Course books I use in the Linguistic School

Introducing course books in use

Welcome again! As my second week in the linguistic school passes, I'd like to present the course books that I use and thanks to my linguistic school have access to.

What do I use?

Let's start with the youngest group. They are grade third and the series we use is called "Yazoo". It was published by Pearson, the authors are: Charlotte Covill, Jeanne Perrett and Tessa Lochowski, polish consultation by Małgorzata Tetiurka. Here's the book, I've got the course book, students' book and teacher's book:

I only started the work with this series so I don't want to jump to conclusion, although my first impression is rather bad. The lessons I conducted by now was mainly focusing on the activities prepared by me. The course book was rather giving instructions on what to teach rather than how. Despite the fact that the teacher's book has fully described lessons, I wouldn't even think about doing it their way. But many it's just because i prefer to be an individualist teacher. Still, I expect from the course book to give me as a teacher some space, let me choose what to use and what not to use, so handle me more activities or exercises than I'm able to do on my lesson. On the other side I like the language of the texts and dialogs, which is well prepared for the age group. Also I enjoy using the recordings. As for the students book is the best from all the series, it gives some challenges but also the opportunity of self checking.

It's time for the older ones, grade sixth and seventh are using A2+ level. We use one of my favorite publishers, Macmillan, and the series' called "Beyond". The authors are: Anna Cole and Michael Terry. The paper version I only have the teacher's book, but I also have the acmes to online PDFs and presentations kit. Here's how it looks like:

This series is by now my favorite. It's got a lot of teaching in context, the materials are about situations and topics close to the kids life. At the same time the topics are rather mature and demanding. Because of that I fell like I didn't only teach English, but much more. Another advantage of this course is that it leaves an opes space for the teacher to be creative, to use different kinds of activities and games. It can be the same games but using different vocabulary or grammar. The presentation kit is just perfect for the lessons, especially when the classroom is equipped with projector. There are many valuable recordings and clips on the chapter's topic. Also almost every exercise can be the beginning of a discussion or conversation for kids. The last plus I spotted by now is the online workbook. It's really easy to use and saves a lot of time  on the lesson, because as a teacher I can check the homework before the lesson. Then, on the lesson I can explain again the most difficult examples and adapt the activities to the students' needs.

After few months of using those series I'll update my feelings and thoughts. I hope that I'll be able to recommend You some of these.