ESL Speaking Textbook Reviews

ESL Speaking Textbook Reviews

If you're looking for some advice about which ESL textbook to choose for your next class, check out:

ESL textbooks for children--I talk about my 2 favorites, mostly because they are an actual, well-though out series, unlike most of the other fluffy stuff filled with pictures and other crap that is kind of useless if you want to actually teach something.

ESL textbooks for adults--I preview my 3 favorite 4-skills textbooks that place a heavy emphasis on communicative speaking activities, which is just my style. These ones are also solid, minus all the fluffy stuff.

Four Skills Books for General English Classes

It's all about my favorite ESL Textbooks for general, 4-skills English classes. I'm only reviewing books that I've used in my own classes (of course!). For even more of my ESL textbook reviews, check out another site of mine, ESL Textbook Reviews.

The Four Corners Series

If I had only one choice for a 4-skills EFL textbook, this would be it. There are no "throw-away" chapters like in so many of the other books and the activities are interesting and engaging. It's so well designed actually that it's almost impossible for students not to participate. It's communication centered and focuses heavily on speaking, although it does hit the other three skills. Trust me, you won't be disappointed if you choose this book.

The Touchstone Series



I used the Touchstone series a number of years ago and remember hating it: text-heavy pages that were just overwhelming for me, and even more so for the students. However, I'm using it for my conversation classes these days (I had no choice!), but I have to say that they've made the second edition significantly better. There are some solid listening and reading activities, as well as some communicative "free-talking" activities at the back. By book 4, it's serious English so if you have quite high level students, check it out.

The World Link Series

I used this book for about 3 years at my old university and while I was a bit burnt out on it near the end, it really is a solid book. The units are interesting and engaging and are on the simpler side if you have lower-level, or multi-level classes. There just isn't that much text on the page, which is something I appreciate in an ESL textbook. The supplementary teacher's activity book was excellent and I used almost every single activity in it, so make sure you get that as well.
World Link: Teacher's Resource Text Bk. 1

The Smart Choice Series

I used the Smart Choice series a few years ago at my old university for a supplementary program and really enjoyed teaching it. It's grammar, but in a very simple, easy to understand way. It made teaching easy and very minimal prep was required because the book was good enough to just teach straight from it. The students usually seemed to enjoy the topics and it was easy enough to build natural conversations from it.

The Interchange Series



Interchange is one of the most popular 4-skills English as a second language textbooks and for good reason: it's solid. Jack Richards is one of the best ESL textbook writers out there and anything with his name on it is sure to be a good choice. If I was an admin of a program of some kind, I'd look closely at this book.

ESL Textbook Reviews

One question that I often see tossed around on the Facebook groups related to language teaching is what textbook other teachers like.  I have a site called ESL Textbook Reviews that talks about my specific choices and I'll also list a few of them here. 

General 4 Skills Textbooks:



Academic Writing



Public Speaking and Presentations

Touchstone Series: a Short Book Review

I used the Touchstone Seriesyears ago at my previous uni and remember hating it.  Like the pages were filled with all these "speak like a native speaker" sections which were just bizarre, and each page had so much stuff crammed into it that it usually stressed me out.  Maybe part of the problem was the program I was teaching in; I "shared" the book with other teachers and was assigned 1 or 2 pages/class so had to teach the pages I hated instead of just skipping over them like I normally would.

Anyway, it seems like a new edition has come out and Touchstone is not as terrible as it once was.  Plus, I usually just choose 1 or 2 pages out of each chapter and then add in my own material so the I just don't use the pages that I don't like.  I still much prefer a series like 4 Corners or World Link but I don't have any major complaints about Touchstone for a general, 4-skills kind of textbook.

ESL Textbook Reviews

Check out one of my other sites: ESL Textbook Reviews.  It's just updated with a couple new additions.

Reader Question....World Link and Presentations

These questions from Emily:

"I am considering using World Link.  I see that you recommend it, but since I don't have the book in front of me, I was wondering if you use it for conversation classes or for writing classes.

 

Another question is about the presentation you have your students do. I saw on your syllabus that you included an oral presentation.  That is something I'd like to integrate into my course this semester. Are the particulars for that project outlined on your blog somewhere?"

 

My answers: 

 

World Link is a conversation book, and one of the best ones I've ever used.  It's definitely not for a writing class.    For writing, I like: Get Ready to Write: A First Composition Text (2nd Edition)  or Ready to Write 1: A First Composition Text (3rd Edition).

