Coursebook Assignment

Members:

Matias Galvez
Brian Huenupe

Teachers name: Roxanna Correa

Katiuska Santibaez
Subject:

English as a Foreign Language

Methodology

Concepcin, November 2014

Coursebook Factual Details

Title: The English Village

Author: Ana Manonellas Balladares
Publisher: 2013 Cal y Canto Editions

Price: Free, given by the government

ISBN: 9789563390582N of pages: 135

Components: SB/ TB/WB/ Tests/ Cassettes/ Video/ Call/Other: TB
Level:

6th grade Physical

size:
Units: Unit 1: people around us
Hours: 2 hours

Length: For a year

Lessons/Section: lesson 1
Target skills: Reading
Target Learners: Beginner learners
Target teachers: Primary Teacher
Poor
+

Fair
++

1. Rationale

2. Availability

Good
+++
X

3. User definition

4. Layout/ Graphics

5. Accessibility

Excele
nt
++++

Comments

The activities of this

unit are focused
mainly on express
using
Ss
interactions. In the
use of the language.
This course book is
given
by
the
government free
The editor made an
introduction at the
beginning of the
book to organize the
content
and
to
explain the objective
of the book.
Each activity in Unit
1 have a graphic
organize to guide
the understanding of
the Ss
This book was just
given
by
the

government to 6th
grade students, you
cannot find by another
way

6. Linkage

7. Selection/Grading

8. Appropracy

9. Authenticity

10. Cultural bias

11. Educationalvalidity

12. Stimulus/practice/rev

ision

13. Flexibility

14. Guidance

15. Overall value for

money

In Unit 1ther is not

link to provide
sources to the
student|
There is a relation
among the units
related
to
the
context
and
the
function.

In a global context
the context presents
good and real
information, but in
there is lack of
relation with Chilean
context
In any part of the
unit there is
presentation of a
chauvinistic society
It was a proved by
educational ministry
to be delivered in
schools.
The context of the
unit
has good
information to catch
up students atention
with
fashionable
issues
Unit 1 presesnts a
sequence that it
seems necessary to
follow in that order
Even
if
the
instructions are clear
there is not an extra
support to make
them free to be
instructed by the
teacher.
It is not available to
be bought

Typed interview
1 - Do you think coursebooks are important?
I do think course book are necessary, they are good guide for teachers, they can
help you to get many ideas to plan your own lesson and to guide your lesson in the
way that you want, course books would be very good or could very bad depending
how you use them, it can become addict, but that is something else. In a general
views are good for guiding teachers.
2 - What are your criteria for choosing a coursebook?
Lets see At the university level our criteria has to do with the goal we need to
achieve, is the kind of level we want from the student, so based on that , we chose
textbook related to the Cambridge tests. In school it would depends what the stress
of English classes in school, depending on the hours, if I have two hour a week I
will choose a very simple book, if I have six hours a week I will choose a book that
will give me more activities including maybe a work book to work with and audios.
3 - Which part(s) of the coursebook do you frequently use?
I would say almost everything, because books are divided in the four skills, but the
most frequently would be speaking activities then listening, reading and writing in
that order, and also I find the teachers book a very good resource as well.
4 - Which part(s) do you seldom use?
Writing, I do not stress the writing skill that much or the writing exercises, because
its a little bit time consuming for the class.
5 - When do you supplement the coursebook? Why?
When the grammar point or when the structure is a little bit difficult for the students
depending on the level, I would add extra information and when there is time, if I
have a good balance of time and I can do extra activities apart from the course
book I usually put them there, If not, If I find that the topic is interesting and that I

already have materials or that I have thought that lesson or topic before I would
use the supplement. It depends on the topic and it depends on the time.
6 How do you supplement the coursebook?
I use the grammar as a guide and then I bring more exercises related to that I
would create worksheets or I would use the laboratory on the students will work on
line the exercises that they already done on the web mmm and then maybe
some inmedia practice or practice that the students can do in the moment, yes.
7 What kind of help would you like to have from the coursebook in the teaching
grammar?
Usually the definition of the grammar point are very brief, are not very clear if the
student should learn only from that grammar point I dont think it would be enough,
so I would say that the grammar point should be more explanatory a little bit more,
it should have a little more information for the students, for me its okay because
we can find information somewhere else or we can base also we can trust in the
teachers book for that, but I would say that the grammar should be extend a little
bit, its too short.
8 What kind of help would you like to have from the coursebook in the teaching
pronunciation?
When there is a pronunciation or there is a text that it should been the audio, its
important to have the audio and maybe the transcript as well that you can usually
get through the teachers book and that the book brings all the material. The cdroom or the audio that come from the book, the coursebook audio or the cd.
9 What kind of help would you like to have from the coursebook in the teaching
lexis?
Usually brings, shows a lot of words It brings at the end of the book they usually
gives you or at the end of lesson or at the end of the book they usually show a list
of words, usually by alphabet, it sometimes is divided by unites and the definitions

are not very clear, sometime it only have the words and the pronunciation maybe
but not the definition or not the part of the speech, for example it doesnt say if it a
noun or a verb or maybe only that, but theres not definition, but only for the
students they could be better if it is right there like the main words adding a little bit
more, the definition should be there, but if not is not that hard to find it anyway,
nowadays the students can use their cell phone or we can use the computer to find
the definition.
10 What kind of help would you like to have from the coursebook in the teaching
skills of the language?
I think with the teaching skills aaah, it depends on the teaching style, you have all
this exercises, you have a topic, you have a way to teach it and then you adapt it to
your own style, so Im okay to have the topic, the grammar point and the exercises
and with that I can get my own point of view when teaching the different language
skills, I think I can adapt it, I like what I see If I like what I see I can expand it or
not, so its okay how it comes, it helps me with the idea and with the idea I can
expand it a little bit more.

Finally, we can add in relation of what the teacher interviewed said that his/her
criteria about coursebooks were right, because according to Nuttall (2005) it
helps to be aware of their strong pints and limitations so that you can exploit them
effectively, supplements them if necessary, and perhaps argue the case for their
replacement. Moreover the teacher did not mention explicitly an aspect which is
the selection of a coursebook, but reading what Tsiplakides (2011) expose in his
text which say that teacher have to select a book that suits the needs of their
students, their characteristics and their preferences and obviously one that the
teacher consider will motivate them, we noticed that everything is there. So we can
conclude arguing that all that the teacher mentioned before was well funded,
because he/she know very well the theories established for choose a coursebook.

References
Tsiplakides, I. (2011). Selecting an English coursebook: theory and practice, p.
759. Finland: Academy publisher. Consulted on 29 th of November of 2014.
Retrieved

from

http://ojs.academypublisher.com/index.php/tpls/article/viewFile/0107758764/
3235
Nuttall, C. (2005). Teaching reading skills in a foreign language, p. 170. Oxford:
Mcmillan.