how to use a course book

by Jonas Reichert 9 min read

At the start of the class use the coursebook to point out the lesson aims and contents. This should help learners to set personal short-term goals for that lesson. The CEFR ‘can do’ statements are useful here as they set out in objective terms what learners should be able to do (better) at the end of a class.

  1. Step 1: Look at what you've got. Look carefully at the pages you need to teach. ...
  2. Step 2: Choose what to use. Now that you know what you want your students to do, you need to think about how they will achieve this. ...
  3. Step 3: Decide on a sequence. ...
  4. Step 4: Make the course book come alive. ...
  5. Step 5: Get teaching!
Jan 23, 2018

Full Answer

What is the purpose of a course book?

attempt to demonstrate how course books can be exploited by using the important processes of selection, adaptation and supplementation. It also refers teachers to sources of guidance and practical advice. The Role of Course books The literature around the evaluation and use of course books and commercial material is extensive.

How to choose the right coursebook for your class?

Jan 07, 2019 · Some parts of the course book may be too easy or too difficult for your students. There is nothing more boring in a language class than working through every exercise in a coursebook. Coursebooks date very quickly. I remember one trainee using a text from the coursebook about the Olsen twins and not one of the students knew who they were!

What do teachers want from their coursebooks?

To make these tasks a little more engaging, have your class conduct job interviews instead. Divide students into pairs; one student is the interviewer and the other is the interviewee. Go around the class and give each pair a different profession or job to interview for. 2.

What do children need in a coursebook?

B. Does the book seem to do what it claims to do? C. Is it clear how to use the book? D. Is the book clearly sequenced and structured? E. Does it provide integrated revision of key items? F. Are there any useful, additional materials? G. Does it offer lots of practical ideas? H. How does the book develop a balance of all 4 skills? Does this ...

What are the advantages of using a course book?

Apart from the above benefits, coursebooks provide structure and a syllabus for a program, they help standardize instruction, maintain quality, provide a variety of learning resources, are efficient because they save teachers' time, can provide effective language models and input, and are usually visually appealing and ...

How do you adapt a course book?

Here are 5 ways you can adapt the coursebook to make the most of it:Supplement the texts. Coursebooks are usually organised thematically. ... Replace the texts. ... Personalise the activities. ... Let your students decide. ... Use the online resources.Dec 5, 2017

Is it important to use a course book to teach English?

course book provides teachers and learners with a structure of teaching and learning, methodological support and opportunities for revision and preparation Page 4 (McGrath 2002). Moreover, it gives teachers a relief as it reduces the heavy load of preparation, saves time and makes teaching and learning easier.May 25, 2011

What are the advantages and disadvantages of course book?

Many course books are very predictable. They follow the same pattern unit after unit. This can become boring for both the students and the teacher if the book is followed too strictly. Course books can encourage teachers to be less creative and imaginative – preferring to use ideas in the book rather than their own.

What are activities of learning to writing own texts?

12 Writing-to-Learn ActivitiesLearning Logs. A learning log is a journal for schoolwork. ... Admit/Exit Slips. Students submit brief writings on “slips” to you before and after class. ... Correspondence. ... Dialogue Journals. ... Fictional Dialogues. ... First Thoughts. ... Freewrites. ... Nutshells.More items...

How do you adapt learning materials?

If the student has difficulty reading written material, then try…Find a text written at lower level.Provide highlighted material.Rewrite the student's text.Tape the student's text.Allow a peer or parent to read text aloud to student.Shorten the amount of required reading.More items...

Do learner need a course book?

Well-designed coursebooks can be motivating and provide a logical organization of content. They offer a written record of what has been studied and allow students to review it later. They reduce the amount of time needed for preparation. In some L2 teaching contexts, the use of a given coursebook is compulsory.Feb 19, 2018

What are course books and other materials?

Coursebook materials are all the materials in a coursebook package that we use in the classroom to present and practise language, and to develop learners' language skills. A coursebook package usually includes a student's book, a teacher's book and audio and/or video recordings.

What is the meaning of course book?

Word forms: plural course books. countable noun. A course book is a textbook that students and teachers use as the basis of a course. COBUILD Advanced English Dictionary.

How do teachers use textbooks?

be resource books for ideas and activities, for instruction/learning, and • give teachers rationale for what they do. beginning of the year exploring the textbook with your learners. Explain why you chose the book and show your excitement about it. 'Walk' them through the structure of the book, pointing out features.