 

As far as presentations go, I've done lots of different things.   Here are some of my old blog entries on that subject: 1, 2, 3.  Let me know if helpful or not.  If not, I'll go into more details for you in another post.    

Making a Terrible Book Work

Those who have been around the ESL Teaching world for a while have all had the experience of admins (who often have never set foot in a classroom as the teacher) choosing books for classes.  Once in a while it can work.  Often, it doesn't.  They tell you that it's a "Conversation Class" and that the students wants "free-talking" but hand you a book that is a grammar/vocab book or something of the sort.  This actually happened to me in one of the extra classes that I taught at my uni a couple of years ago.  Here is a Geek in Korea's story of a terrible textbook.

And actually, this reality has become my life these days.  This semester my uni is using "Top Notch" as our Freshman English Book.  While initially it looked promising, it gets worse and worse the more I dig into it and try to plan lessons.  It's a perfect storm of uninteresting topics/extremely confusing grammar practice/terrible supplementary activities/screwed up, unintuitive online homework/bizarre, useless vocab.  So what do you do in this situation?

Take something from the book and make it work.  The students will be angry if they have been required to buy the book and bring it to class (which I do require) and then you don't use it that day.  So, I choose a grammar point, or a topic, or a sample conversation, or some vocab and build my lesson around that, aiming to do at least a few minutes of something from the book.  If the grammar is too confusing (which it most often is), I'll prepare a handout with my own simplified version of it.    And the class works.   If I stuck with the book for more than about 10 minutes, it wouldn't.  .

Contrast this to the last book I used, "World Link."  It's a breezy tropical-island beach hut dream compared to "Top Notch."  Easy to understand grammar/useful vocab presented well/superstar supplemental activities/fun surveys and interactive activities/easy to use conversation starters.  I would use the book, or supplementary activities from the teacher's resource book for almost the entire class.

So, what I'm saying is: be flexible!  You have a good book?  Use it.  Your life will be easier and you won't have to spend horrendous amounts of time on lesson planning.  A terrible book?  Make a "token" effort to use it.  Besides that, get your serious lesson planning on and make an interesting lesson for your students.  Yes, it will be more work than just slaving away from the book but your efforts will be appreciated (hopefully) by your students.

Textbook Review: Top Notch Series

My school just changed over to a new book for the practical English freshman classes.  We had previously used the most fabulous World Link: Developing English Fluency series, which I enjoyed immensely.  However, it was 3 long years, and by my count, I had to teach each lesson a whopping 28 times over the years.  So, this change is welcome.

We've switched to Top Notch and at first glance, it looks pretty solid.  The book is well-done, with interesting topics.  There is a resource book with ready made activities, as well as a CD ROM with a million and one worksheets and stuff.  However, the coolest thing is these elaborate online homework/testing thing they've got going on.  It takes a while to set up, but once you do, you're solid.  You can give homework for each unit online, and then at the end of the semester, get one final homework score for each student.  It's just my style.  For real. 

Anyway, more reviews later, as I use it on actual students.

Another reader question...where to buy textbooks?

"Do you know where I can purchase the World Link text book along with the teacher's resource guide, workbook and so forth here in Korea?"

In my humble opinion, the ONLY bookstore worth dealing with here in Korea is Whatthebook.  They have a physical store in Itaewon but can order you anything you want from America with cheap (free?) shipping.  

In addition, Kim&Johnson are an ESL teaching resource bookstore (s?)  in Seoul.  I haven't been there in 3 years so can't speak for the quality, but they are quite good from what I remember. Perhaps they have an online ordering thing as well? 

Finally, your local Kyobo bookstore should have a good selection of ESL teaching books.  The one in my little backwater of Cheonan has more than I would have ever thought.  You might luck out and find what you need there. 

A reader question about the first day of class

Another one from Paul:

"Do you have any practical suggestions on how to prepare for the first day of class for my freshman English conversation classes which I'm told are quite low learners?  This will be the start of my Korean university teaching career. Any pointers would be greatly appreciated.  Btw, I'm using World Link 1"

Paul, I've talked about this before, and as you can see from this post, and this post, I'm a bit clueless.   In this one, I seem to have a bit better idea.  Short and simple is my new strategy.  Say hello, go over the syllabus, the rules, and let them go early.  I cannot emphasize enough that this needs to be very simple.  Give them a piece of paper, write in on the board, say it in a different way.  Use hand gestures.

