a

Aims and approaches:

1)

Do the outcomes of the unit

correspond closely with the aims
and objectives of the teaching
programme?

Like all other modules of the book, this module also corresponds with the aim of the overall teaching
programme, i.e. developing the general communicative competence of the students.
More specifically, the objectives of this module correspond with four Can do statements (i.e.
learning outcomes) of the Pre-intermediate 2 syllabus. These are:
PI2.2: I can talk about my intentions and wishes.
PI2.3. I can make plans for future events, giving my preference, reasons and choice.
PI2. 6 I can write a short letter using simple fixed expressions.
PI2. 11 I can describe events and experiences explaining what happened, when and where.
Module 6 covers different grammatical structures for talking about intentions and wishes (pp. 52-53)
and the speaking task on pp. 58-59 gets the students to plan a dream holiday in pairs and talk about
their plan, giving their preferences, reasons and choices. The writing lesson, (p. 60) where the
students are asked to imagine that they are on holiday and write a postcard to a friend or someone
in their family, partially corresponds with PI2.6. According to the syllabus specifications, the students
should write a letter, but writing a postcard prepares them for writing an informal letter, which is
going to be their mid-term writing task. On p.55, students are asked 55, students are asked to talk
about a good or bad holiday they have had in pair, which corresponds with PI2.11.

2)

Do the aims and objectives of the

unit correspond closely with the
aims needs of the learners?

The aims of this module closely correspond with aims and needs of pre-intermediate general
English students. This module focuses on practicing the four communicative skills and provides
useful linguistic input in the contexts of holidays, leisure and travel and provides.

3)

Is the unit suited to the learning

teaching situation?

4)

Does the unit cover most or all of

what the learners need to know
about the relevant areas?

The content of this unit is generally appropriate to the actual learning/teaching situation. There isnt
any culturally inappropriate or controversial content. The knowledge and skills practice gained in
this unit will be useful for pre-intermediate level students. However, some of the content may be
unfamiliar to some of the students as most of the holiday experiences prescribed in the book are
foreign and do not represent the local experience.
There are many opportunities to practice the four skills. The students are introduced to some basic
grammatical constructions to talk about future and to some key lexical items for talking about
holidays and travel. However, some of the key words that the students might need when they talk
about their holidays are not included in this module. Therefore, the lexical input could have been

5)

Is order of the activities in the

unit flexible?

6)

Does the unit allow different

teaching and learning styles?

7)

What should your learners know

of and about the target language
by the end of the unit?

8)

What should your learners be

able to do in and with the
language by the end of the unit ?

Design and Organisation

How is the content organized?

10) Is there adequate recycling or

revision?

9)

more comprehensive.
The different sections are not always independent in terms of organisation, but it is possible to
change the order of the activities. For example, the two grammar lessons can be combined and the
lesson on social chit-chat could fit in anywhere. It is more useful to cover the listening and speaking
lesson on page 55, and then proceed to the speaking and vocabulary lesson on page. 54, as the
recording for the listening activity will be an effective model for the speaking activity on page 54. The
speaking task on planning a holiday and the writing task (postcard) should come towards the end of
the module as the students, by then, should have learnt the useful vocabulary and grammatical
structures for them.
There is content to match the needs of different learning styles of active, passive, analytical,
experiential, auditory, visual, and kinaesthetic learners. The approach of this coursebook is based
on the situated/ experiential learning model and therefore suitable for learner-centred classrooms. It
will not be helpful for teacher-centred classrooms with fewer opportunities for student interaction.
By the end of the module, the students will some grammatical structures to talk about the future
some the key lexical items to talk about holidays.

By the end of the module, the students should have practiced:

talked about their intentions and wishes in the context of holidays
describing their experiences in the contexts of holidays
social chit-chat/ small talk
writing a postcard using some fixed expressions

4
The module is divided into seven sections/ lessons). Each lesson/ section either has a skills or
language focus but in most lessons, but each lessons gives the students opportunities to practice
more than one skill.
There is an end of module revision test as well as a mini-check for module 6 in the appendices.