Why do teachers use textbooks?

Textbooks are especially helpful for beginning teachers. The material to be covered and the design of each lesson are carefully spelled out in detail. Textbooks provide organized units of work. A textbook gives you all the plans and lessons you need to cover a topic in some detail.Nov 15, 2019

How do textbooks help students?

At their core, textbooks are a way to distribute the essential content of a class to a massive group of students in a way that is standardized and economical. A good textbook is clear, appealing, and organized in a predictable way.Aug 17, 2020

1. They provide structure

One struggle at times this year has been putting together a coherent course. I have had plenty of short-term goals based on diagnostic tasks such as writing assignments or feedback from subject teachers, but I am conscious of the fact that overall my courses at times lack flow.

2. They have plenty of optional extras

Of course, the material within the main pages of a unit may not be sufficient to facilitate understanding for every student. That is where optional extras such as the workbook, photocopiable worksheets, digital resources, and language extension tasks come in. These can be used to provide extra support as well as to challenge stronger learners.

3. They save time

Taking a moment for a selfish thought, this is the main aspect I miss at present. As mentioned in my February post, finding time to stay on top of things has been a challenge at times this year and part of that comes from having to create my own materials from scratch.

4. The materials have been professionally produced and edited

I have moved on from my early hand-made efforts to become quite adept at designing worksheets and other materials now using a variety of digital applications. However, I am no graphic designer and cannot match the polish, colour, and efficient use of space of a well designed coursebook page.

5. They have engaging characters and stories

There have been plenty of groanworthy characters and stories in coursebooks I have used over the years, especially some of those aimed at teenagers with their ‘real life’ characters attempting to appear ‘cool’.

6. We can work around their limitations

As has been mentioned a few times now, whatever limitations a coursebook has, we can work around them. They do not have to be followed completely (though it is easy to see why some people end up doing that with the carefully laid out teacher’s books and ready-made lesson by lesson plans) nor do they need to be covered sequentially.

Most ESL teachers need a coursebook to follow. It gives us a structure. It gives students a structure

But it does not give us fun, engaging speaking tasks. At least, most coursebooks don’t, which is unfortunate since most students sign up for ESL classes to learn to speak English. However, because we are resourceful teachers, we can always supply the engaging speaking tasks that coursebooks seem to be missing.

Feel like throwing the boring coursebook out the window? No need to!

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em, right? Instead of working against it, work with it. Take what you need from it and create your own engaging speaking tasks. Or try any of these ideas and you will not only get your students to speak, you may have a hard time getting them to stop!

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Selection

  • If you’re lucky, you’ll have some input on which coursebook your class will use. Spend some time looking at the available options. If you can, go to conferences and talk to publishers — and to other teachers — about coursebooks that might meet your students’ needs effectively. When considering your options, remember that ‘fun’ and ‘engagement’ aren’t just nice extras; they’re act…
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Addition

  • The factory tour book mentioned above wasn’t the only resource I used in that class. I supplemented and personalised the course with English language promotional material published by the company to help learners talk about their own specific areas of work within the factory. Adding supplementary materials to an already-suitable book gives learners more of the content t…
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Subtraction

  • When a coursebook is generally appropriate, but contains some topics that are unsuitable or exercise types that are repetitive, many teachers skip some parts. Often, books are modular — you don’t necessarily need to have used unit 2 before you can use unit 3. A little strategic cutting can remove just the problematic portions while leaving a lot of useful material intact. But be careful. …
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Adaptation

  • Interacting creatively with a coursebook is a great teaching skill worth practising and developing. If, for example, you don’t want to use the main reading in a unit, but you like the rest of it, find a text you do like and use the reading exercises in the coursebook as a model for your own lesson. Where the book has pre-reading questions, write yo...
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Replacement

  • This is an extreme form of adaptation. If you’re forced to use a coursebook that doesn’t work at all, but provides the language your students will be tested on, you can use the coursebook’s grammatical, functional and lexical syllabus but provide your own content for your students to work with. This is an extreme and labour-intensive approach, but if you’re convinced it’s the only …
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Rejection

  • If you creatively add, subtract, adapt and replace enough, you may end up with a coursebook-based class that’s like the philosopher’s hammer — it’s a hundred years old and has had two new heads and four new handles in its lifetime. That ultimately amounts to rejection of the coursebook. If you’ve come that far, it’s probably time to drop it altogether if you can, go back to …
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