Job Discussion Forums

[rotemmay]

Hi all,
I have applied for an MA program in TESOL in Israel and am hoping to get accepted for the summer semester, which begins at the end of July. If I don't get accepted, I will probably either apply to another MA program locally here in Israel or I will go the CELTA route.

I teaching college level English for US universities online but my workload right now is down. So in the next few months, I may actually have some time to do some reading (gasp!)

I'd like to start getting into the basics of ESL teaching so that I know what to expect, should I be accepted in the MA program or go for a CELTA. Although I teach English courses, I teach mainly composition writing, literature, and business writing to native English speakers in the US. So apart from a little grammar refresher lessons, I have no clue as to how to teach English to speakers of other languages.

So I'm looking for book recommendations that can give me a good overview of the profession and expectations. Here are 2 that I found were recommended to another new ESL teacher on another forum:

RIDDELL, David. Teaching English as a Foreign Language. Hodder and Staughton (in the UK) or McGraw Hill (in the US). 2003.

SWAN, Michael and WALTER, Catherine. How English works: a grammar practice book with answers. Oxford University Press. reprinted 2008.

The first one looks pretty good and moving in the direction of what I'm looking for. So if anyone has any other recommendations, that would be great. I have a brother coming out to visit in a few weeks, so I can order them from Amazon and have him bring them to me in his suitcase (the customs fees in Israel, even for books, is sky high!)

Rotem

[Dedicated]

You could try the following which are all recommended reading for the CELTA/DELTA :

An A-Z of ELT by Scott Thornbury. Macmillan 2006
How to teach English (2nd edition) by Jeremy Harmer, Pearson 2007
Learning to teach English by Peter Watkins, Delta Publishing. 2005
Learning Teaching (2nd edition) by Jim Scrivener, Macmillan. 2005
Planning lessons and courses by Tessa Woodward, CUP. 2001
Practical English language teaching by David Nunan(ed), McGraw Hill 2003
Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching by Diane Larsen-Freeman, OUP. 2000.
About Language :Tasks for Teachers of English by Scott Thornbury, CUP.
Professional Development for Language Teachers by Jack Richards and Thomas Farrell, CUP. 2005.

Then there are loads of titles about classroom teaching (eg. How to Teach.....(series) Check out the Pearson website.

Good luck!

[MotherF]

The English Verb by Michael Lewis. And oldie, but a goodie, especially for someone like you who already has experience with the language (though teaching it in a different context.)

This book will give you a lot to think about.

[fluffyhamster]

You can glean a fair bit about The English Verb by searching for Lewis (Lewi*) on these and the Teacher Discussion forums, but the book itself isn't something I myself would recommend to most newbies. (Most newbs seem to find books like Murphy's Grammar in Use series, or indeed the Swan & Walter you mentioned Rotemmay, more accessible).

Make sure you get an actual grammar though, to help fill in the gaps: Eastwood's Oxford Guide to English Grammar hits exactly the right sort of level IMHO, and is nicely presented (similar font etc to Swan's A-Z Practical English Usage, but the Eastwood has discussion and illustrations etc, and can actually be read through like a course in grammar, building as it does from words through clauses to sentences to discourse level, something which would be much harder with Swan's "quick access" A-Z format (Swan and indeed Eastwood are both well-indexed though, and with grammar Glossaries)).

Learner dictionaries are also very useful, especially the CD-ROMs that are sold along with the paper editions, but you can get a reasonable enough range of information from the free online editions (Google 'Longman dictonary', 'Oxford advanced learners', 'Cambridge dictionaries', 'Macmillan dictionary of English', and 'Merriam-Webster learner'). I wrote a comparative review of most of them that can IIRC be found by searching for 'ALD'. IMHO lexis (and lexicogrammar - see the COBUILD Grammar) is one of the most fruitful areas and ways to teach/learn a language, and Lewis' The Lexical Approach is one of the more influential guides/syntheses around (but you won't get quite enough out of it until you've done a year or so following "approved" methods and perhaps - more like, probably! - become dissatisfied with the CELTA-y stuff). You can also get a lot of good advice and tips from books such as Schmitt's Vocabulary in Language Teaching (a search for his name with me as author will bring you to more books by him and others).

I mention methodology last because I believe it is less important than knowing about grammar etc. For my money, Lewis & Hill's Practical Techniques is a succinct and thoughtful classic, whilst Bowen & Marks' Inside Teaching will give you access to many teacher's opinions and ideas relating to grammar, IIRC correction, skills work etc, all in the form of very readable snippet-like quotes, along with plenty of helpful editorializing from B & M. So this is just the sort of book that will help you form your own opinions instead of (perhaps) following received wisdom too much or too long. (But hey, it's early days and you've yet to even commence let alone finish a basic course!). But for a nice standard solid off-the-shelf introduction to ELT, I reckon Harmer's How to Teach English isn't at all half bad. (Edit: Ooh, I see Dedicated's mentioned that already! Well, I'll second it then! ).

The Riddell is inexpensive enough that I'd buy it in addition to any other books - it got pretty good reviews on Amazon from what I recall, so it's probably reasonable value.

[kellrobinson]

I'll bump up this very useful information.

[DebMer]

There's a thread on top 5 ESL books here: http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewtopic.php?t=94322&highlight= Toward the end of the thread I tallied up the suggestions from the most to the fewest recommendations.

[coledavis]

Lewis - English Verb - for teachers with some experience. Harmer's How to Teach English (not his other book).

[coledavis]

You might also consider arming yourself with an activity book or two. While Hadfield produces materials of good quality, they tend to be one per level of ability, ok if you are a language school with a budget... You might find Mick Gammidge's Speaking Extra invaluable for practice. A colleague has recently introduced it to me. Activity-based lessons - great!

[bulgogiboy]

Try Sun Tzu, The Art of War:


"If you know your enemy, and know yourself, you need not fear the result of one hundred battles".

Useful for teaching; especially in the Gulf!

[ossie39]

Cassell's English Grammar - if you can get it. Like the Raymond Murphy 'English Grammar in Use', it provides useful pictures to present grammar points so you can illustrate them on the board to students. For fun activities, speaking and problem solving, I like 'Make em Talk' by Kliffel. 'Ship or Sheep' is useful for teaching pron.

[ossie39]

Yeh I like that Dian Larsen Freeman book, good for comparing approaches to teaching, very straightforward and readable.