Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Thanks
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- I Creating a good environment for language learning
- II Being effective in the classroom
- III Teaching large classes
- IV Teaching language skills and systems
- V Teaching language without textbooks
- VI Teaching language with textbooks
- VII Helping students achieve their potential
- VIII Linking the school to the outside world
- IX Supporting yourself and others
- Glossary
- Index
20 - Understanding textbooks
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 September 2021
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Thanks
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- I Creating a good environment for language learning
- II Being effective in the classroom
- III Teaching large classes
- IV Teaching language skills and systems
- V Teaching language without textbooks
- VI Teaching language with textbooks
- VII Helping students achieve their potential
- VIII Linking the school to the outside world
- IX Supporting yourself and others
- Glossary
- Index
Summary
A textbook is the teacher's tool. It is to the teacher what the spade is to the gardener … There are few better ways of wasting time and money than supplying inefficient tools to a skilled worker: conversely there are few better ways of increasing production and lessening costs than improving the instruments which the workers use.
Michael WestThe short version
1 Textbooks are found in most learning environments, and are therefore very important.
2 Although important, textbooks are not the same things as a curriculum or a syllabus. However, they are often treated as if they were.
3 Language teachers are not ‘textbook teachers’. They are language teachers. Textbooks can help this process, but teaching them isn't – and shouldn't be – the main teaching focus.
4 Teachers face many practical problems when using textbooks, e.g. they are out of date, they have been used before, or there aren't enough copies.
5 To maximize language learning, it's important the teachers’ creativity is not restricted by textbooks.
Introduction
Answer these questions about textbooks in your language teaching environment.
1 Do textbooks help you teach more effectively? Yes / No —
2 Are textbooks the main teaching resource in your school? Yes / No —
3 Do your students have enough textbooks? Yes / No —
4 Do your students like the textbooks they use? Yes / No —
5 Are the textbooks up to date? Yes / No —
6 Do the textbooks have a communicative focus? Yes / No —
7 Have the textbooks been used before by students in previous years? Yes / No —
8 Do textbooks allow your teaching to be creative? Yes / No —
Do textbooks help you teach more effectively?
Textbooks can be very helpful to teachers, especially new and inexperienced teachers. These benefits include:
• a structure and an overview for the content to be learned;
• teachers not having to spend so much time planning;
• models of well-tried classroom routines;
• consistency between lessons, and between levels;
• advice on the best way to teach the material.
This said, using textbooks is not always simple and straightforward, and it is important not to confuse them with a curriculum or syllabus.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Teaching in Challenging Circumstances , pp. 127 - 131Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2021