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Your top five essential EFL books?
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DebMer



Joined: 02 Jan 2012
Posts: 232
Location: Southern California

PostPosted: Thu Feb 23, 2012 5:17 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

AGoodStory wrote:
Nice work, DebMer! You're hired! Very Happy


Very Happy
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the_otter



Joined: 02 Aug 2010
Posts: 134

PostPosted: Thu Feb 23, 2012 5:50 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Awesome post. Saving it for future reference.
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jpvanderwerf2001



Joined: 02 Oct 2003
Posts: 1117
Location: New York

PostPosted: Thu Feb 23, 2012 10:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The best IELTS book I have encountered is High Impact IELTS.
New English File is the best 'suite' of adult books I've used.
For teens, I'm partial to English in Mind, though my school uses Solutions.
I know many are not fans of New Market Leader for business, but it's been good to me.

The worst books I've used were the old EF texts. Wow, they were terrible. Shocked
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Tudor



Joined: 21 Aug 2009
Posts: 339

PostPosted: Sun Feb 26, 2012 1:13 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Some good calls there jp - New English File and English in Mind are both favourites of mine.

I also like Market Leader, but only the higher level ones; for lower-level business students I find Business Basics is perhaps the best of a bad bunch.

There's some good recommendations on this thread; I've just downloaded some of those True Stories books and they look like a useful addition to my collection.

Another series of books I like are the Reward books, although admittedly they're a little bit dated now. Their resource books are particularly useful, both the General English and the Business ones as long as you avoid any exercise that features technological items as they're sure to be hopelessly outdated now.
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LongShiKong



Joined: 28 May 2007
Posts: 1082
Location: China

PostPosted: Mon Feb 27, 2012 5:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

How many have heard of the ELTons?
I'm tempted to start a poll thread on this just to substantiate my claim that ELT academia, publishing and TELers live in disparate worlds.

Quote:
For those of you who may be wondering what a piano playing singer with large glasses may have to do with the teaching of English; let me explain: absolutely nothing! ELTON is the pet name for the prestigious English Language Teaching Innovation Award presented each year by the British Council.

Nominations are opened annually for products or research that assist the teaching of English in an innovative way. Entries come from a wide variety of sources from individual teachers/researchers to large Universities and Publishing companies. A shortlist is then drawn up and finalists are invited to the awards ceremony in Cambridge.


ELTons awards 2012 - call for applications: innovation in English language teaching
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LongShiKong



Joined: 28 May 2007
Posts: 1082
Location: China

PostPosted: Mon Mar 05, 2012 10:34 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I was curious about English File given how many mentioned it. Having looked at it, I still am. What in your experience makes it a great coursebook: captivating topics, audio/video suited to the level, etc. etc.?

The problem I have with such coursebooks is they seem designed more for self-study (or inexperienced teachers) than for an oral classroom. I guess it depends on what your course objectives are but there seems far more language input than well-designed guided output opportunities- the flaw, I admit with the majority of coursebooks.

----------------------
EDIT: I'm not saying English File is an inferior text. I'm sure those of you who included it here did so for the its language presentation. Am I right? However, the temptation for 'seasoned' students with such a text is to simply 'study' it and methodically fill in the blanks. Do those of you who use this text assign that for homework so as to focus on pair/groupwork? I'd be interested in hearing from some of you.
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scot47



Joined: 10 Jan 2003
Posts: 15343

PostPosted: Mon May 16, 2016 2:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

But can you teach ?


The Great Helmsman used to say, "The more books you read the more stupid you become !"
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sheikh radlinrol



Joined: 30 Jan 2007
Posts: 1222
Location: Spain

PostPosted: Mon May 16, 2016 9:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

scot47 wrote:
But can you teach ?


The Great Helmsman used to say, "The more books you read the more stupid you become !"

The Great Helmsman? Let me guess...Mao. Or do you refer to one of the other Helmsmen? Anyway, he only had one book, didn´t he?
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fluffyhamster



Joined: 13 Mar 2005
Posts: 3292
Location: UK > China > Japan > UK again

PostPosted: Mon May 16, 2016 9:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Can you teach? No, you may not! (Books purely optional or only as part of a strictly calorie-controlled brain diet)
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grahamb



Joined: 30 Apr 2003
Posts: 1945

PostPosted: Mon May 16, 2016 9:48 pm    Post subject: Papa Oom Mao Mao! Reply with quote

sheikh radlinrol wrote:
The Great Helmsman? Let me guess...Mao. Or do you refer to one of the other Helmsmen? Anyway, he only had one book, didn´t he?


