Final task unit 3

[Anna Buñuel]

I use Succeed in English at school and I like it very much. It always gives me the chance to use what to teach out of a wide range of activities. Vocabulary is always presented in context, usually a reading comprehension activity always at the beginning of the unit. I have chosen a unit that introduces the world of Fashion. The words that kids have to learn are not words for beginners but kids who have an intermediate level. They are casual, uncomfortable, impractical, tight, matching, plain, colorful, uncool and baggy (the level is 3 ESO).
The other course book I have checked is Solutions, same publishing company. What they do here is present a list of words and pictures so that the student has to match the words with the photos. It is easy for beginners but when the words start getting complicated, I think they need to elicit from context unless the exercise is to work with dictionaries in the class. It is also true that usually the reading comprehension activities have photos included so that kids know what we are going to talk about.
I prefer learning from context than kids having to look for the meaning of the words without that context; I personally think that we remember words better if they are in context than when they are not. Of course some kids have visual memory so maybe they will find it easier to remember if they see pictures. Again, using both strategies together probably make the activity more complete.

[Leticia]

Use the questions to help you respond to what other teachers have posted.

1.- Is this similar to your task answer or different?
It's a little different because I chose coursebooks with a level of beginners but very basic and these ones are old but actually I agree with my partner the coursebooks aren't appropriate to the students in addition to lack of the way to introduce the
vocabulary for topic. they more complicated and the exercises are extremely difficult for beginners since they must move forward gradually.

2.-What is interesting about this topic?
The ways to introduce the vocabulary and our points of view about that.

3.- What questions or doubts do you have about this topic?
Here is where it starts to see the reason by which we have to have a logical order and try to use the language all the time in class to help the learners to have a greater understanding in their learning.

4.-What advice can you give on this topic, based on your experience?
It's difficult to understand the way to decide how to work in this case to choose the type of exercises and tackle. I think that we should share strategies to work and support each other.

[Irina]

I use Prepare 1 for my beginners and this book is really helpful for me and my students. Each unit has got the clear planning that helps me to keep the balance and follow the logical structurer of the lesson. It consists the warm up that related to the previous and the next topic then the pre-vocabulary (using the spidergram or pictures with the questions). Vocabulary is always presented in context, usually in reading or listening. Then the vocabulary part gives student the speaking activities to show them how to use you new words in the real life.
The other coursebook the same level is Think Starter. It doesn't give the lead-in or warm-up activities before vocabulary box so I need to use my own creativity and skills to present new topic. I think they need to give more exercises for matching definitions or filling in gaps new vocabulary. The topic is used only in a short audio without any reading comprehension but it's given the speaking task as well.
I prefer learning new vocabulary from the reading section that students can see how to use the words in context. That's why I choose Prepare 1 as a coursebook for beginners because it gives me extra activities and my lesson looks complete.

[Oksana]

You are going to look at how two different coursebooks deal with the same vocabulary theme. I use two main coursebook with my students. they are Superminds and Kids Box. Now I want to compare Superminds2 and Kids box 2, and their Unit 1: Back to school. As for me I think that Superminds is much better in this section, it has more tasks and they are graded by level of difficulty, like fill in the box, match, finish the sentance, write, draw and so on, teacher just has to add some vocabulary games and there is visible result by the end of the lesson, whereas in Kids box, the vocabulary section is represented by one picture with labled objects and dialogue, and all the rest is prepared by the teacher as extra, there is not enough training and drilling of vocabulary, so I consider Superminds much more useful in this area.