Job Discussion Forums

[aaaronr]

I teach adults from any different countries at a community college. I hate our books. They lack context and have very little explanations of grammar. They also don't give students the opportunity to learn new verbs and vocabulary.

The books are Grammar Form and Function 2 and World English 1 (speaking and listening).

The level is beginner/intermediate. The courses cover past progressive, future with going to and will, obligation modals, ability modals, future real conditional, quantity words, subject pronouns/direct object pronouns/indirect object pronouns, possessive adjectives and pronouns, comparative and superlative adjectives, and adverbs.

If you have any recommendations that meet these requirements, please let me know.

Thanks

[MuscatGary]

Tricky to answer with so little information. Who are the students? Why are they studying English? The choice of book should be based on the student's needs.

[nomad soul]

You need to look at this scenario differently because you're not likely to find the perfect coursebook. Instead of relying on one or two sources for teaching, I suggest you focus on incorporating supplementary materials as well as learning activities to fill in the blanks and give students the chance to "learn by doing."

Some supplementary books to enhance lessons include:

Grammar on the Go by Victoria Holder
Zero Prep: Ready-to-go Activities for the Language Classroom by Laurel Pollard
Games for Language Learning (Cambridge Handbooks for Language Teachers) by Andrew Wright, David Betteridge and Michael Buckby
Grammar Practice Activities by Penny Ur

Moreover, just doing an Internet search on esl [grammar point] lesson activity will yield a variety of lessons and learning activities to use in your classroom.

[adaruby]

I don't know your needs, but you won't go far wrong with either New English File or Cutting Edge.

The New English File series is well presented with grammar explanations at the back and, best of all, has supplementary grammar, vocab, song, and other communicative activities in the teacher's book.

Both are very European in context though.

[johnslat]

deleted

[nomad soul]

Uh, John... Wrong thread.

[Sashadroogie]

[Shroob]

[Sashadroogie]

Hardly. Quite global. Just not American ESL material. There is a difference.

[Shroob]

[Sashadroogie]

You'd have to do that with any course book. Doesn't make it eurocentric. Most of the topics in English File are quite bland and universal, by design. Food, family, money, traffic etc. Plus plenty of texts set in North or South America, or interviews with people from East Asia, as well as the UK and Europe.

What more could a body ask for?

[Shroob]

[Sashadroogie]

A particular film title is hardly a concept. Surely they have film in Asia?! The small text in the course book about this said film is fairly self-explanatory, and is supposed to be used as reading comprehension material. Replace it with any other film title - really makes no difference, except perhaps to interest levels, but even then, fairly minimally.

You are referring to the Third Edition of English File, are you? Not New English File, then.

[Shroob]

[Sashadroogie]

Fair enough. But lotteries are hardly eurocentric.