One of the more innovative add-ons that accompanies the OUTCOMES series of General English coursebooks we wrote for National Geographic Learning is the Vocabulary Builder – often just known as the VB. The main idea behind the Vocabulary Builder was…
A different kind of Beginner-level book 5: Pronunciation
Pronunciation: Really? Do I have to? While the bulk of Beginner coursebooks on the market are pretty uniform when it comes to the way they handle grammar and - to some extent - vocabulary, there seems to be little consistency…
A different kind of Beginner-level book 4: a spiralling syllabus
A spiralling syllabus is NOT just about grammar Hopefully, you'll have read our previous post on a spiral syllabus. In this short post, I want to add that the spiral syllabus doesn’t only apply to grammar. The same principles also…
A different kind of Beginner-level book 3: choosing which vocabulary to teach
Making choices about vocabulary: teaching what’s relevant to most students, responding to individuals In our last post, we looked at how we've tried to ensure that Outcomes Beginner provides students with just enough grammar to have the kinds of basic…
A different kind of Beginner-level book 2
Just enough grammar and a spiral syllabus In our last post on teaching beginner-level students, we stated this principle: While there is a value in noticing and practising a particular aspect of grammar or vocabulary, it will not be mastered…
A different kind of Beginner-level book 1
If that’s what it’s not, what is it? My post about the Beginner syllabus and short answers with auxiliaries has produced quite a few responses o social media - both positive and negative. On the whole, I'm happy to receive…
Grammar nonsense (and some curiosities) 8: short answers and auxiliaries
Following on from the previous post about the way the syllabus in most Beginner-level books is constructed, one of the areas that continues to dominate at this level – and which I find most annoying - is the teaching of…
Translation: Tackling the Taboo part 2
In the first post on tackling the taboo that surrounds using any form of translation in the language classroom, I unpacked my own slow conversion, considered the roots of the English-only dogma, and explored why such positions were unsustainable. Today…
Translation: tackling the taboo
As a native speaker teacher working in a multi-lingual teaching context in the UK, I am perhaps an unlikely convert to the cause of translation in language teaching, and it's been a long and winding road that's brought me here.…
On the over-use of concept-checking questions: part 2
I recently wrote a post outlining why I'm not a fan of using concept-checking questions – CCQs – when dealing with vocabulary and if you've not read it, it may make sense to go there first before continuing. I ran…