Course book You! Table of Contents 1.
Introduction3
2.
Personal teaching context.4
3.
Book analysis5
4.
Specific context analysis7
5.
The unit structure.9
6.
Conclusion11
7.
Bibliography12
Introduction Course books are a necessary evil. They make a significant part of a curriculum, even though they are often made by people that rare ly have to do with that curriculum in specific. Teachers, therefore have the titanic task of evaluating them and find the course book that better fits the objectives, beliefs, policies and contents of that specific curriculum. They normally encompass some of the characteristics but not all, so t he rest are to the teachers hands and ability to surf inconsistencies. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the course book You! : The introduction to the teachers book, the contents pages, and the tenth unit of the students book. Take a close look to it and elaborate a report evaluating the usefulness in a chosen teaching context bearing in mind the audience that is targeted at. The final inform will include the changes that needed to be implemented in order to best fulfill the new teaching context and students needs. Evaluation of textbooks enables teachers to be aware of their teaching role, methodology and important role within an educative process. 2. Personal teaching context To start this analysis a description of the writers particular context will be done. At the moment, I am working at Colombo Británico, a private school with an English teaching intensity of 10 hours from preschool to third grade, an d 8 hours from fourth to eleven grades. Currently, the staff of the school is looking for the options of becoming an International school, which would be the first in Antioquia. I teach fifth grade groups, each group is made of 30 students. For the teaching of The English subject the groups are divided in two groups and classified into the levels A and B. Level A corresponds to the students with better abilities to learn and produce the English language. On the other hand, the level B integrates those students that show difficulties with its learning, This methodology was implemented with the idea of improving both groups abilities. Nowadays considerations about having mixed ability groups have risen due to changes in the learning beliefs and new national policies. A more collaborative methodology is being studied, where students can share and help each other in t he development of their competences to use English more effectively. The school population belongs to an upper mid class, all speakers of the same language: Spanish, which reduces the chances to use English outside the classroom. A few percent of the parents have good knowledge of English, but the majority can give the students opportunities of traveling outside.
In Colombia English and diversity has become an important objective of its government. A great impulse has been given to these aspects, as all institutions are moving towards the same goal. Many important changes have been born. Among them methodologies, language approaches have started to be part of a national dialogue. However, traditional teaching where grammar is the core element still predominates. Good teachers are needed; evaluations are abundant, all with the goal of building a professional group of English teachers. 3. Book analysis This work will start with the analysis of the book introduction where the main designing activities, contents and objectives are described. The book is a two level course, aimed to fulfill the needs of the Spanish students aged between 12 and 14 years old in their first cycle of secondary education. This is known as (ESO), which three letters stand for: (Educación Secundaria obligatoria). The Spanish students have to attend three English hours a week. This ESO education includes two cycles and the students have a basic knowledge of the English language. In Colombia English is now a mandatory subject and its intensity in the public domain goes from two to three hours a week, and compiles six years of schooling, that goes from sixth to eleventh grades. That is the first change the book will suffer. A series of six books will be needed to fulfill the normal characteristics of the Colombian secondary education. Within my context the book will be suitable to be adapted for students of fourth and fifth grades. It will constitute a general review and reinforcement of what has been seen from preschool to third grade. The book is student and process oriented centered. Its syllabus is functionally notional, organized around communicative tasks. The main activity to be developed by the students is put at the end of the lesson, after a prior guided process. This syllabus is type B, where the process is more important than the final production. The course book includes the common number of c omponents offered by the majority of course books available in the market, which are: The students book, class cassettes, workbook, workbook cassettes and teachers book. More varied components would be necessary, such as videos, CDs, (instead of cassettes) posters, flashcards, internet sites, and virtual labs to offer students with more diverse options. The topics chosen and developed are, in my opinion, we ll chosen and reflect the interests of young teens, nevertheless a change in the chara cters they use as protagonists of its proposal, could be changed to more modern and updated ones, ensuring that way a deeper identification and involvement with the topics and activities on the part of the students.
