Job Discussion Forums

[Marmalade]

So, I'm planning on doing the CELTA course in Nov.

I have already bought 'How to Teach English' by J. Harmer.

Could anyone please suggest any other good books, esp. on grammar, that would be helpfull to read before and during the course.

Cheers

Marmalade

[MrMojoRisin]

I got Michael Swan's Practical English Usage the other day and it appears to be the perfect grammar dictionary. It seems to have every possible grammatical rule and all its permutations.

The many book reviews from both teachers and students will testify this.

However it's expensive - �18.95 from amazon - and 600 pages, so not exactly portable.

[vre]

Swan is the tefl bible! Its a must!

[stillnosheep]

Swan is always a good idea.

Apart from that why not wait until your course starts and see if your tutor's have any recommendations. Or better still wait a while longer and buy books to work on your weaknesses or that match your interests.

Until then why not ask your prospective course tutors for a reading list and order those books that sound interesting from a library - supporting the Public Library System and saving yourself a heap of money. In time you can buy the ones that you really need.

sns

[Marmalade]

It sounds good.

I'm looking for something that will help me before and during the course, and I guess after it as well so would you recommend Swann as a definitive buy?

[stillnosheep]

Yup!

Especially during and after the course. It is a great help when trying to find a clear explanation of difficult points of grammar and when explaining to students which tense to use in which situation (and, to some extent, why that is so).

Before the course? It depends on your interests. Kids teaching? Games? Methodologies of Language Education? Theories of Langage acquisition? etc etc etc.

If you can narrow down your question according to your interests and post a more detailed question I'm sure that someone will get back to you.

sns