Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Demonicat]

Now that we have discussed the bad and ugly and fugly, what is the best teaching books out there?

My vote goes to English Time. Well written, nicely organized, tons of supplemental activities, and empirical testing at the end of every unit with an addtional mid-term and final exam. Bright, colourful, with its own workbook!

[indytrucks]

My vote goes to Exploring English. I like the continuation/development of the charcters of the series and as the books progress, some of the readings are downright hilarious. It also mixes a nice balance of grammar and functional language. Perfect for intermediate/advanced elementary schoolers or middle schoolers, IMO.

[Wrench]

Harcourt English Books for Grades 1 and 2
Harcourt Science Books for Grades 1 and 2

I think the worst book thread kind of exploded into the original posters face... This thread is going to be much shorter me thinks.

[guangho]

I like Let's Go but it's really geared to the more adult, more curious, more talkative students. All books have a limitation- what I have seen is that they are too short and tend to, in an effort to make the language simple, talk down to the audience.

[JongnoGuru]

[guangho]

At my haggie, I never had a voice in decision making. When we (me and the drug-addled Brit who has since departed) first laid eyes on Say Say, our director said: "You guys should really say that it is good, okay?" It goes back to the Korean superiority complex- how could a smelly, hairy nobody know better than I? It constantly amazes me that Koreans will spare no expense in hiring palefaces and then treat us like dirt when we get here.

[TECO]

I've pretty much used all of the Cambridge and Oxford texts for conversation , Cambridge Exam prep and Business classes.

- Let's Talk
- Interchange
- American Headway
- New Headway
- Business Solutions

and a few others that seem to do the job.

How can you get something that either Cambridge or Oxford hasn't thought of yet - they lead the market.

[ulsanchris]

Exploring English is awful. didn't like it it at all. So many better books out there. Hated all the retro drawings in it.

English Time all the way. That series is great.

[ajuma]

This is an "everyone wins, everyone loses" situation. What are we talking about here? Kid's classes? Middle school? Highschool? Uni? Adult? Do they need converstation (as in "they will be going abroad soon and need "survival skills"), or grammar?

Almost every level and every class needs a different type of book. If we're lucky, we get the chance to suggest the best book for our students. If we're not...we use what we're given and find things that are appropriate for our students.

There is no "best"! There is only "what IS best" for your students.

[ajuma]

As a PS: I DO have one "best"! The BEST series of books for kids that I ever used was the Sesame Street series. It taught REAL English in a way that students could understand, and the kids LOVED the songs and chants (how many kids have YOU heard singing English songs on the way to the bus???). There was a test after every unit and at the mid-way point and at the end, there was a "level test." I loved the fact that it taught grammar in an non-threatening way. Unfortunately, the series has not been available in Korea for some time...

[jajdude]

Exploring English and Chatterbox were my favorites... but it may have just been how they worked well at my job years ago. Good program. Good Korean teachers. Only decent hagwon job i ever had.

[JacktheCat]

Well, it all depends on the class (age, level, size, and amount of cooperation on their part) and textbooks, like teaching styles, are personal. What works for one person might not work for another. But to make a generalisation:

For the younger set:
English Time

For the older set:
small class: Cutting Edge
big class: A Conversation Book: English in Everyday life

[some waygug-in]

It also depends on whether or not the students have books..........

They don't have them here, but we are sort of using English Time.

I also give worksheets from Finding Out - as it has a lot of crosswords.

I also use some things from the workbooks of American English Today.

The textbooks are useless in both the above series, but the workbooks are great.


Let's Go is great - if - you have all the teacher cards, student cards, extra books and videos to go with it. If not, English time is a much better series.

[margaret]

My favorites are the Let's Go series, and yes, I did have and particularly enjoy the Teacher's Cards. I also like English Time and Superkids. All 3 seem to me to provide interesting, clear and progressive (follows in a logical order) material for teaching English.
Margaret