Anon
I voted 'half the time' mainly because I teach individual students and tend to divide their time to teach to their own interests and needs. I do find course books add a definite structure which allows students to work on their own at their own pace. The accompanying workbooks are often more interesting and faster paced than the coursebooks themselves and I often make good use of these.
Having used many different course books, I have my favourite units if I want to teach particular grammar points / vocab. In the same way there are always enjoyable listening tapes and extracts for reading which are convenient to find and dip into for shorter or longer lessons.
The variety of material available in one or two books is invaluable which then makes it is easy to supplement with other relevant material. Would be a bit lost without them!

Wendy, Italy
Of course, there are course books and course books; some excellent, some quite useless for teachers and learners alike. The secret is to find one that is stimulating for the students, and that they can use for reference and revision outside the classroom. Many students are working for exams for which the use of a course book is essential to be sure they have covered all the grammar, structures and vocabulary they need. During lessons, I find coursebooks useful not only as a starting point, but also as a finishing point, so that students know exactly what they are supposed to be learning during the lesson of the day and what they need to revise before the next one. I think course books also provide a sense of achievement - in my experience, progressing from one Unit to another or going on to a higher level is psychologically positive for students. Reading and discussion activities can also be based on material from the Internet, magazines and newspapers, but in this case the teacher must check out the difficulty and grammar content before using it, which means more lesson preparation time!

Sonia
I frequently use course books, but I hardly ever follow it exactly the way they are. I always change the methodology and make it suitable for my learners' needs. For this reason, I mainly use the language, pictures, etc, they provide, but I create my own materials to work with them.

Tasnimur Rahman
I am from India and have been teaching English at the secondary level for the past ten years. I have found that certain coursebooks have the right material in conjuction with the various exercises given in the prescribed book.Apart from this, I find that better material for the teaching is best found by oneself through various books and the internet. Most of these books are mediocre and generally have the same matter.

Sue Roberts
I’m saddened to see the “I’ve been doing this for X years” and “it’s always worked before” comments. The use of course books can also be dependent on there relevance to your teaching. The adult class I teach is not exam based. My students desire is to improve their ‘everyday’ spoken English and course books are not always the best source of material for us.
I appreciate course books can provide invaluable explanations on grammar etc. but the vocabulary is sometimes dated and as with all printed matter, not always 100% accurate. I find the internet and newspapers useful sources.
I’ve always thought that the best education comes from a wide range of sources.

Anon
There's nothing wrong about using a coursebook as long as you know that it can't cater for every student's needs and it has to be supplemented with other various materials.It is a guideline for students and their parents who want to have a clear idea of the course they're paying for,and for novice teachers it is also an essential tool.However,what distinguishes an efficient teacher from a less efficient one is the ability or boldness to change,adapt,skip parts and make it tailored to the student's needs.

William Thorne
Hi! Of course, I use a course book for every lesson. I came across one teacher who works for one of the big English language schools whose only "course book" was a dictionsary - she didn't have any other book. I came across another teacher who taught English through travel brochures. How these people stay in business, I just don't know.

Debra Hill
When I first started teaching, course books were used every lesson, and although they have their advantages in that they provide a solid structure to work from I found it restricting and sometimes boring. I now tend to use the framework of the course book but provide lots of supplementary exercises and more practical things to do.

Dick Bird
Don't reinvent the wheel. It's been done before by people who know a lot
more about the business than you or me. Whatever their faults (the
principal one being that they won't do your job for you), coursebooks
provide a syllabus, a sense of progression, input, practice, explanation
and a vast amount of useful stuff it would take you three times your lesson
time to prepare. I've been teaching TESOL for nearly twenty years and the
longer I do it, the less I complain about the coursebook I'm using.

Alyson
I use coursebooks most of the time because I like the structured way they are written. Of course I have my favourites which I use time and time again. If no book is attributed to my couse then I dip into all my books and use the internet a lot.
I have a lot of elementary learners to intermediate and find the business type course books far to serious for most of them.

N Reynaud
Teaching English for over 30 years I have come to the conclusion that couse books are all right because they offer a "progression" in grammar for example as they often provide exercises the authors have chosen in relation with the grammatical point they have considered important in the text which is to be studied.
So coursebooks are perfect when the schedules of your classes include British Literature. Moreover you needn't look for certain extracts from novels or poems etc.
But when you, as I have been doing for a certain number of years now, are teaching specific classes in International Trade or Office Automation, you have to stick to current affairs and recent events from the Press. Then a course book's documents are soon obsolete . That's why I use the BBC reports or the recent articles from the press. Of course I have to do everything- from the selection of the document to the elaboration of questions, grammar, exercises; but it's far more enriching for the students.

Roberto Hoepfner
First of all, I wish to congratulate all the team members on the great page this has become in such a short time. I work at the local university in Cochabamba, Bolivia and since I was the first to come across it, I let my colleagues into the secret. They are all taking advantage and on their behalf and mine, thank you!
Now, regarding coursebooks. They are great... the first time you use them. And also for students. But the novelty soon wears off and since they tend to be handed down or become second hand material, they also look dirty and, worse, with all its exercises 'worked out'. Yet another issue is the photocopying business. No comment here.
I haven't used a coursebook for years now because I teach technical English to computer science students. I prefer to work with downloaded, up-to-date material (there is plenty of it) but, of course, this means I prepare activities every single semester. But it's fun because it keeps me on my toes. That way I have learnt a lot about computing and new students think I am an engineer!
Still, I can't blame overworked teachers for using a textbook. The only problem is that they too can become as tired as the books themselves, and boring.

Margot McCamley
I find course books a wonderful way for students to learn. In saying this, I do adapt them to the environment in which I am working. I have taught for several years in Japan and course books are used there consistently. But they should not be used as the only mode of delivery. There are many ways of learning and this is but one tool in the process. Practice is the key, being able to use the language without the course book as a prop!!!!!!
They are also useful for review for students and each student would be best placed to learn if they have a course book for review.

Sandy Wagner
What do you mean by "using a course book" . I teach Business English and often use a course book and /or mix various coursebooks for the subject I am dealing with (e.g. writing a letter might be a mix of Business Objectives, Market Leader) and my own material. I voted "I frequently use a course book" but didn't feel that expressed how I work.