Jennifer Taylor LING 583 Textbook Review : Jones, Leo. (2008). Lets Talk.

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Lets Talk1 claims to help learners develop communication skills and build confidence through engaging activities that guarantee maximum talking time. Each lesson encourages the students to express their feelings, ideas, and opinions through vocabulary building activities, pair and group work, and self-practice. The approach to learning that this text takes is apparent in by its thematic-based unit construction and while not directly claiming so, its approach is learner-centered, needs-based, and meaning-based. This is evident by the use of rich vocabulary and opportunities for students to talk about their own lives. Upon review of Lets Talk, I have found that this text can succeed with these claims with extensive teacher support, examples of which will be provided below. The text is aimed at young adult to adult ESL learners at a high beginning/low intermediate level, but leans more toward a younger adult audience, as some of its themes revolve around subjects such as sports, travel, shopping, and entertainment. The pictures and photos of people are also predominantly of young adults. Its layout is easy to follow with 16 units of four pages each, each with a different theme such as food and drink, health, customs, and the future. Its focus is on speaking and listening, and it includes a listening CD. All the pages are in bold colors and include drawings as well as a multitude of real photos, making it easy and interesting to look at. Each unit also provides self-study for students at the end as well as an answer key to the exercises. Only the teacher is given transcripts for the listening exercises. Unfortunately, since this particular text, borrowed from the Chicago Public Library, does not have a teaching manual, therefore no transcripts, or a listening CD, there is no means to determine if the listening exercises have authentic language that is at the right level, or at the right pace for the students. The back cover of the text claims that the teacher book does have detailed notes and teaching steps, tips, and answer keys. It also provides language objectives and learning expectations as well as model conversations for additional language support. Depending on how extensive the teacher manual is, and how useful the tips are for a teacher, this textbook might only be geared toward a more experienced teacher. Each activity in the book requires extensive teacher support in order for the students to complete the activities and have the language they need to do them as well. One element of the text that I found interesting and the first evidence that it is learner-centered are its opening activities. Before the units even begin there is an activity aimed at getting the students to know each other, a survey, as well as finding out whether they like to work in groups or not. It also

presents multiple classroom-based expressions that students will need to be able to comprehend things in class such as, Can you say that again, please and What are we supposed to do? While a teacher might not choose to use these exact activities in the text, they highlight the importance of knowing how students prefer to learn as well as their need to be able to ask questions in class. These activities offer a sound basis from which a teacher can begin a class as well as an opportunity for students to feel comfortable with each other and the fact that they will need extra clarification from time to time. The theme-based approach this text takes also makes it easy for a teacher to customize the syllabus to the students needs as well as contribute authentic support. But depending on the students needs it can be taken as is or, more likely, supplemented. For example, in Unit 1B, page 6, if students are already familiar with addresses, this can be skipped, or the teacher can provide additional practice. Unit 2 covers personalities and has an activity based on astrological signs. Real horoscopes could be looked at. Unit 4 covers families, and on page 17 it gives an example of talking about the advantages and disadvantages of living with different people. This has the potential for the teacher to teach about expressing an opinion, but the book does not provide support for this. The teacher would have to supplement and provide the language the students need for the activity. The students could also bring in pictures of their own families rather than talking about the strangers in the book. The brief examples that the book does present can, however, serve as a basis for what the teacher should look for and the type of language that she should be prepared to teach. Unit 7, which covers foods from around the world, can take advantage of students multiple backgrounds and grant them the occasion to talk about their own countries while at the same time enriching their vocabulary and knowledge of other cultures. Furthermore, while a lot of the language presented in the text is not entirely authentic and because there are so few examples, there is the opportunity for the teacher to provide the authentic language. For example, in Unit 6A, page 27, the example questions are: Do you like to be alone on vacation? and No, not really. I prefer to be with friends. Do you like to.? Those are the only examples the text gives, so it is really up to the teacher to prepare additional models. In addition, the explanation and directions for the activities will need a lot of teacher support, and a student would need to be in a classroom setting to do these activities. For example, Unit 12, page 55, activity 3, indicates, Imagine a visitor is coming to your country. Give advice on these topics. Students would need to know how to give advice on the following topics and would need the language to be able to complete the activity. Further evidence that the approach of this text is meaning-based rather than form-focused is that there is no grammar work/focus at all within each unit. The self-study sections in the back of the