Language Content
11) What areas of grammar does the
unit cover?

12) Is the grammatical content

The focus of this unit is on talking about future.

a) Talking about intentions and wishes using going to, planning to, would like to, would rather
b) Making predictions using will/wont

The grammatical content is useful and appropriate for the level and the needs of the students.

appropriate for the level and the

needs of the students?

13) How far does the unit call on

what the learners already know
about the language, and extend
what they can already do with
and in the language?
14) Is coverage of vocabulary
adequate in terms of the quantity
and range of vocabulary, the
emphasis on vocabulary
development, strategies for
individual learning?
15) How are the students expected
to engage with and practice
vocabulary?

The lesson is not meant to be a basic introduction to future verb constructions and there is an
assumption that the students are already familiar with the future verb forms in English. What
lessons aims to do is to show the students how the different forms create nuances in meaning when
talking about future.

The module covers some key lexical items to talk about holidays, but the breadth of coverage as
well as range can be increased. The reading and listening texts provide rich sources for incidental
vocabulary learning. The learning skills section focuses on vocabulary building.

There are some opportunities for incidental vocabulary learning. The students can pick many new
words while they are doing the tasks. One lesson explicitly focuses on vocabulary and gets the
students to use their mini-dictionaries to learn the meaning of new words, Then they are asked to
group the words based on their positive and negative connotations.
Pronunciation work is not treated as a separate area of focus but is covered under other lessons. In
the grammar lesson on intentions and wishes, the pronunciation of contracted forms is looked at
and in the English for real life lesson, the intonation of questions is focused. The students are
expected to listen to the tape and repeat the given chunks of language in order to improve their
pronunciation.

16) Does the unit include focus on

pronunciation? Is so, what is
covered: individual sounds, word
stress, sentence stress,
intonation?
17) Does the unit deal with the
structuring and conventions of
language use above sentence
level?

18) Are style and appropriacy dealt

with? Is so, is language style
matched to social situation?

The English for real life lesson of this module focuses on social-chitchat (small talk) and considers
what is appropriate and inappropriate to talk about in social conversations. The students also learn
how to structure a short informal social conversation using the given phrases. The task-based
lesson on planning a holiday focuses on the functions of asking for information and talking about
plans and experiences. The writing lessons focuses on the informal register and useful expressions
for writing postcards/ informal letters.
Yes, explain above, style and appropriacy are dealt with in the speaking and writing tasks.

Skills

19) Are all four skills adequately

covered, bearing in mind the

Yes. The module offers integrated practice for all four skills with a particular emphasis on speaking
as each lessons features a speaking component combined with grammar, vocabulary or skills.

course aims and the syllabus

requirements?
20) Is there material for integrated
skills work?

All the sections provide integrated skills practice and support the notion that a language skill cannot
be learnt in isolation.

21) How are the students schemata

activated prior to the activities?
22) Is there sufficient reading
material?

23) Are the reading texts sufficient/

manageable in length?
24) How are the students expected
to engage with the reading texts?

25) Does the unit focus on reading

comprehension strategies?
26) Are reading passages and
associated activities suitable for
your students levels and
interests, etc?
27) Does the layout/organisation of
the reading texts facilitate
smooth reading?
28) Is the listening material wellrecorded?

No. There is no explicit reading skills focus in this module. However, reading has been integrated
into the other sections.
There are asked to read and respond to the questionnaire on page 52, which is then used as a
source on which the first grammar lesson is based. They are asked to read the sentences on page
54 that have been used to contextualize some new lexical items. They are expected to read the
boxes with information on page 58 and decide three holidays they would recommend to the
speakers on the recording.
There is no explicit focus on reading comprehension strategies but the students are expected to use
them, while completing the afore-mentioned tasks.
The reading texts in the module are extremely readable but may be too short and easy for Sri
Lankan pre-intermediate learners. However, this module does not explicitly focus on reading
comprehension skills.

Yes.

Yes. The listening material well-recorded and do not cause any major comprehension problems.

