Recommendations for good ESL or EFL materials?
September 19, 2009 5:47 PM Subscribe
Can anyone recommend some good ESL/EFL curriculum materials, both for the child and adult level? Bonus points if they are not so western-centric.
I recently had the chance to volunteer for a foundation in Indonesia that teaches English classes to locals. I was talking to one of the teachers before I left, and she told me that the materials that they were using were getting old and in need of replacement. She asked me if I could help find them new materials (specifically I'm looking for textbooks, but if anyone has any audio or video recommendations that are easily obtainable I'd be happy to have those, too).
While I was helping to teach there, I had the chance to look over the materials that they were using. They were good, but a little too culturally-specific at times (in terms of people's names, places, currency, items, etc.).
I realize a lot of these things could be alleviated by teachers adapting the curriculum to be more localized, and hopefully that can happen, but it would be nice if any new materials I could find for them could give them an easier starting point. I also realize that there is always going to be some measure of western cultural specificity to materials. It just would surprise me that given how many people there are in Asia learning English that someone would not have written course materials aimed towards them, using more culturally familiar examples in the lessons. Maybe many of these things already exist, but are in the local languages, and that's why I can't find them using an English-language search?
The school is located in an area where many of the jobs are based around tourism. Many of the people taking classes there are doing so to increase their skills to find better work. For that criteria, a lot of the things I saw in the materials seemed either redundant, or not entirely useful for what they need it for. They don't plan on emigrating, they want to learn English for work, or for more educational options.
I've done a bit of research around the web trying to find good recommendations for materials, but I mostly found big lists of things with no real description of why they're worthwhile. I would much rather hear recommendations from people that have experience using something and can explain why they liked or disliked it. Also, many of the materials I've researched seem to be aimed towards new immigrants improving their practical English skills for living in their adopted country, and thus are even moreso focused on culturally specific things. Are there any ESL/EFL materials out there aimed towards people who will be using it primarily to work in their own countries?
Thanks in advance to all of you!
I recently had the chance to volunteer for a foundation in Indonesia that teaches English classes to locals. I was talking to one of the teachers before I left, and she told me that the materials that they were using were getting old and in need of replacement. She asked me if I could help find them new materials (specifically I'm looking for textbooks, but if anyone has any audio or video recommendations that are easily obtainable I'd be happy to have those, too).
While I was helping to teach there, I had the chance to look over the materials that they were using. They were good, but a little too culturally-specific at times (in terms of people's names, places, currency, items, etc.).
I realize a lot of these things could be alleviated by teachers adapting the curriculum to be more localized, and hopefully that can happen, but it would be nice if any new materials I could find for them could give them an easier starting point. I also realize that there is always going to be some measure of western cultural specificity to materials. It just would surprise me that given how many people there are in Asia learning English that someone would not have written course materials aimed towards them, using more culturally familiar examples in the lessons. Maybe many of these things already exist, but are in the local languages, and that's why I can't find them using an English-language search?
The school is located in an area where many of the jobs are based around tourism. Many of the people taking classes there are doing so to increase their skills to find better work. For that criteria, a lot of the things I saw in the materials seemed either redundant, or not entirely useful for what they need it for. They don't plan on emigrating, they want to learn English for work, or for more educational options.
I've done a bit of research around the web trying to find good recommendations for materials, but I mostly found big lists of things with no real description of why they're worthwhile. I would much rather hear recommendations from people that have experience using something and can explain why they liked or disliked it. Also, many of the materials I've researched seem to be aimed towards new immigrants improving their practical English skills for living in their adopted country, and thus are even moreso focused on culturally specific things. Are there any ESL/EFL materials out there aimed towards people who will be using it primarily to work in their own countries?
Thanks in advance to all of you!
Response by poster: Thanks for the answer, alicegoldie. It looks like a good program and I will look into it more when I get the chance. It's too bad it's only available online, it'd be nice to be able to look through the books and listen to some samples of the CD's before buying. Regardless, I appreciate the recommendation!
posted by wander at 8:47 PM on September 21, 2009
posted by wander at 8:47 PM on September 21, 2009
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posted by alicegoldie at 11:19 PM on September 19, 2009