book, however, provide grammar instruction and additional exercises for students to do. For example, they cover the simple present of be, descriptions with be and have, gerunds, pronouns, possessives adjectives, present continuous, simple past, present perfect, future with be going to, adverbs of frequency, imperatives, asking for and giving directions, would for imaginary situations, would like/love/hate, quantifiers, simple pas and past continuous, and future with will. These are relatively comprehensive grammar points for a beginning class, and while they do get somewhat more complex as the units move on, the teacher could really teach the units in different orders, because they are thematic and the language each unit uses can be adjusted to the level of the students. This also shows that the approach to learning that this text takes is a focus on meaning over form. The teacher could choose to use the self-study grammar points if necessary, or she could choose to present the language naturally depending on the needs of her students. A detailed review of Unit 9: Health (See Appendix A), exemplifies the features described above. The first sub-topic is about a healthy lifestyle. Activity 1 has students describing pictures of people doing various activities. There is a vocabulary box with words like: active, fit, lazy, etc. and one example sentence: Hes eating junk food and watching TV. He looks lazy and.. For students to be able to complete this activity, they will need the present continuous and simple present as well as ample vocabulary, all of which the teacher needs to provide. At the same time, the students can talk about themselves and relevant people in their lives, making it a personal topic. The second part of the activity is pair work based on suggestions for a healthier lifestyle. They are supposed to talk about what they should do and can and cannot do based on their schedules and other factors. For example, a student might say that they should walk rather than take the bus, but they cannot walk. One reason might be that its too far and would take too long. The example in the text is, Why cant you go to the gym? Im too busy, and its expensive! To do this activity the students would need to have a good list of reasons, something they could come up with as a class, as well as adjectives for describing things such as too far, expensive, difficult, etc. Again, teacher support is necessary. Activity 2 is based on pictures in which the students have to surmise what they think peoples problems are in pictures. There are only three to choose from, which may limit the students opportunity to use as much language as they can. The teacher could bring in more examples of people with various health problems. In addition, this unit can open up the floor for the students to talk about health issues and describing things to a doctor, depending on what their needs are. In any case, the teacher is going to have to enhance and supplement the activities. Part B of Activity 2 is a listening exercise where students have to listen to a radio show where the callers ask for advice. The students

check off the pieces of advice that each caller receives. This is yet another example of a place where the teacher can offer up more authentic language and situations. There is a plethora of videos available that give advice on all manner of topics. If the students needs are to practice giving advice, and they are not really interested in advice about health, they can listen to advice on many different topics. Activity 2 concludes with a survey that students do with a partner about their own lifestyles. They score it at the end. The activity asks questions like: How much fruit do you eat? How often do you exercise, what do you usually do to reduce stress? While this text does not focus on form, there are a variety of forms in this one exercise that the teacher can teach to the students. Adverbs of frequency and Wh questions are among them. The second part of Unit 9 is about sleep and dreams and starts off with, once again, pictures and questions about those pictures. One question is: Do you ever sleep in class? I never sleep in class. This demonstrates a very nice transition from the previous activity by the use of frequency adverbs, and the students are able to recycle the language they just learned in a different context. On a personal note, they can talk about their own sleep habits and preferences, but they will still need additional vocabulary help to describe things like tossing and turning, didnt get wink, and other similar expressions. Here, a teacher could provide multiple authentic quotes about sleep as additional input for the students. Activity 2 is pair work where the students have to check off true or false what they know about sleeping and dreaming. After checking off the answers they listen to an expert talk about sleeping and dreaming, and they are instructed to verify if their answers are correct. The activity does not really require the use of pair work at all, unless they are supposed to argue about whether or not something is correct. One way to make this activity more fun and interesting to the students is to have them try and find the information on their own on the internet. The teacher could form the statements into questions such as Do women sleep more than men? The students could type the question into a search engine such as www.ask.com and find the answer. Of course, they would need scanning skills and internet search skills, but this would give them the chance to develop a skill in English that they may eventually need anyway. The teacher would have to scaffold this type of activity very carefully as well, so it would not be too overwhelming for the students. Activity 2 ends with group work where students discuss questions about their sleep habits, aimed at getting the students to use adverbs of frequency. Activity 3 is a pair work survey about how often they do certain sleep-related things such as falling asleep easily or reading before one sleeps. The survey is scored at the end and provides and analysis of how healthy a sleeper someone is. The students are instructed to agree or disagree with the analysis. Questionnaires like this can be fun for students to do, but they need an incentive to do it

