A)
HOW
TO CHOOSE TEXTBOOKS. Oral presentation / Critical thinking about advantages
–disadvantages of using textbooks. (20’)
B)
In
pairs, students will analyze one of the following textbooks:
Storyline
2+Audio CD
Storyline4+Audio
CD
New
Treetops 2. Classbook and WB. Oxford
New
Treetops 1. Classbook and WB. Oxford
PRACTICAL 12: ANALYSIS OF TEXTBOOKS.
TASK: ANÁLISIS Y DISEÑO
/CONTEXTUALIZACION DE MATERIALES Y RECURSOS DIDACTICOS.
Work in pairs. . Analyze the textbooks provided using the following
criteria:
1. Is there a balance in the development of the four
macro skills?
No, there is not a
balance in the development of the four macro-skills. The book presents
listening and speaking as the most important macro-skills leaving aside writing
and reading macro-skills.
2. Is the grammatical, lexical and communicative
progression suitable for the age of the students?
Yes, the
grammatical and lexical aspects are suitable for the age of the students. The
oral communicative progression is suitable but not the written because the book
focuses the attention on the listening and speaking macro-skills mainly.
3. Is the material enough/excessive for the number of
hours you teach during a school year?
Yes, the material
is enough for the number of hours we teach during a school year because the
book has an introductory unit and six more units dived into eight lessons.
4. Are the thematic units suitable for the age and social
context of our learners? Do they favour intercultural awareness?
Yes, the thematic
units are suitable for the age and social context of our learners because the
book has units that deal with school (children go to school every day), toys (children
play with toys and have fun), the farm (children that, in this particular case,
live in La Pampa will have the chance to learn about farm animals), family (all
children have a family), food (children like food) and outdoors (children enjoy
going out). Yes, the book favours intercultural awareness as regards ethnicity,
genre, age and festivals.
5. Is there variety in the textual types offered? Is
there language learning which can be linked to the development of other
disciplines: Social Sciences, L1, Natural Science, Art, etc.?(CLIL)
Yes, there is
variety in the textual types offered: narrative and descriptive texts. Yes,
there is language learning which can be linked to the development of other
disciplines such as Natural Sciences (“The Farm” and “Food”) and Social
Sciences (“Outdoors”, geography).
6. What kind of didactic approach is fostered: PPP, CLT,
Task Based, Project work, others?
The kind of
didactic approaches that are fostered are PPP, for example, the teacher
presents school objects, then children practice and repeat them with a
listening and finally they solve some exercises related with the topic and also
Project Work, for instance, in the unit connected with food children can learn
how fruit grows and they can develop their own project.
7. Do the activities included in the textbook provide
integration with prior knowledge, extensive practice, revision and instances of
self-assessment?
Taking into
consideration the information provided in lesson 1, page 2, we assume that
First Explorers 1 does include integration with prior knowledge as for example
the widely known English salutation devices “ Hello, goodbye etc.”. Extensive
practice, as well instances of revision are evident either by means or
listening, writing or speaking activities not only to acquire the language
lexico-grammatically, but also phonetically. Though there are many instances of
rich activities to submerge students into the learning of this Foreign
Language, we do not find; however, instances of self-assessment.
8. Is the workbook integrated with the book or is it
presented separately? Does it provide
meaningful practice?
First Explorers 1
from Oxford University Press is a complete course of English whose components
are provided separately. In other words, the workbook is not integrated in the
same physical form with the Class Book for the sake of students to explore
different ways to become better learners.
9. Would you recommend the use of this textbook for
Primary/ at which level? Why/not?
We would definitely
recommend the use of this textbook at primary school level. Both the grammar
and vocabulary provided is perfectly accurate to the units our students are
exposed to at local primary schools. Despite the fact that sometimes, particularly
in my case, the vocabulary is highly useful in order to be taught, the grammar
constructions included in the same specific units would be better to omit them
until the grammatical advancement is finally reached. Just as to provide you with an example, 4th
Graders at school number 6 would in fact find it convenient to make use of the
vocabulary regarding family members in unit 6, however, the grammatical
constructions included in the level (this is my…) would be better omitted until
a next level.