The book achieves to the development of the communicative competence. To do so, the students are engaged in activities where collaborative and personal involvement is promoted. The students learn and practice language through the activities, so language itself is not the main goal. Since students form part of a monolingual country with little opportunities to practice outside, the tasks ensure a fully communicative environment within the classroom. The main objectives were written based on the official specifications for ESO. In this aspect a revision of the Colombian official specifications should be done, in order to align them with a more realistic background. The objectives described in the course book are intended to develop the four English skills, which are: writing, reading, listening and speaking. Besides, collaborative pair and group work is promoted, as well as, the development of the student s autonomy to understand texts and language issues by themselves. The appreciation and knowledge of other cultures is also included in their objectives. Giving a general and rapid glance at them it could be said that they are quite similar to the Colombian specifications, and therefore my own personal context.
4. Specific context analysis An analysis based on my specific teaching context and students grade and age will be done. To do so, some of the topics suggested by Sheldon (1988), FUNIBER material, p. 75 will be used. They are: -Rationale -User definition -Layout/graphics -Accessibility -Selection/grading -Appropriacy Sufficiency Cultural bias Fl exibility Guidance. Rationale: This aspect was previously analyzed. Big differences were encountered with the fifth grade students of The Colombo Británico School from Colombia. The book is aimed to fulfill specific necessities in the Spanish system of education. A revision of this aspect is fundamental to make it fit in the Colombian system, and especially Colombo Británico context, which is a semi bilingual system and students are exposed to the English language since preschool, it means 4 years old. A revision of the objectives was suggested as well, nonetheless they were found quite align with the Colombian and therefore the Colombo Británico School. User definition: The user is well defined in the course book. It is intended for young teens, whose English level is considered basic. There are some similarities with the new context, they are: both students belong to countries which main language is Spanish. Little opportunities of using the English outside the classroom will be available.
The age is an aspect to be changed, so the focus on gramm ar items and how it is supposed to be acquired by the students should be moved to a more guided and less specific way of teaching. Students at the age of 10 to 11 years are not very grammar conscious. A great emphasis on the communicative aspect will be put, in order to benefit the needs of these students. Layout/graphics: The course book could be improved with more attractive and updated graphics and pictures, although they are clear enough to benefit their interpretation and understanding. The space is another feature to be improved, so font size could be amplified a little more. Accessibility: The material in the book is clearly organized, it is easy for the student to understand and follow his/her progress. The example given to guide the student with the answer should be done more explicit, the use of quotations marks is conf using, and the word example is more specific and clear to follow.
On the other hand, the book is not available in Colombia. According to an Internet search, there are not printed copies. It could mean that it was a limited edition, designed especially for the demands of the ESO of Spain. Selection/grading: According to the book structure and the content specification, there is an introduction, units well organized into steps, besides consolidation units, language revision, learning to learn pages and revision games are included. Appropriacy: The material is substantial enough to interest the students, nonetheless, more updated characters, facts, and extra materials that fit the current demands would add more interest to be studied. It is necessary to clarify that the book was printed in 1997 and no new editions are available. Sufficiency: The book was originally written to fulfill a three hour English intensity. It is then not complete enough to cover eight hours of English intensity at the Colombo Británico. The teachers need to bring in more material to make it workable. Include internet activities and increase the communication activities. Cultural bias: Colombia and Spain share the same religious beliefs, native language and a very similar environment, the topics and situations worked in the book, fit the characteristics of young people in Colombia. In this aspect, there is no need for big changes. Flexibility: The book offers a very flexible unit structure. It is easily adapted to other kinds of groups. It offers different activities that fit levels from basic to higher groups. The route offer is not fixed; different orders can be taken in order to fulfill the students needs. The book lacks a complete range of supplementary aids. Flashcards, posters, internet site, virtual labs, and videos need to be included to better accomm odate the Colombo Británico context, curriculum and students characteristics.
