Job Discussion Forums

Golightly · Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2006 7:54 am Post subject: Textbooks we love to hate

...starting with, of course, Good Ol' Headway. It's so bloody middle-class - farty types wittering on about their wonderful lifestyles and fantastic holidays, articles about how we're destroying the planet, tapescripts voiced by c.rap actors waiting for a bit part on Radio 4, and in the background, the clink of champagne glasses as John and Liz rack up another million.
However, they're still better than Fono.

dmb · Joined: 12 Feb 2003 Posts: 8397

Any TOEFL book. It is the most boring exam ever devised.

Golightly · Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2006 2:41 pm Post subject:

If you can, get hold of the core curriculum skills for life textbook, as wriiten by government committee ans taught in FE colleges to ESOL students. I have never in my life seen material that is so dull, so patronising, so essentially bleak and colonialist in all my bloody life. the person who does the introductions to the tapescript has a voice like a wet monday afternoon in a job centre, and says stuff like, 'unit 3, tape 4: at the colon cancer specialists'. The accents are almost all of what is considered typical ESOL students - Indian, Pakistani, a variety of African accents, none of which are done very well by out of work voice artists. All the characters featured are seen doing stereotypical jobs - there's no aspiration here. It is hated and despised by all who have to use it.

bigbadsuzie · Posted: Fri Oct 13, 2006 5:50 am Post subject:

Oh,Oh,Oh,Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, cutting edge is so freaking ANAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WTF has that tosh got to do with everyday language ,talk about using the most unatural language just to demonstrate a boring grammatical point, F.F.S!!

Golightly · Posted: Fri Oct 13, 2006 8:17 am Post subject:

And Cutting Edge has really weird units - it's like a throwback to the New Cambridge English Course books.

Delpha · Joined: 08 Dec 2004 Posts: 32 Location: USA

Not to mention, Cutting Edge is full of errors...

dmb · Joined: 12 Feb 2003 Posts: 8397

Golightly · Posted: Fri Oct 13, 2006 10:07 am Post subject:

Oh yes, the heady days of NCEC - remember the potato prices woman? Or Jake the Criminal? 'Rolls-Royce? Yeah, my Aunt gave it to me...She's a generous woman, my aunt is..'
Streamline - b.ollocks - but not as b.ollocks as the American version.

dmb · Joined: 12 Feb 2003 Posts: 8397

The listenings were bad. If Krashen was dead he would be turning in his grave. A case of I+6.

Sheikh Inal Ovar · Joined: 04 Dec 2005 Posts: 1208 Location: Melo Drama School

Textbok ...

dmb · Joined: 12 Feb 2003 Posts: 8397

I agree with you Sheik. However, the boss and students expect a textbok. What would you advise? I am just about to introduce Natural grammar (Gairns and Redmmond-OUP) to my students. Anyone used it?

CECTPA · Posted: Tue Dec 19, 2006 3:23 pm Post subject:

So far I've been handed books and encouraged NOT to use them. Hmmm

Nargile57 · Joined: 05 Nov 2006 Posts: 42 Location: Istanbul

At Gok Dil we used to use the impossible Access To English staring the idiotic Arthur Newton. A nightmare of a course book.

Golightly · Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 11:58 am Post subject:

I suppose Id better add the In-House ET courseboks before anyone else does, despite not having seen them. Rolling Eyes

misterkodak · Posted: Fri Feb 09, 2007 6:50 pm Post subject:

Has anyone seen the "Framework" series? I was looking through it today. I feel sorry for anyone having to teach it. It has interesting things like units on drugs ("match the words and phrases with the proper definitions... get high, rehab, spliff, dope, shoot up, ecstacy, legalization..) Safe Sex, and some really great classroom warmups ("Have you ever dressed up as a man/woman? In your country, when do people do this?"). This book is bound to please.