29) Is the listening material as

authentic as possible?

30) Is the listening material and

associated activities suitable for
your students levels and
interests, etc?

Most lessons successfully activate the schemata through a well-thought out lead-in stage that
involves that students.
There are four short texts but this module does not have any long reading passages.

The listening materials are not authentic but they represent authentic communicative situations.
Recording 6.3. and 6.4 feature a narration of an awful family holiday by a couple. Recording 6.7.
feature four examples of social chitchat. Recording 6.10 feature a conversation among a travel
agent and two prospective customers.
Although the recordings had a slower pace in comparison to authentic speech, the students sill
found the recordings and the tasks challenging. Therefore, these tasks provided meaningful
practice. The tasks are manageable and do not expect the students to have word-to-word
comprehension of the recording. The found the narration of the awful holiday amusing and
entertaining. It was a very good model for their own description of their own holidays.

31) Is material for spoken English

well-designed to equip learners
for real life interactions?

32) Do the speaking tasks facilitate

student-to-student interaction
effectively?

This TBL framework maximises student participation and interaction in a meaningful way.

33) Are the writing activities suitable

in terms of amount of guidance/
control?
34) Do the writing activities focus on
increasing accuracy?
35) Do the writing lessons focus on
the selected writing genre and
style?
36) Do the writing lessons focus on
the writing process?
37) Do the writing lessons provide
support with processing
language?
Topic

38) Will the unit be of genuine

interest to the learners?
39) Has the topic been covered in
substantial breadth and depth?

Speaking is integrated as a component of almost all the lessons. The speaking lesson on pp. 58-59
follows the task-based learning framework. In the pre-task stage, the students are introduced to a
model and are provided with useful language for completing the tasks successfully. This framework
maximises student participation and interaction in a meaningful way.

The guidance provided in the writing lesson cannot be considered sufficient. At pre-intermediate
level, students tend to need more help with improving accuracy and processing language. There is
a lot of room for improvement.
No. Some useful expressions are provided but there is no genuine focus on accuracy or on
mistakes that the students are likely to make. The task does not get the students to self-edit or peeredit their piece of writing.
The genre and style are dealt with, but not substantially. At the same time, postcards seems to be
an old-fashioned genre of writing that is not widely used in Sri Lankan society. More modern genres
such as e-mails and Facebook messages have replaced postcards.
No. There is minimal focus on the writing process. The lesson takes a genre-based approach to
writing.
Some processing language is provided but this cannot be considered sufficient.

The unit is likely to be of genuine interest to the learners as very few people will not like holiday and
travel.

The topic has been covered in substantial breadth and depth, particularly given that the allocated
time is approximately 8 hours.

40) Will the unit help expand the

students awareness and enrich
their experience?

Yes. The module is likely to expand the students awareness and enrich their experiences. It will
enable them to talk about their own experiences.

41) Is the content sophisticated

enough, yet within the learners
language level?

The content appears to be sophisticated and still within learners language level.

42) Will the students be able to relate

to the social and cultural contexts

The foreign socio-cultural contexts depicted in the content are likely to cause a degree of
unfamiliarity, but the experiences are almost universal and not too complicated. Therefore, they

presented in the unit?

should be able to relate to the experience. Certain aspects of culture such as the choice of subjects
for social-chit will be confusing for students, as the norms in their culture could be different from
those of English speaking countries.

43) In what ways do the activities

involve your learners values,
attitudes and feelings?

Discussing their likes, dislikes, plans, choices and giving reasons involve their values, attitudes, and
feelings. This is encouraged by the interactive quality of the material.

44) Are women portrayed and

represented equally with men?

Both men and women are represented more or less equality. There is some evidence of
stereotyping male and female bodies on page. 52.

45) Are other groups represented,

with reference to ethnic origin,
occupation, disability, etc?

Most photographs feature white Anglo-saxons and there arent any references to people
representing other cultures. There are many references to different countries and there seems to be
an element of exoticism in the descriptions of the Caribbean region in the listening activity on page
55.