Some of my coworkers keep the students for the entire time playing little games and stuff.  This is not really my style, and actually, I don't like to be too friendly or fun the first day because I think this sets up a bad dynamic for the rest of the semester.  The fun, happy, kind teacher comes later on once they respect me and understand and follow my rules and we know each other better. 

For more general advice?  If you have the World Link textbook, make sure you get the teacher's resource book that goes along with it.  Pick out the good activities you like and do all your copying before the semester even starts.  And try to prep for at least the first 3 or 4 weeks done now, so it doesn't hit you like a ton of bricks.  Talk to your new coworkers and get the inside tips from them.  Ask them specific questions, not general type ones and you'll get more helpful information.  I had a bit of a mentor when I first started at my uni and it was invaluable.

World Link: Teacher's Resource Text Bk. 1

The photocopy machine

For some teachers, it seems to be their best friend.  And I'm the first to admit, that in my first year of teaching it was my best friend too.  I was teaching kindergarten /elementary school kids and was clueless as to how to go about this.  My school offered no real practical help, nor did the books we used, which filled about 2 out of the 20 hours that I was allotted to teach each class, each month.  I had never taken a training class or read any books about teaching ESL.  So, I had a lot of  class time to fill.  I did this by handouts.  Coloring, math worksheets, whatever I could find in the teacher's room.  The connection to English teaching was quite vague.  I'm sure you can extrapolate from this that I was a very ineffective teacher and whatever the kids learned was in spite of me, not because of me.

After 5 years of teaching in Korea, I hope that I do a lot better job at teaching than I did back then.  And I'm pretty sure that I do.  Do I still use the photocopier?  Occasionally...perhaps once for every 4 classes that I have.  World Link, the main book I teach from has an excellent Teacher's Resource Book with games and activities for the students that are interactive and communicative.  Smart Choice, the other book I use a lot has an okay workbook that I will use once in a while by way of review.

Some of my coworkers seem to make a handout or copy some sort of puzzle or game for every class that they do.  I've even seen some of them sitting in the corner reading a book after they've given the papers out.  It makes me question their effectiveness as a teacher.   It's mostly just laziness that makes teachers resort to the photocopier.  It's an instant lesson plan as opposed to thinking and processing how to make the given material interesting, relevant and engaging.  It's easier in class too.  You can just give the handout, sit back and relax for the rest of the class as opposed to an interactive, communicative lesson where you need to keep the energy up and keep the class moving along and on task.  But is it good for the students?

NO!  Of course it's not for the following reasons:

1. When you have a handout, you don't really need to process and think and debate and wonder about the language.  You just circle whatever answer you think is maybe okay.  This is no way contributes to meaningful use of the language.

2. Language is a social thing and learning it happens in dialogue.  If you're doing all this paper busywork, then you're not really engaging and learning.

3. The 4 language skills are writing/speaking/listening/reading.  I try to do activities that use at least 2, and hopefully 3 or 4 of these skills.  Worksheets?  They might cover one, if that. 

4. It's boring. 

So, to sum it all up.  Photocopier does not equal toxic in low doses IF the things copied are chosen with care.  Used everyday?  It's just laziness and I'd question how much learning is actually happening in the class.

Podcasts

Maybe you're a lot like me and came overseas (for only a year!) to teach because you wanted to travel and make some money at the same time.  You had a good time, and kind of fell into the ESL thing as a career, without ever really planning to.  Or perhaps you had it all planned out, and studied linguistics or something at uni, but never really had any training in the more practical aspects of teaching English. 

Well...the best thing to do would be to take a Celta course (on the horizon for me!).  After that, reading some books, such as these ones:


Teaching English to Children in Asia.
Principles of Language Learning and Teaching 
World Link, Book 1 Teacher's Edition.

could be extremely helpful  The World Link book is an ESL textbook, but is has a very good, practical teacher training section in it.  

But maybe you're cheap like me,  and have all those books and think the CELTA is too expensive but want to continue learning about teaching ESL.  The next thing to do it to go to Itunes and download some podcasts.  My favorites are:

ESL Edgycation
ESL etc.
ESL Teacher talk.

Perfect for when you're on the commute, or working out at the gym.   And I've learned an outrageous amount of good, practical kind of stuff that I've incorporated into my teaching.  Some examples of topics on these podcasts are: The First Day of Class, Motivating Students, Two Discussion Activities.  I'm not sure there's any ESL teacher out there who wouldn't find stuff like this helpful.

In response to some reader questions....

This is in response to Jo, who sent just me an email:

"1. Can you recommend text books for 1st and 2nd year uni students who speak very little English?"

