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Title
Stories We Brought With Us
Type of resource
ESL Textbook
Author
Carol Kasser & Ann Silverman
Publisher
Longman
Reviewer
Phil Cackley, REEP ESL Teacher
Date of Review
July 2007
Review:
This is a great reader for high-beginning students (Levels 200/250). It has folktales from a wide variety of countries with good reading skill
development activities. Although the stories don't follow a lifeskills format and therefore don't dovetail into the REEP competencies, they
provide a nice break from work, health, telephone. Students have generally found the stories very interesting.
Each of the 20 chapters follows a similar format:
- I) prereading discussion based on line drawings;
- II) reading a short text (4 to 10 short paragraphs) in either an A version (simpler language) or a B version (more idiomatic, complex language);
- III) exercises for comprehension, sequencing sentences, vocabulary and grammar (verbs, prepositions, pronoun antecedents, antonyms, etc.);
- IV) open-ended discussion and writing questions.
Almost all of the stories and activities could be covered in one class period or less. I like it especially because many of the activities cover reading skills that are supposed to be practiced in the 200 or 250 levels (see Reading Development in REEP Curriculum for those levels).
There is a good-sized class set on the shelves at CEC (20+ copies), meaning that in most classes the majority of students will have their own copy to read
Software
Title
All Star Interactive 1
Type of resource
Software Program
Publisher
McGraw Hill
Reviewer
REEP Teacher, Level 100/150
Date of Review
May 2007
Review:
I have been very happy with the All Star English program and the students have liked it very much. We are using a different text in the class
(English in Action 1) but it has been very easy to coordinate lessons in All Star with what we have been working on in the class.
The sequence of topics covered is different, but the All Star textbook (of which we have a few copies at our site) spells out very clearly in the front what is covered in each lesson so it is easy to avoid using a lesson that, for example, uses a not-yet-introduced verb form. The exercises are very well thought out and
designed for a beginner class. The screen is not too "busy" for eyes not yet able to figure out the most important items at a glance (always a problem for 100 students.)
The activities also follow a consistent pattern in each lesson, so that once students are accustomed to what they need to do for a particular type of activity they can carry on in later units
without further instruction, making for more productive use of lab time. The beginning exercises in each unit
introduce vocabulary in an engaging way and mostly involve pointing and clicking so students master that quickly without focusing on it per se.
Later exercises in each unit involve keyboarding (in increasing amounts as they move through the sequence of units) but the slower moving students do not seem to find it frustrating (sometimes a
problem for the strugglers) and gradually come along. The faster students fly through it.
My only caveat is that teachers do need to pay attention to what is covered in each lesson and be sure it works for where their students "are" at the moment (for example, health is covered late in the sequence and would not work early in the REEP cycle.)
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