You mean you've never heard of Chairman Mao's Theory of the Differentiation of the Three Worlds is a Major Contribution to Marxism-Leninism? It's essential reading for insomniacs everywhere. Wink
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timothypfox



Joined: 20 Feb 2008
Posts: 492

PostPosted: Mon May 16, 2016 11:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

My First Passport 1 and 2 for English conversation for about the junior high school level in Japan. It features travel English listening and speaking practice with different English accents - Australian, American, and British. They do have a more international focused series published Oxford.

New Ways in Teaching Speaking (Bailey and Savage) - more of a pre-made activity book for speaking and listening.

Easy ESL Crossword Puzzles
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MotherF



Joined: 07 Jun 2010
Posts: 1450
Location: 17�48'N 97�46'W

PostPosted: Tue May 17, 2016 2:28 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

LongShiKong wrote:
I was curious about English File given how many mentioned it. Having looked at it, I still am. What in your experience makes it a great coursebook: captivating topics, audio/video suited to the level, etc. etc.?

The problem I have with such coursebooks is they seem designed more for self-study (or inexperienced teachers) than for an oral classroom. I guess it depends on what your course objectives are but there seems far more language input than well-designed guided output opportunities- the flaw, I admit with the majority of coursebooks.

----------------------
EDIT: I'm not saying English File is an inferior text. I'm sure those of you who included it here did so for the its language presentation. Am I right? However, the temptation for 'seasoned' students with such a text is to simply 'study' it and methodically fill in the blanks. Do those of you who use this text assign that for homework so as to focus on pair/groupwork? I'd be interested in hearing from some of you.


I realize this question was asked four years ago, but I like it precisely for the reasons you state. It gives tons of support for the inexperienced teacher. Or the very busy teacher. And we have to admit those are the two largest EFL teacher demographics. It is particularly good in medium to large programs where there is a need to at least somewhat standardize content because students will be mixed in classes when they move to the next level. I mean students from teachers A, B, and C's classes will be mixed up together in teacher D's class next term and she needs to know what material they covered last term.

Of course none of that would be present in an ideal language learning situation, but there are so few of those out there.
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LongShiKong



Joined: 28 May 2007
Posts: 1082
Location: China

PostPosted: Tue May 17, 2016 2:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

MotherF wrote:
It gives tons of support for the inexperienced teacher. Or the very busy teacher. And we have to admit those are the two largest EFL teacher demographics. It is particularly good in medium to large programs where there is a need to at least somewhat standardize content because students will be mixed in classes when they move to the next level. I mean students from teachers A, B, and C's classes will be mixed up together in teacher D's class next term and she needs to know what material they covered last term.

Of course none of that would be present in an ideal language learning situation, but there are so few of those out there.


Thanks for answering my question. I was referring to the American version. Are you? I've since seen the UK version which looks more like a conventional coursebook but the American version seems more suited to self-study or non-native English speaking teachers: short reading/listening passages, then questions or exercises and far more comprehensive language presentation charts and tables than most coursebooks.
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dragonpiwo



Joined: 04 Mar 2013
Posts: 1650
Location: Berlin

PostPosted: Fri May 20, 2016 4:52 pm    Post subject: depends what you are teaching Reply with quote

1-General English: English File series and Cutting Edge
2-Business English: Market Leader series
3-Oil and Gas: Oil and Gas OUP Oxford for Careers.
4-Grammar Reference and practice: Murphy suite
5-Cambridge Suite Exams: All the Cambridge publications
6-Communicative Business Activities: 'In at the Deep End' V.Hollett

This bookshop is excellent and will keep you in touch with all the current/popular publications. Loads of ESP stuff too like Campaign English for teaching the military etc etc

Bournemouth English Book Centre-truly excellent.

http://www.bebc.co.uk/?___SID=U
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twowheel



Joined: 03 Jul 2015
Posts: 753

PostPosted: Thu May 26, 2016 9:54 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

1. I.S.P. Nation and Jonathan Newton's Teaching ESL/EFL Listening and Speaking (2009)

2. I.S.P. Nation's Teaching ESL/EFL Reading and Writing (2009)

3. Pauline Gibbons's Scaffolding Language, Scaffolding Learning: Teaching English Language Learners in the Mainstream Classroom--2nd ed. (2015)

4. Marianne Celce-Murcia and Diane Larsen-Freeman's The Grammar Book: An ESL/EFL Teacher's Course--2nd ed. (1999)

5. TOSS-UP: Natalie Hess's Teaching Large Multilevel Classes (2001) OR Jenni Guse's Communicative Activities for EAP (2011)
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