Job Discussion Forums

[siguiendolaluna]

Hello out there!
I am a researcher in the U.S. and have some questions for anyone who is or has taught English to Mexican children in the upper primary grades.

What I need to know is this:
1. What textbooks/resources (please name titles/publishers) have you been assigned to use (if any)?
2. What textbooks/resources (name titles/publishers) have you used in addition to those assigned (if any)?
3. How helpful/not helpful (i.e., effective, easy to use, etc.) have those textbooks/resources been?
4. Have your students enjoyed using them?

Note: I will not be publishing the results of this very informal and anonymous poll, so feel free to be candid. I am simply looking for some decent materials to use as a model to develop some new curriculum for students in Mexico.

If you would like to share any additional information about classroom activities that this age group enjoys (or does not enjoy), I would be grateful.

Plus, I'd love to know what kids in Mexico are into these days (pop culture).

Thanks in advance!

[moonraven]

Do yourself a favor, and start from scratch.

There are NO EFL textbooks which are appropriate for Latin America.

Students love it when you don't use textbooks, when you design the course around THEM.

[siguiendolaluna]

Thanks, moonraven, for your reply.

Actually, I pretty much am starting from scratch... as what I'm developing is not a textbook, but software, so it comes out far different in the end. Hopefully, it will be more gratefully received, as well.

Since it is being designed specifically and only for Mexican children living in Mexico, the course will certainly be designed around THEM, as you suggested. If you are there, and have worked with 6th graders in particular, do you have any "best practices" you would like to share?

Also, I am wondering what exactly has turned you off the textbooks you have *used*--lack of diversity, linguistic/cultural appropriateness, etc.? (I know how horrible EFL textbooks can be, having worked in S.Korea.)

Thanks again for anyone wishing to comment on this or my previous post.

[moonraven]

Textbooks are not student-centered. They are only for the use of teachers who do not care to prepare or are incapable of preparing classes that are appropriate to their students. I have seen them all--including the home-baked (read half-baked) varieties written by eager beaver grammar-addled DOSs. They are liked crutches carved out of inflexible wood.

I have worked with 6th graders, yes. They are a mixed bag, due to puberty issues, and must be given activities appropriate for children AND for teens.

[richtx1]

Must be a blue moon(raven)... we're in agreement! There is no one "good" EFL text for LA. I'll hunt around for the link, but a British doctoral candidate recently did a similar study. No sense duplicating her results.

[moonraven]

I don't know why folks like you seem to take such pride in "disagreeing"with other folks who have much more experience in this area than you do.