Practical Nº 12

Practice II. 2015

Corso, Erica.

Practice II: Didactics of ELT and practicum at primary school levelPractical Nº12Baldomé, Daiana; Corso, Erica; Irusta, Carla

PRACTICAL 12: ANALYSIS OF TEXTBOOKS.

ANÁLISIS Y DISEÑO /CONTEXTUALIZACION DE MATERIALES Y RECURSOS DIDACTICOS.

Analyze the textbook provided using the following criteria: 1) Is there a balance in the development of the four macro skills?2) Is the grammatical, lexical and communicative progression suitable for the age of the students?3) Is the material enough/excessive for the number of hours you teach during a school year?4) Are the thematic units suitable for the age and social context of our learners? Do they favour intercultural awareness?5) Is there variety in the textual types offered? Is there language learning which can be linked to the development of other disciplines: Social Sciences, L1, Natural Science, Art, etc? (CLIL)6) What kind of didactic approach is fostered: PPP, CLT, Task Based, Project work, others?7) Do the activities included in the textbook provide integration with prior knowledge, extensive practice, revision and instances of self-assessment?8) Is the workbook integrated with the book or is it presented separately? Does it provide meaningful practice?9) Would you recommend the use of this textbook for Primary/ at which level? Why/why not?10) Would it be suitable to follow the main contents for Primary Schools present in our curricular guidelines?

The book analyzed is New Treetops 2, and the authors are Sarah M. Howell and Lisa Kester-Dodgson; OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS.

1) In general, there is a balance in the development of the four macro-skills. However, we have noted that there are more activities that have to do with listening.

Practice II: Didactics of ELT and practicum at primary school levelPractical Nº12Baldomé, Daiana; Corso, Erica; Irusta, Carla

2) The grammatical, lexical and communicative progression is suitable for the age of the students, who should be among 7 or 8 years old.

3) The material seems more than enough for the number of hours that we may teach during a year. This book contains eight units, which at the same time are divided into four by the seasons of the year. Each unit may be approximately taught in half a month, considering students have two lessons of English per week.

4) Even though the thematic units are suitable for the age of the learners, it does not make much allusion to intercultural awareness. There are some pictures in one section about the life-style of a particular group of people but there is no reference to their identity.

5) There is no much variety in the textual types. Most of them consist of completing blanks with the corresponding word.There is language learning linked to the development of CLIL: Science, Maths and Art for each season.

6) The didactic approach fostered is task-based learning because the organization of the book relates to a thematic unit, being the activities adapted to that. Since the units of the book are divided into the four seasons, the lexical items and tasks of each unit is connected to that topic.

7) The activities included in the textbook contain instances of extensive practice and revision but there are neither activities concerning self-assessment nor ones that activate learners' prior knowledge (there is no warm-up).

8) The workbook is integrated with the book. It provides students with meaningful, interesting activities that enlarge what they have learned so far.

Practice II: Didactics of ELT and practicum at primary school levelPractical Nº12Baldomé, Daiana; Corso, Erica; Irusta, Carla

9) We would recommend it, though it is necessary to add extra materials (texts, videos, etc.). This book would be adequate to be used in primary school, from fourth year onwards (beginners).

10) The book would be suitable, since it includes the contents of the curricular guidelines for Primary Schools. For instance, the axis that concerns the Reflection of the Language that is being Learned is applied in the book. The grammatical structures that are worked on are have/don't have; like/don't like;, can/can't; the use of preposition;, Wh-questions; which are the ones that are described in that axis.

Complete these book features:

PRICE AND AVAILABILITY: $310. The book can be bought on the Internet, through “Mercado Libre”, for instance.

ADD-ONS AND EXTRAS: The book has a section called "Round up craft", in which students are provided with more materials like stickers to work on.

LAYOUT AND DESIGN: It presents lots of colourful images, it has large letters and the designs of the different seasons are clearly depicted.

INSTRUCTIONS: Clear and precise instructions.

SYLLABUS: The content and the organization of it adapts to the students' level.

LANGUAGE SKILLS: Mainly, the listening skill is developed. Also, speaking by repeating, singing, chanting. The reading macro-skill is encouraged by comic strips, which appear at the very beginning of each unit. Writing activities consist of filling blanks, answering questions, putting ticks, circling, completing sentences.

Practice II: Didactics of ELT and practicum at primary school levelPractical Nº12Baldomé, Daiana; Corso, Erica; Irusta, Carla

TOPICS: Autumn: (revision of) numbers and colours, school objects; Winter: rooms in a house, clothes; Spring: Toys, body & face; Summer: food and drink items, and verbs.

CULTURAL APPROPRIACY: It is appropriate for our culture since it is adapted to the order of seasons of our country.

TEACHER’S GUIDE: Within this book there is no teaching guidance.

WEB COMPANION: https://elt.oup.com/student/newtreetops/?cc=ar&selLanguage=en