10.
Would it be
suitable to follow the main contents for Primary Schools present in our
curricular guidelines?
Undoubtedly, it
would be highly necessary, in order to follow an appropriate and well organized
teaching process, to follow the curricular guidelines. The book, as well as its
content, organization and guidance for teaching are a wonderful resource for
teachers to be used; however, it is not the only option nor the best
(sometimes).
11.
Complete these book
features:
PRICE AND AVAILABILITY:
The
price moves from $330 to $433 (national currency) in any national library,
national selling-and-buying websites, as well as Amazon.com. It is not a book
difficult to be acquired because of market restrictions.
ADD-ONS AND EXTRAS:
·
Class book with stickers
·
Activity book
·
Teacher’s book
·
Audio CDs
·
Teacher’s Resource Pack including
Storybook, Flashcards, Poster, Cross-cultural Materials, Evaluation booklet and
integrated DVD. Also, it includes the possibility to use it on iTools with
animated stories and interactive activities.
LAYOUT AND DESIGN:
Good
quality book characterized by vibrant, colorful pages ideal for maintaining
children’s attention and motivation up. One specific book aimed at different
individual functions within schools, that is to say, the Teacher’s book
destined to teachers, as well as the Audio CDs, and the Activity Book, the
Class book with stickers for children’s use.
INSTRUCTIONS
Clearly
depicted and stated instruction with colorful elements, as well as simple
vocabulary (listen, chant etc.) situated either on top, middle of bottom page
ideal for the students’ better understanding.
SYLLABUS:
Subdivided
into 7 different English topics which are later characterized by stating the
unit’s MAIN VOCABULARY, MAIN GRAMMATICAL STRUCTURES, CROSS-CULTURAL THEMES and
LET’S EXPLORE.
LANGUAGE SKILLS:
Listening,
Speaking, Writing and Reading Comprehension work in conjunction for the sake
of:
·
The entertaining exploration of a new
language.
·
The exploration of values and
experiences that are important in general education.
·
The exploration of different cultures.
·
The exploration of different areas of
the curriculum.
·
The exploration the world of
children’s imagination.
·
The exploration of ways of becoming
better learners.
TOPICS:
Greetings
(including numbers, colors, and simple vocabulary).
School:
Vocabulary regarding school elements of everyday use, basic grammatical
structures (p. pronoun and verb to be).
Toys:
Vocabulary concerning children’s toys, grammatical structures such as “I have
got” plus the one introduced before “it’s”.
The
Farm: Specific vocabulary concerning Farm Animals. The
positive CAN modal grammatical structure denoting ability is included in this
section.
Family:
Vocabulary concerning basic family members as well as adjectives to describe
them. Also, He and She are introduced in conjunction with the singular use of
the verb TO-BE. The demonstrative THIS pronoun is also included in this
section.
Food:
Specific Vocabulary concerning easy-to-recognize fruits. The verb “to like” is
included in this section for describing not only likes, but also dislikes.
Outdoors:
everyday vocabulary concerning outdoor activities and environmental elements.
The simple existential “there is” is included in this section.
CULTURAL APPROPRIACY:
Based
on the book’s content, Exploration of other cultures through Reading texts and
Festival sections help pupils learn about children in other countries.
Furthermore, the unique high-quality flashcards, in conjunction with DVD clips,
make of it an enriching cross-cultural teaching resource.
TEACHER’S GUIDE:
A
teacher’s book, as well as numerous high-quality resources for them are
available to complement the guidance.
WEB COMPANION:
https://elt.oup.com/catalogue/items/global/young_learners/explorers/first_explorers/9780194027106?cc=gr&selLanguage=en&mode=hub
