Book Review
Textbook evaluation
June 18, 2010 English Vocabulary for Beginning ESL Learners By Jean Yates. 2006. The text is split into four sections: Nouns, Adjectives, Verbs, and Adverbs. The section on nouns alone is split into 11 units and covers just over 100 pages of examples, explanations and exercises. I think a text like this would be a great assistance to a beginning teacher like myself, as it will give me a framework to follow, and the 'ready-made tasks' or resources, that I will need in many of my classes. The convenience of a text like this would be very clear for adult or mature teens who are motivated to pursue learning at home. The manner in which the text is constructed would allow them, relatively easily I feel, to move ahead if they felt ready. The text does focus on the written and on reading, so class work would have to have a considerable component of oral and communicative work to supplement the text. This would not be difficult for me, as a native speaker, but would limit the usefulness of this text for those who wish to teach English but are not native speakers. The introduction to the text says that this text will be used to "acquaint [the reader] with the English words that are most frequently used". If the user of such a book is a beginning ESL learner, this introduction is clearly written for the instructor. On the bright side, the author draws attention to "a, the, of, for, and" and the difficulties that this may bring for an language learner. I am very appreciative of these type of sections, especially any emphasis on the confusing nature of prepositions, because I have a learning disability. This course has taught me that while I could teach English language, I'm not particularly cut out for it because of my disability. Some of the errors I make could hinder my students, but more likely my inability to understand some parts of the language would just frustrate me (and a frustrated teacher is not a good thing!).
June 18, 2010 English Vocabulary for Beginning ESL Learners By Jean Yates. 2006. The text is split into four sections: Nouns, Adjectives, Verbs, and Adverbs. The section on nouns alone is split into 11 units and covers just over 100 pages of examples, explanations and exercises. I think a text like this would be a great assistance to a beginning teacher like myself, as it will give me a framework to follow, and the 'ready-made tasks' or resources, that I will need in many of my classes. The convenience of a text like this would be very clear for adult or mature teens who are motivated to pursue learning at home. The manner in which the text is constructed would allow them, relatively easily I feel, to move ahead if they felt ready. The text does focus on the written and on reading, so class work would have to have a considerable component of oral and communicative work to supplement the text. This would not be difficult for me, as a native speaker, but would limit the usefulness of this text for those who wish to teach English but are not native speakers. The introduction to the text says that this text will be used to "acquaint [the reader] with the English words that are most frequently used". If the user of such a book is a beginning ESL learner, this introduction is clearly written for the instructor. On the bright side, the author draws attention to "a, the, of, for, and" and the difficulties that this may bring for an language learner. I am very appreciative of these type of sections, especially any emphasis on the confusing nature of prepositions, because I have a learning disability. This course has taught me that while I could teach English language, I'm not particularly cut out for it because of my disability. Some of the errors I make could hinder my students, but more likely my inability to understand some parts of the language would just frustrate me (and a frustrated teacher is not a good thing!).