Penguin Kids Readers

"Even if learners haven’t seen the Disney film or know the characters, the vibrant illustrations in the readers, all Disney materials by the way, bring the story to life. And teachers can show their learners parts of or even all of the Disney film after they’ve finished the reader. It’s even better if the learners recognise the story or characters in the book from the Disney film and it doesn’t matter if the learners have already seen the film or know the story – in fact that’s a bonus! Children love to hear and read their favourite stories over and over again! These are just some of the things which make the Disney titles particularly motivating for young learners." - Melanie Williams, series editor

"Some reading series focus on teaching the mechanics of reading. If they have language controls, these are often linked to the language development of native speakers learners rather than the more systematic controls used for speakers of other languages. Often these series are designed to reflect the learners’ every day experience therefore not taking readers on a journey or giving them new experiences. The combined package of each Penguin Kids book provide for engagement in exciting stories through audio recordings, pictures, controlled language text and exercises." - Nick Dawson, academic consultant

The books are very nice, you can download activities, teacher's notes and the audio on the collection's website, but the teachers decided not adopting them in our school because students may get bored for already knowing the stories. What's you opinion?

http://www.pearsonlongman.com/penguinkids/index.html

P.S.: Last days to take part in the raffle!

Project - In The Dark

The main idea of this project was linking English with a current topic in everyone's life: Disabled people.

Step 1 - In The Dark: Students read the book by themselves at home and then in class, with the whole group. The teacher raffled names and each student read at least one page of the book aloud, while the class followed in the book. New vocabulary was taught and discussed.

Step 2 - The Miracle Worker: Students watched the movie about Helen Keller's disabilities, childhood and communication with the world.

Step 3 - Research: Students researched in groups about any famous disabled person and presented their findings to the class. The presentation included a poster with text and / or pictures and all the information given had to be spoken by heart.

Step 4 - A day with a visual impaired: One of the students was blindfolded and had to take part in the English class and its activities (including the reaseach presentation) this way. This student had a helper, who guided him throughout the class and the school. 

Step 5 - Composition: Students wrote a composition linking the book, the movie, the research and the day with a "visual impaired" person, sharing their ideas and thoughts.

Step 6 - Test: Students took a reading test about the book In The Dark.

Spaghetti Kids

In this edition - updated and expanded - Spaghetti Kids collection continues to maintain the qualities that put it among the most widely adopted collections and it is still providing more resources for both teachers and  students. The level is beginner to elementary (from 06 to 10 years old), it's made for 40 to 50 hours of classes per year and the variant of English is American. New graphic design, more activities, supplementary materials and suggestions for diverse projects that explore the topics covered in the units and integrate the teaching of English and other disciplines are some news of the collection. Along with the Student's Book we have the book Let's Celebrate, with activities related to holidays accompanied by cultural notes. A CD-ROM for each volume of the Student's Book is available, containing interactive games and songs that are part of the Student's Book. 

The Teacher's Pack includes Teacher's Book with answer key, as well as simple tips and guidelines on how to best use the book; Teacher's Guide containing information, tips, tests and photocopiable games; 12 thematic posters (40 X 54 cm); CD-ROMs with interactive games, songs and the listening activities proposed in each Student's Book. Teachers can also download extra activities here.

 

Some comments:

- I worked with this material two times per week, on a total of 80 hours/year approximately, so I really had to add a lot of extra activities to use the spare 40 hours I had;
- Volume 1 is made for kids that already know how to read, but when they are 5/6 years old they still can't;
- They don't have neither flashcards nor flipcharts for all the levels;
- The Teacher's Book / Guide is in Portuguese.

Final Michigan ECPE Skills Booster

Passing the Michigan ECPE exam just got easier! Here you will find almost everything you need for success on the ECPE. Almost everything because the listening part of this book is very different of what you'll hear on the day of the exam (the exam is harder), but the other parts of the book are great. The purpose of this book is not to test how much you know already, but to build on this knowledge.

You'll find Student's Book without key, Teacher's Book with key (it's called teacher's book only because of the key, the book is the same as the student's book) and audio cds. A Multi-ROM is also included, but it's not that much.

Multiple Intelligences in EFL

Multiple Intelligences in EFL gives a brief overview of the latest research into multiple intelligences relevant for EFL; shows how you can enrich your own teaching by systematically activating other intelligences in your language lessons; demonstrates what you can do so that more students feel “addressed” in your class; will help you to appreciate otherwise hidden strengths in your students and provides fun lessons for your students - through 99 clear and easy-to-follow teaching recipes. 

"Drawing on their own experiences and on tips from many educators, the authors have assembled a wide ranging set of exercises which should stimulate and help students who are learning English. Their collection represents one of the most original applications of Multiple Intelligence Theory that I have seen." - Howard Gardner

I teach mainly for kids, and I love this book because most of the exercises are adaptable for the young ones - and all the exercises are wonderful!

Activities Using Resources - OUP

According to OUP, this book has thirty units that show teachers how they can use resources that are typically available. Included are teaching ideas for flashcards, posters, cards, realia, the classroom, the learners, and the teachers themselves in a way that promotes language learning in a motivating and effective way. It's made for teachers, teacher trainees (including CELTA and Trinity Cert TESOL), and teacher trainers. It has ideas for introducing and practising both grammatical and lexical items, suggestions for adaptation and variation and practical ideas for making, storing, and collecting resources. 

Ellen Pilon, a freelance ESL teacher, defines the book very well in her publication at TESL Canada Journal - Mar 22, 2007: "Experienced teachers will find most of these activities familiar or obvious; moreover, teachers of EAP and advanced-level adults will find few useful new ideas. However, new teachers, anxious teachers, teachers trying to avoid the label boring, and teachers lacking refined organizational skills will all find the book indispensable. Thirty usable, creative, easy-to-follow ideas under one cover is a tempting purchase. How often have you half remembered a good idea and then were unable to find it? How often do you decide at the last minute that you need a tried-and-true activity to reinforce language learned the day before? You will find something valuable in this book, which is thin and colorful, a little longer and wider than others of its ilk, and easily locatable in your bag of tricks." I feel the same!