I love World Link a lot. I use level one in my classes, but my students are middle of the road university in Korea, so generally can at least understand the readings/have heard the vocab in the book before. There is a starter, which might work for beginners, who've only studied English for high school, or something like that.

The things I like most about World Link are the Workbook, Teacher's Resource Book (fun games/activities for each unit) and the online quizzes and exercises.

Beyond that, Smart Choice might be another alternative, but I'm not sure how the difficulty compares to World Link.

Textbook selection is not my area of expertise and I haven't personally used that many of them.

2. Syllabus

Presentation Update

A few weeks ago, I talked about how I was doing presentations in my classes this semester and I wasn't sure how it would turn out. Today was the first round and I was pretty impressed with most of the students. Out of a class of 20, only 1 didn't memorize the 2 minutes spiel. And the grammar was almost perfect, far better than they'd ever do just speaking in class. It was actually like they consulted their textbooks or something :) And it was not horribly tedious because they could pick from 5 different, general topics and the speeches were only 2 minutes long, so it was all over pretty fast. And because I gave them topics, straight out of the stuff we've studied this semester, it would be glaringly obvious if anyone copied off the internet (no one did!) I'll definitely be doing it again next semester :)

World Link Textbook...and Just Wandering

In case you haven't figured it out, I have a double-identity. One part English teacher at a Korean University, one part traveler/tourist/live-er of life in Korea. My other blog, called Just Wandering portrays the latter. Check it out, it's a lot more informal with pictures and links and other good stuff like that. Plus, another one of my (former?) identities is a Christian scholar/preacher of sorts, so I have a lot of links to sermons I've done and papers I wrote in grad school. Check it out.

I did a review of  World Link Book 1)on my other blog. You can read it here.

Board Games

One of my favorite things to do in class is board games. Sometimes I'll make my own and play as a class for a review game or the World Link Textbook has some really good ones in their teacher resource book.

When I use the ones from the textbook, I'll put the students in groups of 4 and get them to referee their own games. I'll promise a "stamp," which translates into grades for my class to the winner of each group. I'll write on the board a couple example questions from the game and put up some wrong and right answers. Then, I'll ask my students which one is wrong and why until the get the hang of it. In their own games, if their classmate answers incorrectly, he will not be able to move his marker ahead but will have to remain in the same square. It's amazing how competitive Korean students can get and I can see them all listening intently to their classmates and figuring out if their grammar is correct or not. If they have a dispute, I'll come offer the final decision about a right or wrong answer. Getting them to correct each other adds a whole new element of intensity to the class and dramatically improves accuracy of speaking. Try it...you'll be amazed I think!

Free: 40 Tried and Tested ESL Games and Activities

Email Address

Textbook Selection

Textbook selection is one of those things that perhaps gets undervalued by those who don't teach, but I think almost any ESL/EFL teacher would say that it can make or break a class. By way of example, I teach 2 different types of classes. One is my "regular" job consisting of freshman English, for credit classes. These are mandatory. My university also has a for-credit program that is optional and only for those wanting additional exposure to English. We volunteer to teach these classes.

In the first case, at my regular job, the textbook (World Link, Level 1) is amazing. Each week, there is a wealth of good material to teach, such that I can't cover what I think is decent material just for the sake of time. The teacher's manual is full of good suggestions for additional activities. It also has a whole section about teacher development that is very helpful. There is also a teacher's resource book that comes with an interesting, generally well thought-out activity for each unit. Of the 24 units, I probably used about 15 of them in class. This textbook made my life very easy! For a 2 hour class, I was easily able to do all my prep in under 2 hours. The lessons were easy to make interesting and engaging with not that much of my own additional mental energy or effort.

In the second case, we use Touchstone, Levels 1-3 for the various levels. This textbook is quite bad. They focus upon "real" language but in a way that is just weird for any ESL student to use. ESL students at the beginner levels don't neccesarily need to talk like an American teenager I think. Also, the articles and things they talk about are just not interesting for my students. I'm not really sure if it's a matter of a bad textbook, or just bad for students in Korea. Anyway, it just doesn't work. The students don't like the book and neither do I. I've seen motivation just get lower and lower as everyday they study stuff they just don't care about. I can't blame them. I spend an exhorbant amount of time trying to find (or make) additional things to supplement the material but it's extremely hard to work with what they've given me. I think this program is headed down the path to obsolete if the administrators don't take action on this issue!

So textbook...make it or break it in terms of the overall success of a class.