Methodology
46) What approach/approaches to
language learning are taken by
the unit?

47) Is/are the approach(es) in the

unit appropriate to the learning
teaching situation?
48) What level of active learner
involvement can be expected?
Does this match with the
students learning styles and
expectations?
49) Do the activities engage the
learners both cognitively and
affectively?
50) Do the activities prove the
students with adequate

The module also reflects the multi-layered eclectic approach that combines the communicative
approach with traditional approaches as well. Learning is treated as a situated activity as the
learners are expected to learn by doing. To a certain extent, this approach is similar to the weaker
version of CLT, identified by Howatt (1984). It provides the learners with opportunities to use their
English for communicative purposes, by integrating such activities into a wider program of language
teaching. There is a significant emphasis on teaching grammar as well.
This approach is certainly appropriate to the target audience in the actual learning/teaching
situation. The class size is small and there are many opportunities for learning through student
interaction and participation. The focus on grammar is also appreciated by the students.
A very high level of active learner involvement can be expected in almost all the activities.

The activities engage the learners both cognitively and affective as they require a lot of think and
expressing the students own ideas.

Yes, Particularly the speaking task and the writing task provides the students with opportunities to
use their creativity and imagination.

opportunities to be creative?
51) What techniques are used for
presenting/practicing new
language items? Are they
suitable for the learners?
52) How are the different skills
taught?

The authors claim that the book takes a student-centred and active approach to grammar, but the
underlying PPP framework make them a little too teacher-centred. The meaning may not be clear
to all the student and additional support and development/ adaptation is required.
Reading is covered in combination with the other skills.
On page 55, schemata are activated through a visual prompt, and the students are then led into the
task by getting them to act out a conservation. Then, they listen to a narration of an awful holiday
experience of a couple. As they listen to the first part of the narration, they have to make a list of
problems that the speakers had at the airport and during the flight. Before they listen to the second
part of the narration, they have to speculate what happened and later they have to find specific
information as they listen to the recording. Once they have listened, they are asked to fill in the
blanks of a summary of the narration. Finally, in pairs, they have to write a role play based on the
narration and act it out.
The structured speaking task on pp. 58-59 takes used the task-based learning framework. The
students are first prepared for the task by introducing them to a model and some useful language,
and they are asked to develop their own responses. In addition, there are many extension speaking
activities in other lessons.

53) How are the communicative

abilities developed?
54) How are the learners required to
communicate when completing
the activities?
55) Does the unit include any
advice/help to students on study
skills and learning strategies?
56) Do the activities offer
opportunities for co-operative
learning ?
57) Are the students expected to
take a degree of responsibility for
their own learning (e.g. by setting
their own individual learning
targets)?

The writing lesson takes a genre-based approach. The students are first introduced to a model and
then asked to produce a similar piece of writing.
As in other modules, the communicative abilities are developed through comprehensible input and
opportunities to engage in group and pair work using the target language, often in life like situations.
They are expected to communicate in pairs, small groups and as a whole class. The activities
encourage a variety of interaction patterns. The teachers role is to facilitate and monitor student
interaction and then give feedback.
Yes. the study skills section focuses on understanding word families using dictionaries.

Yes, there are many opportunities for co-operative learning in the form of pair work, group work, and
peer feedback, etc.

A very high degree of learner autonomy is encouraged. The learners play a more significant role in
the learning process and the teachers role is to facilitate and monitor student interaction and then
give feedback. They are encouraged to set their own individual learning targets, while engaging in
pair and group work. Supplementary activities are available in the workbook.

58) What can the teacher do in order

to best help the learners to
progress through the unit?
59) Does the unit allow the teacher
enough freedom and space to
adopt the content in the unit
creatively?

The teachers role is to facilitate and monitor student interaction and then give feedback. Teacher
talking time should be minimized as much as possible allowing more time for learner interaction and
participation. Continuous monitoring by the teacher and providing feedback will help the students
focus on their accuracy.
Yes. There is a lot of freedom and space to adopt the content creatively in order to make the
learning process more interesting to the students.