Job Discussion Forums

[mejms]

As I've mentioned in other posts, I'm a big critic of heavy reliance on books. I think that in the wrong hands, they foster laziness, irrelevance, and lack of creativity. But for sincere, professional teachers, I realize that streamlining and structuring classes is a reality.

With that said, could people say what books they really like? It depends on the audience. So say if you're referring to groups of professional adults, teens, beginners, or more conversational students.

I know Interchange will likely be mentioned, particularly for beginners. I myself prefer Touchstones, similiar but I like the layout more and it's less cartoonish.

Other books:

-Side by Side for beginner teens
-Touchstones for high beginners, teenagers or adults
-Supplementary Grammar Exercises by Oxford, for just a lot of grammar exercises for intermediate adult students (but damn, it's British English )
-Business Grammar and Practice for intermediate professional adults, offers lot of not-too-intricate business themed grammar practice

I've got some more in my house, but I can't remember their names at the moment.

[Guy Courchesne]

Most of the teaching I've done outside of the TEFL course has been at the business level. I usually create my own materials specific to the student/company but in some larger classes I like to use elements of Market Leader.

http://www.market-leader.net/

[Phil_K]

Interchange is condescending trash (IMHO). I would agree with Guy on Market Leader, good at all levels and with useful content. Also, New English File. I agree with you both though, that it is much better to tailor the material to the particular needs - aithough even with the Internet it's sometimes hard to find suitable material and it's good to have a book to fall back on - always supplementing the material presented with some of your own.

[mejms]

No question it's better to tailor materials-- way, way better. I've been doing it particularly for the last few months, looking on the internet for videos, articles, and grammar exercises and often preparing my own exercises and activities. But now I'm swamped and I really need to streamline my classes. But I don't want to make any of my classes generic, so I'm looking for the least boring and irrelevant book I can find to fall back on. I don't have the time and energy to just keep starting from scratch.

I got burnt out on Market Leader from my time working with language schools. Every friggin' time, it was just plop the "teacher" into the class with Market Leader, make photocopies of Market Leader for the students, and go. So I've steered clear from Market Leader for awhile now, but maybe it's just my lousy experience with it. The listening sections are awful, though. Too long and dry and poor sound quality. And the reading sections especially for intermediate level are pretty difficult with uncommonly challenging (and often obsolete) words. Should students really spend time learning "mind-boggling" during their 3 hours of weekly classes? And even that word isn't a great example. I've seen some dousies.

[Guy Courchesne]

[Enchilada Potosina]

The only book I can stomach is the Inside Out series. If you're flogging language courses, the book is purely decorative. Getting the students to learn what's inside one is a whole other world.

[mejms]

[Enchilada Potosina]

[mejms]