ESL Books
ESL Books: A Little Secret for New Teachers An open secret for teachers is that they can approach publishers of ELT (English language teaching) books and ask for a free copy. You just Email them and tell them that you are thinking of adopting a certain text for your classes. The publisher will send you a free copy in the hopes that you choose that text for your classes. *Of course you shouldn`t abuse this. Or publishers will stop this option. Publishers have enough of a problem trying to make a profit after all the time it takes to develop a good textbook.
Abax Publishing
by Kevin Burns
Alistair Graham-Marr and other textbook writers have produced some great books for teaching Japanese students.
I had the pleasure of using "Communication Spotlight," by Alistair Graham-Marr in a university speaking class. I think it is a great choice for listening and speaking classes. In fact I recommended that my university adopt this text for our classes.
Abax is staffed by knowledgable teachers that know Japanese students. I recommend checking out their textbooks.
Tell them Kevin sent you! Abax produces some great books. Textbooks for Teaching Adults: Some of the EFL Press BooksSome of the best books I have used for teaching English to junior high to adults, are by EFL Press."Talk a Lot: Starter Book," and "Talk a Lot 1,"and Level 2 all have great activities for getting beginners and false beginners speaking English. Talk a Lot 2 is more suitable for elementary or pre-intermediate level adults. Sometimes a more structured approach to teaching your classes is the order of the day. For this I recommend a series by Macmillan. ESL Books: Textbooks for Teaching Children: The Finding Out Series & The English Land SeriesTwo of the best ESL book resources we have found for teaching children have been the textbook series "Finding Out," by David Paul, the owner of David English House, and "English Land," by Mari Nakamura and M.H. Newton (Longman Asia ELT).Mari Nakamura gives teacher training sessions all over Japan.She is active, writing educational articles, training teachers, and educating young learners. She runs her own school called English Square in Kanazawa City. Further, she is the coordinator of ETJ Ishikawa Group andstudies with Aston University. She has done extensive study on TEYL--Teaching English to Young Learners. "English Land" engages students in a very colourful way,and incorporates Disney characters throughout their books. By using characters that Japanese students know and love, these books motivate children to learn English. Indeed, these books make English more realand fun for the kids. The Finding Out Series by David Paul Finding Out 1 is THE book hands down that I recommend for teaching children how to read. Once they master Finding Out 1, they can read many, many easy books from other textbooks to easy story books for children. David Paul and others have put in a lot of work into the series. There are even official and unofficial resources on the internet that you can use. David Lisgo is one who has made supplementary materials for the series. "Finding Out 1" is the book our students aged 6-11 usually start English classes with at Kevin`s English Schools. By the end of Finding Out 1 they can usually read. David Paul has done an excellent job of creating a textbook series that gets into themind of the child, and teaches them phonics in an entertaining way. After mastering the phonics of Finding Out 1 our students either go onto "Finding Out 2" the next textbook in the series, or onto "English Land 1" or 2. Both series come with cards. Finding Out has very colourful small cards, while English Land`s are large, like small posters. I recommend getting both card series and both textbook series if you will teach children in Japan. As for supplementary materials there is software for Finding Out. As alluded to, you can also find cards and materials developed by third party (teachers) that use the series. Some are free and others are not. Paul is active on several forums including ETJ Owners and ESL Books: ETJ Activities at Yahoo Groups. There may be extra materials available on the internet for English Land but I have not been able to find them so far. It is a newer series, so it often takes some time for third parties resources to come available. I am confident you will find both these series, great for teaching Japanese children! These ESL books are Highly recommended! Visit Active Learners, which is a great forum about using Finding Out 1, Communicate and Communication Strategies. Books on Japan you should read.
You can also get ESL books from ELT News To How to teach English in Japan (home)
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