Category Archives: General English textbooks

Why are Advanced level textbooks so crap?

Posted on 11/09/2010 by alexcase

I’m not a huge fan of Cutting Hedges, but Cutting Edge Advanced makes me dream of the day when I can get back to New Cutting Edge Int again. Ditto for Headway, which I actually don’t mind until it gets … Continue reading →

Posted in General English textbooks | 20 Comments

Next time a publisher tries to sell you a new textbook

Posted on 15/03/2010 by alexcase

… remind them that there is already a title available that is, according to their own website, ‘Flexible, stimulating, enjoyable, simply PERFECT.’ That’s right, it’s The New Cambridge English Course, still being sold and with its own brand new, funky … Continue reading →

Posted in Cambridge University Press, ELT publishing, ELT World, General English textbooks, New Cambridge English Course, TEFL forums | 7 Comments

Interview- TEFL Hero Jon Marks on the life of a full-time TEFL writer

Posted on 31/12/2009 by alexcase

It’s been a while since I’ve used the TEFL hero category, and I’ve even stripped some people of the honour (and Sandy MacManus has been pretty close a couple of times), but I’m glad I kept it going because Jon Marks deserves it for … Continue reading →

Posted in Cambridge Young Learner Exams, Delta Publishing, EFL exams, ELT publishing, English Teaching Professional, General English textbooks, getting into ELT publishing, Getting published, Grammar games, IELTS, links, Photocopiable worksheets, PPP (Presentation practice production), Teaching English in Korea, TEFL, TEFL career planning, TEFL games, TEFL heroes- Jon Marks, TEFL pay, TEFL Tradesman, textbooks, Writing ELT textbooks and materials | Tagged | 2 Comments

TEFL book reviews reach a new low

Posted on 26/01/2009 by alexcase

No, most certainly not my fellow TEFL.net Book Review pages enthusiastic amateurs, who have written some great recent reviews on Creative Poetry Writing, New Insight into IELTS and Vocabulary . The guilty parties are people who really should know better and in fact … Continue reading →

Posted in ELT publishing, General English textbooks, Materials, Teaching methods and methodologies, TEFL, TEFL celebs/ TEFL heroes and villains, textbooks | 10 Comments

Natural English Intermediate

Posted on 28/11/2008 by alexcase

… is pants! Based on a dubious theory and with everything based on that theory rather than interesting content or things tying together properly, I haven’t seen anything this bad but commercially successful since (old) Cutting Edge. If you are cursing the … Continue reading →

Posted in General English textbooks, Materials, Natural English, TEFL games, TEFL reviews, textbooks | 1 Comment

Stolen teaching idea of the day

Posted on 05/11/2008 by alexcase

Backwards dialogues Students write a dialogue and then read it out starting with the last line, then the second to last line and last line, then the last three lines etc- working their way towards the beginning of the dialogue until the … Continue reading →

Posted in Alternative teaching techniques, ELT publishing, Functional language, General English textbooks, links, Materials, Oxford University Press (OUP), Skills, Speaking, Speaking games, TEFL, TEFL games, Telephoning, textbooks | Leave a comment

New Year, New worksheets

Posted on 19/12/2007 by alexcase

Bored of Xmas before it’s even arrived as usual, so here comes with the New Year theme ones instead: Xmas and New Year future tenses review Future Perfect New Year predictions New Year action and state verbs New Year resolutions … Continue reading →

Posted in Adverbs of frequency, Conditionals, Future tenses, General English textbooks, Going to for future plans, Grammar, Photocopiable worksheets, video | Leave a comment

Testing and reviewing new EFL materials – Can talking about TEFL books really be any use?

Posted on 21/11/2007 by alexcase

UPDATE: Whole page on TEFL reviews now here. When I think back on the many conversations I have had in the teachers’ room about English language textbooks, photocopiable resource books etc. over the years, I can remember quite a few … Continue reading →

Posted in ELT publishing, General English textbooks, links, TEFL blogs, TEFL reviews, TESOL, textbooks, Usingenglish, Writing ELT textbooks and materials | Leave a comment

TEFL Insider Part 5- Inside TEFL reviews

Posted on 04/10/2007 by alexcase

A few posts ago I promised to dish the dirt on the world of the reviews of English teaching materials, a part of the biz that I have been involved in in various ways for 8 years or so now. … Continue reading →

Posted in ELT publishing, General English textbooks, Humanistic language teaching, Pilgrims, TEFL reviews, TESOL | Leave a comment

Teaching quote of the day

Posted on 24/08/2007 by alexcase

“(Rod Ellis) recommends holding off teaching grammar to beginning students because the early stages of acquisition are primarily lexically rather than grammatically based and because of the evidence from immersion programs that learners are able to acquire word order and … Continue reading →

Posted in Alternative teaching techniques, ELT publishing, General English textbooks, Grammar, Lesson planning, Linguistics, applied linguistics and SLA, Teaching low levels, TEFL, textbooks, The lexical approach | Tagged | Leave a comment