Guidance: The book has basic but clear instructions. However, it will need more advice on how supplement the book, or different ideas on how to present the unit and its lessons. For the rest, little can be said, due to insufficient course book content.
5. The unit structure Each unit is organized the following way: In this unit
Start
Lets get started Take a look In your own words Step by step How do you say it? Have a Go! Over to you
It starts with a clear explanation of what the final task will be. This is an excellent strategy to make clear right from the beginning what the final task will be. This way the students will have in mind during the whole process, besides will understand the purpose of the re st of the steps and activities. Lets get started. This lesson is aimed to provide a warm up to the main vocabulary and structures to be used in the unit. It will be a good strategy to include a bulletin board where the students bring pictures and new vocabulary about their favorite free activities. Besides, games such as: hangman or bingo can be played to reinforce t he vocabulary.
Take a look. This section provides students with necessary contextualized language input. The activity is very significant, but it would be more attractive is the texts are changed into more known and updated characters. For the activities proposed, the length and kind of exercises are ok with students of fourth and fifth grade from Colombo Británico. In your own words. This section has the objective to help student develop their own hypothesis about the language and to become more autonomous learners. This section needs to be done
with the help of the teacher and through game activities. Students at age of 10 and 11 are not fully conscious of the real function of grammar, but it is useful to start the knowledge of the language functions. Step by step. This section provides activities for students to practice the language and skills necessary for the final task. It begins with initial controlled activities focusing on form but with attention to meaning, and leads on to freer more global communicative activities. This is a complete communicative activity. Students will have the chance to move, talk and work with others. Besides, it helps the students to use what has been learned until now in a freer way. The students can be proposed to present their re ports using power point presentations; this will give the students the possibility to use graphics, technology and illustrations. How do you say it? This section provides students with pronunciation practice within the step by step sequence activities. This is an important section; it helps students understand the different pronunciation and intonations used when speaking a different language. To make it more attractive and easier to remember for the students, limericks, tongue twi sters, jazz chants, rap songs should be included in this section. Have a go! This section aims to help students develop procedures and strategies for face-toface oral communication. This activity would be very nice for the students due to their ages and the importance of finding best and real friends. No changes would be done here.
Over to you. This final task gives students direct experience on communication in English in the classroom and also serves as a tool for evaluation. This section would need the guidance, help and corrections on the part of the tea cher; especially in the use of adverbs and making of questions. As an innovation students can be given the opportunity of giving this final task their personal touch, students are very creative and have different experiences that will surely add interest to this final task. 6. Conclusion As a general conclusion, the book You! is a well designed course book. Its approach is communicative, which is the approach that is generally worked in the C olombian schools and language institutes. It brings a different syllabus design; it is type B, which means that the activities are process oriented, student centered and organized around tasks. Besides, it promotes autonomous and collaborative work. The adaptation to the Colombo Británico curriculum will imply big logistic changes that would be difficult to implement, especially in this context of hig h intense English teaching; besides the book lacks extra materials to support the teaching.
Another course books must be analyzed with the obj ective of finding a better and more alig n proposal that fits the students needs and context char acteristics of the Colombo Británico School. Hoping to find a course book with the positive aspects of You!
7. Bibliography
McDonough and Shaw. Evaluation of an ELT Course book. Pp. 2 19. Palencia, R. & Driscoll, L. (1997): Introduction to the Teachers book, content pages and unit 10 of You! 1. Harlow: Longman, pp. 6 9, 77 84. Sheldon, L.E. Evaluating ELT textbooks and materials. English Language Teaching Journal, 42(4), 237 246., 1988. Thornbury, Scott. Curriculum and course design - Principles and Practice. FUNIBER material, 2010 2011 Wikipedia. Educación Secundaria Obligatoria o ESO España, 2011. http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Educaci%C3%B3n_Secundaria_Obligatoria
