monkey]

I'd be inclined to go for a more eclectic than monolithic approach - any textbook has strengths and weaknesses, and the syllabus of the textbook will almost certainly not reflect all of your learners' needs.

I'd go for a library of activities that you can pick and draw from.

If you really only want to rely on one book, I've had some success with Face2Face, Language Leader and Cutting Edge. Each has strengths and weaknesses - Language Leader, for example is very strong on writing: it's systematic, fleshed out and is given a prominence not usually seen in General EFL resources. Coversely, it's pretty weak on grammar, which Face2Face covers very well.

If you're on your own, why not sit down with your students for a diagnostic assessment and needs analysis. Having information about their weaknesses and what they want to achieve will help you make a more informed decision about the books you buy. There's nothing worse than splashing out money on something then finding it's not much use to you.

[Cerlin]

thank you for the specific suggestions everyone. I was looking for some multi series books and this is a good start. Of course it depends what each student wants but I want to have some general ideas of what to recommend if they want to use a textbook.

[my_way]

good suggestions.......i have been using the 'interchange' series for most of my privates. it gives a good base for study and you can expand on the lessons in whatever way you choose. the biggest challenge is that, in my opinion, the students don't know what they need or want.