How to use textbooks

ADVANTAGES DISADVAN TAGES
For teachers:

Provide consistent syllabus,
well-chosen vocabulary,
language exposure
For students:

Reassuring: preparation and
review of lessons

Providing visualization

Not always appropriate for
teacher and learners

Boring, stifling

Omitting

Replacing

Adding

Adapting

Omitting – not use a lesson from textbook
(use ‘pick-and-choose’ approach instead)

Replacing – use teacher’s own materials

dealing with the same language or topic.

Adding – for more motivated and
engaging activities with the language or
topic.

Adapting – use the same basic materials in
another way
What we can do with a static collection of
words:

Personal engagement: focus on meanings
Discussion +guiding questions
•
Which words have a positive meaning? Which words have
negative meaning?
•
List 5 favorite words from the list
What we can do with a static collection of
words:

Word study: focus on pronunciation, word
formation, word combination
Elicitation
•
Make a list of words which are stressed on first, second,
and third syllable
•
How many adjectives can be changed into verbs?
•

Make new words by matching the ones in the list.
Setting a situation:
A customer complained to the head office of “The
Old Trusted Bank”
The bank manager was wearing jeans and a
sweatshirt when meeting customers.
Why did he do it? What’s wrong with it?
The students write telephone dialogues and then act
them out.