Practical 12
- 1. SabinaHuivan Practical nº 12 PRACTICAL 12:ANALYSIS OF TEXTBOOKS. TASK: ANÁLISISYDISEÑO/CONTEXTUALIZACION DEMATERIALESYRECURSOSDIDACTICOS. Work in pairs. . Analyze the textbooks providedusing the following criteria: 1- Is there a balance in the development of the four macroskills? The analyzed textbook is “Flashlight” from Oxford University Press. It is divided into five units; each of them has a balanced development of the four macroskills. There are plenty of exercises which lead students to increase their knowledge and autonomy. What I especially like is the activities related to listen and repeat to be used as a model to produce then their own dialogue, for example in unit one there is an activity about telling the time. The students after repeating what they have listened to are asked to practise with a partner the dialogue provided with different times. 2- Is the grammatical, lexical and communicative progression suitable for the age of the students? This textbook is for students aged between 11 and 12. I find it very suitable for their age; the lexical contents are related to their personal everyday lives: “This is me!”, “My family”, “My day”, “Sport” and “Around the world” (unit 1 to 5 respectively). The progression of the units seems to be from vocabulary more connected with their individual, closer world to more social one. The grammatical progression is suitable for the student’s age since different structures and tenses are given according to their level of complexity. For instance, the textbook is organized in two levels of grammar (1 and 2) and some tenses are explained in different sections, e.g. present simple negative. The communicate progression is developed gradually from simpler vocabulary sentence, with the help of the audio recordings to more complex sentences, fostering more autonomy, e.g. in unit number 3 after writing their own dialogue, students have to perform it. 3- Is the material enough/excessive for the number of hours you teach during a school year? I think that the material provided in this textbook is more than enough, since it also has a workbook in which there are a good variety of reading and writing activities of each unit and a revision section. From my experience as a trainee, I can say that this will be a suitable material, because students need a considerable
- 2. SabinaHuivan Practical nº 12 amount of time to process the contents and usually it has been necessary to take one month and a half to work on each unit. 4- Are the thematic units suitable for the age and social context of our learners? Do they favour intercultural awareness? As I mentioned before, I find the thematic units suitable for teenagers aged between 10 and 13 because they represent some of the most typical interests about their everyday lives. Also, the topics in each unit present an approach to the social context of English learners; there are references of some famous people in our country such as Diego Torres, Hernán Crespo and David Nalbandian. Also different countries and cities around the world are mentioned, including Argentina, Mar del Plata and Buenos Aires. Some pictures represent a different context from what students can find in our public schools, being the use of uniform one of the most noticeable one. However, there is intercultural awareness about this since a comment in what the textbook calls culture focus is made, giving information about the percentage of children in the UK who use uniform, assuming the possibility of different options in schools around the world. This culture focus is found throughout the textbook, inviting for reflection on the British culture and ours. Apart from that, there is also a section called “focus on the world” which focuses on different aspects of culture in the world. 5- Is there variety in the textual types offered? Is there language learning whichcan be linkedto the development of other disciplines: Social Sciences, L1, Natural Science, Art, etc?(CLIL) The textual types offered in the textbook present a variety of options: there are written textsinthe form of dialogueswithandwithoutimages,stories,sentences and audio texts whichfoster listening comprehension. Some units can be linked to other disciplines, for example, the unitabout“Sport”can be connectedwithP.E.althoughthere are notusually theoretical lessons,studentscanbe taughta differentsport from what they have learned in English lessons. The unit “Around the world” can be used for different courses such us geography and natural science. These courses can be also linked to the section around the world, including social sciences and history too.
- 3. SabinaHuivan Practical nº 12 6- What kind of didactic approach is fostered: PPP, CLT, Task Based, Project work, others? The didactic approach fostered is mainly task-based work since the emphasis of the activities is on a topic and the contents of the textbook are arranged according to these criteria. Also PPP is included; the activities are organized with a presentation, usually showing a picture to engage students on the context for the target language; then there is a lot of practice of different types which lead them later to production. 7- Do the activities included in the textbook provide integration with prior knowledge, extensive practice, revision and instances of self- assessment? The activities are integrated, activating prior language, for example in unit number 1 the students learn telling the time and then in unit number 3, they use the structure for routines; in unit 3 they learn third person singular and in the following unit they activate that knowledge through activities. The textbook provides a workbook with extensive practice and also revision of the units. 8- Is the workbook integrated with the book or is it presented separately? Does it provide meaningful practice? The workbook is integrated with the book and it is at the back of it. I think that the activities are useful and can contribute to activate knowledge. They provide meaningful practice, some of them encouraging learners to produce their own texts or to provide their personal information. 9- Would you recommend the use of this textbook for Primary/ at which level? Why/not? The book seems to be appropriate for students in sixth year, reaching an A1 level. The contents would be suitable for them since the topics are usually among their everyday lives. In this level, students will be able to understand some simple communication about familiar topics, give information about common everyday activities, understand and write short paragraphs or sentences, using capital letters and simple punctuation.
- 4. SabinaHuivan Practical nº 12 10.WouldIt be suitable tofollowthe main contents for Primary Schools present inour curricular guidelines? I think that the main contents would be suitable since they covered the six axis and work on developing them. 11- Complete these book features: PRICE AND AVAILABILITY: Although I do not how much the textbook costs, the students will not have to buy any extra material since the book provides a workbook, audio and test booklet. ADD-ONS AND EXTRAS: Apart from the workbook, worksheets are offered as extra material. LAYOUTAND DESIGN: I find it attractive for teenagers and easy for them to follow. INSTRUCTIONS:The instructions are clear and simple, I think that once they have been taught how to use it, they could work on their own. SYLLABUS:All the language areas are covered in a simple way in order to prepare them to more complex structures and vocabulary. LANGUAGESKILLS: The four macro skills are covered, putting more emphasis on reading comprehension and writing. TOPICS: Appropriate and they covered a variety of thematic areas.
- 5. SabinaHuivan Practical nº 12 CULTURAL APPROPRIACY: Although it not deep developed, It has an intercultural approach throughout the book. TEACHER’S GUIDE: It provides a teacher’s guide WEB COMPANION: www.oup.com/elt