Job Discussion Forums

[arioch36]

New Concept English may only be used in China. It's a book designed for children, high school. It is actually okay. I mean, I am using this awful book "Look", where all the situations are geared for adults, and I am teaching 12-15 year olds. "Look" tries to be multicultural, and spends more time on teaching thousands of thing about every culture, then teaching English.

So New Concept is okay, as these books go. This why I can't stand it. Because the book has become accepted here in CHina, the book rules, teaching english becomes a distant second. I'm supposed to do two lessons of New Concept Book2 each two hour period. Possible. But I could do so much more if I could develop the lesson plan more. Have the students talk more, write more, give speeches in class, things they need to know.

Instead there is a quick review of the reading material, and going over the homework, with only a little time for actually teaching the students how to learn and use english. But as I said, doing the two lessons for book two isn't totally unreasonable. My headmaster is okay, I teach classes of 8-14 students, all properly placed, 18 weeks of class. When the parents complain "teacher didn't do two lessons", i really feel that I should.

New Concept is the true McDonalds of the TESL world. English First has plenty of quality problems, at least here in China. But like McDonald's, with New Concept English you know exactly what you are getting, mediocricity.

I eat at McDonalds. It's a safe place to eat at, you know what you are going to get. No originality, no excellence wanted. Each Hamburger gets two pickles, a squirt of Ketchup. No cooks need apply.

New Concept English...no teachers need apply.

[Marcoregano]

Who is the publisher?

[Roger]

IT's still the best and most helpful book series as they go in China; no other material deals with the structures and grammar of the English language so subtly.
Unfortunately, many Chinese teachers are intellectually challenged. They use those books for reading-aloud drills, and they do not follow the instructions at all.
The worst downside is that these books are bilingual in China since they are published under an agrement with the British publisher and the Chinese partner. Students will therefore never have to read English texts on their own; they can always refer to a translated version.
It's still possible to use it as a basis for their discussions.
Few Chinese English majors actually succeed at going beyond Level 2 ("Practice and Progress").