together. Perhaps the student asking the questions to the other student can play the role of a doctor and give their own diagnosis as well as give advice. Advice-giving language will then be recycled from the first part of the unit, and give the students the chance to be a little more creative with the language they have learned so far. Activity 3 ends with two pairs joining each other and having a group discussion about staying awake or sleeping too much. Overall, this unit is typical of most units in Lets Talk in that it follows a pattern of listening, pair work, group work, listening, pair work, group work, and so on. One interesting thing that this unit is lacking is the discussion about dreams. It is titles sleep and dreams, but does not cover what dreams may mean. There are many dream interpretation dictionaries out there for reference. Students could describe their dreams to a partner, and then the partner could look up the meaning of the things in the dream and relate them to their partner. In this way, they would have to listen to each other and comprehend each other, as well as use and enrich their vocabulary. They would get to use their language for describing situations and re-use much of what they have learned so far. On the whole, this text is rich in vocabulary and offers an excellent source of ideas and themes from which a teacher can base lessons on. I believe it is appropriate for the target audience, and because of its flexibility could be used in a range of ESL course-types such as for survival English, for general improvement, or even short summer program. It has the potential to be truly communicative by focusing on meaning over form and presenting general enough topics that can be geared toward students specific interests and needs. Unfortunately, in order to take full advantage of what this text can potentially offer, a teacher must be fully aware that she will have to do a substantial amount of leg work in analyzing and molding each activity to fit those needs. In this review, I have offered some suggestions as to how this can be done.

Appendix A

Appendix B

Textbook Review Checklist Factual Details/Description Title: Lets Talk 1: Second Edition Author: Leo Jones Copywrite Date: 2008 Publisher: Cambridge University Press ISBN: 978-0-521-69281-6 Level: high beginning/low intermediate Length: 130 pages Format: 16 four page thematic units, 2 page lessons Target learners/Audience: ESL, North American English, young adults and adults Target teachers: beginning to experienced, teaches speaking and listening Cost: $25.00 Is it a core text or supplementary: core

Theoretical Approach What claims does it make? (See Review) Does is do what it claims to do? (See Review) What is the approach it takes to learning? (See Review)

Poor

Fair

good

excellent

Attractiveness appealing, dull, busy, clear? Design/layout Units/lessons Graphics/pictures X X X X

Sequencing What is the basis of sequencing? Does it make sense? How comprehensive is the coverage? Theme-based/easy to more difficult X X

Skills Covered

Pronunciation complete/appropriate/adequate practice Grammar - adequate, sequencing, pattern and display, practice Is it contextualized? Listening Speaking Fluency Vocabulary Is the language used meaningful? Content functional load, contexts and situations

X X X X X X X X

Tasks/Activities What kind of tasks and activities does it include? Pair Group Individual How clear are the explanations of activities? How useful are the activities? Are they interesting? Are they flexible? Do they offer variety? Can a student use this text alone with minimal teacher input? Input based Activities Output based activities

X X X X X X X X X X

Cultural Acceptability Culture topics Biases Stereotypes Authenticity Themes/Topics Content X X X X X X

Totals:
Teacher Tools Can a new teacher jump into the materials? Guide/answers/additional activities Transcripts for listening activities Recommend methods/approaches

11
yes

14
no X

X In teacher manual X

Not in student book

Adaptability will it have to be modified a lot, or only some? Spiral approach/review/revision Flexibility can the teacher jump around, or do the units have to go in order? o Additional Materials CDs Scripts Answer keys Guidance on use of class material Word list/glossary

X Some X

X X X X X

Syllabus suitability Is it recommended? Balance between what students learn and what they will be tested on Will it be appropriate for the class the teacher will teach? X N/A X