In the beginning of my course one boy from the group asked me why we study English with the textbook we use. I had a nice explanation for him, but for myself I knew I had chosen it simply because it was "good".But there are quite a lot of nice books to follow. In my school, I am free to choose the materials I want to use with students. Normally, I do not stick just to one textbook, but have many additional resources. Nevertheless, I always have some textbook for structuring my course, as a guideline. I rotate them according to the level and interests of each individual group. I use Cutting Edge, Inside Out, English Grammar in Use, I also like New English File a lot. + others
I also use the following textbooks: for speaking- Speaking Naturally by Tillitt&Bruder (http://www.alleng.ru/d/engl_en/eng006.htm), for reading and comprehension- Hot Topics by Pavlik (http://www.alleng.ru/d/engl_en/eng020.htm), Read and Understand by Kirkpatrick&Mok, I like it very much (http://www.alleng.ru/d/engl_en/eng014.htm) and many others.
Which textbooks do you use? How do you choose them?
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It is really difficult to find the right book to use while teaching English.As there are lots of types of books ,you have to make sure what is important to you or your students.
But of course when you are working at a public school,there is no need to choose a course book as the Ministry of Education is giving you the book you must use during the year:))
I am only joking, we try to choose more skill based books which help our students to think and speak.
If you reallt want to know, TalkingKatya...
Section 1: General Impression
( ) 1. A brief flick through the book reveals the overall appearance to be attractive and appealing to learners.
( ) 2. Overall, the book appears to be up-to-date.
( ) 3. The book’s description of itself appears to match the contents.
Section 2: Technical Quality
( ) 4. The book is durable, with a strong cover, and is printed on good quality paper.
( ) 5. The printing and illustrations are of high quality and the book has an attractive layout, without densely cluttered pages. It has been well edited.
( ) 6. Colour is used but not to a distracting extent.
Section 3: Cultural Differences
( ) 7. Any cultural bias in the book is restricted to a degree acceptable to our learners.
( ) 8. Cultures other than Western European or American are also portrayed in the book.
( ) 9. The cultural tone overall is appropriate for use in our setting.
Section 4: Appropriacy
( ) 10. The materials, language foci and activities are in general appropriate for our learners.
( ) 11. The book will meet the long- and short-term goals specific to our learners.
( ) 12. Learners are not asked to perform roles or activities unacceptable in our setting.
( ) 13. The activities are adaptable to personal learning and teaching styles.
Section 5: Motivation and the Learner
( ) 14. Situations /Contexts used in the book are authentic and contemporary to an acceptable degree.
( ) 15. Materials used have intrinsic interest and will appear relevant and interesting to learners.
( ) 16. Materials with variety and pace are used.
( ) 17. Personal involvement of learners is encouraged.
( ) 18. The book encourages – to a certain degree - learners to assume responsibility for their own learning.
( ) 19. There is a problem-solving and competitive element.
( ) 20. The book exploits the social nature of classrooms.
Section 6: Pedagogic Analysis
( ) 21. Methodologically the book is in line with the SL’s approach to language learning.
( ) 22. Methodologically the book is in line with contemporary worldwide theories and practices of language learning.
( ) 23. The balance between listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills development in the book is appropriate to our particular learners and learning situation.
( ) 24. Skills integration is given sufficient attention.
( ) 25. The development of discourse and fluency skills is given sufficient attention.
( ) 26. The book contains adequate formal learner achievement tests / opportunities for self-assessment.
( ) 27. There are activities for communicative interaction and the development of communicative strategies.
( ) 28. The balance between individual work, pair work, group work, and whole-class work in the book is appropriate for our particular learning situation.
( ) 29. One goal of the book is enabling learners to use English outside the classroom situation.
( ) 30. New structures are presented systematically and in a meaningful context.
( ) 31. New items receive sufficient and varied practice.
( ) 32. The meaning of new vocabulary is presented in context.
( ) 33. The grading of new items is not too steep or to gentle for our learners.
( ) 34. In general the activities in the book are neither too difficult nor too easy for our learners.
( ) 37. The book is sufficiently challenging to learners.
( ) 38. There are mechanisms for giving regular feedback to learners.
( ) 39. Units are not based around a storyline which may force the teacher to use every unit in sequence.
( ) 40. There is variety in the makeup / format of individual units.
( ) 41. Useful guidance is given to learners on correct use of the book.
( ) 42. The style of speech / texts / contextualization used is appropriate for our learners.
( ) 43. There is provision for the book to be used for self-study.
( ) 44. New items are reviewed and recycled throughout the book / series.
( ) 45. The book matches the curriculum objectives to a sufficient extent.
Section 7: Finding Your Way around the Student’s Book
( ) 46. There is an adequate contents page.
( ) 47. There is a comprehensive index.
( ) 48. There is a complete summary of functions.
( ) 49. There is a summary of new and reviewed grammar.
( ) 50. If audio materials are used, there is a transcript in the student’s and/ or teacher’s book.
( ) 51. Sufficient guidance is given for the needs of all teachers.
Section 8. Supplementary Materials
( ) 52. A teacher’s book is available and it gives useful and complete guidance, along with alternative activities.
( ) 53. A workbook is available and it contains appropriate supplementary activities.
( ) 54. Audio recordings are of good quality construction.
( ) 55. Sound quality of tapes is good with no hissing, distortion, background noise, or other problems.
( ) 56. Recordings have a variety of voices and they are native speakers talking at normal speed.
( ) 57. If the book is part of a series, other books in the series are also suitable for use in your school.
( ) 58. The coursebook, teacher’s book, audio and workbook are not prohibitively expensive for our students / school.
Wow! It's such a comprehensive approach=) But again, there are quite many texbooks which follow the criteria and then, again, teacher has to choose between them.
I just want to find out some discussions around this topic. And if someone has your own ideas, please share with me. i'm from Vietnam and i am doing my report on this topic. Thank you all!!