Korean Job Discussion Forums

[bassexpander]

Is anyone using the Touchstone series by Cambridge? What age are you using them for? How has Touchstone worked out? Comments?

We're switching from Interchange 3 to Touchstone next year. Looks like we'll be using Touchstone 3 for 1st year uni students.

[Easter Clark]

I've been using Touchstone 1 for my HS students but have found that I have to modify it quite a bit. I really like the layout but I feel that they put too much material in each lesson! Even the beginner book is a little too advanced for my students, so you may want to consider a level 2 book if you think your students are at level 3. Also, when I used the book (strictly made photocopies) for my after-school class, I found the material to be a little limiting for me, creativity-wise. In other words, it's very easy to become "tied to the book."

However...

The topics are good and suitable for this age group (and probably even better-suited for university students), though, and the pictures and colors are interesting and non-intimidating.

It really addresses things that most other conversation books don't--for example, using "Really" or "You did?" to show interest or surprise; starting sentences with "Well" when your answer isn't simply yes or no; using "I mean..." to repeat your ideas or say more about something. Granted, these conversation strategies are for the most part lost on my students!

Each unit is also supplemented with a "Free Talk" activity in the back of the book, which makes for a nice application. And the book also encourages students to keep a vocabulary notebook, giving them strategies for remembering and jotting down new words.

The listening tasks are great and sound really natural, as opposed to the "Tune In" series. And the book does a really good job of recycling vocab and phrases--something which sometimes makes me look like a better teacher than I am, since I basically convert the units to PowerPoints and trim them down for my students.

I have also used New Interchange (Intro and 1) and find Touchstone to be a little "closer to home" when it comes to my students' interests.

Overall, I'd recommend the series based on my experiences with Book 1.

PS: Don't forget to ask the store clerk for the class audio CDs like I did! The student CD only has two Listening Activities per unit. Also, the workbook makes great handouts!

[earthbound14]

touchstone is pretty good. It's a basic conversation text book that gets the job done. There are some nice extras like a test generator, and class activities. It has fairly natural English in it. Interchange is one of my favourite books. Touchstone seems to be designed to replace Interchange, so It's pretty much the same.

which University do you teach at? I'm trying to get my school to use it because I think the book is better than most other books, yet they don't want to use it because Hogwons might be using it.....

[ajstew]

My university switched from Interchange to Touchstone a year ago. I was in favor of the switch, and I think most students would agree that it is a superior conversation book to use. Like with any conversation text, there are activities in the books that could be improved or dropped altogether, but I think there is enough quality in most lessons for something to be gained. Having said that, each unit has 4 lessons, an A, B, C, and D, and I find myself not using the D (the reading type lesson) at all. A and B introduce the basic grammar points, with B also being the vocabulary lesson, and C tends to give students a 'conversation strategy lesson' that gives students (mostly) useful conversation tips that they wouldn't pick up using other books. I do agree that the 'free talk' exercises are useful, although there are some that wouldn't be my choice to use, to get students using the grammar intended. Even then, I find adding more supplemental activities from other books is needed to really use the books effectively. Those are my thoughts.