adapting your course book :becoming skilled in the art of manipulation

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Tim Dalby 145 AdaptingYourCourseBook:Becoming SkilledintheArtofManipulation TimDalby Jeonju University Abstract In language teaching situations all over the world, course books are the mainstay of many teachers’ lessons. Whether new or experienced as a teacher it soon becomes apparent that assigned course books have advantages and disadvantages for a class at any given time. This paper attempts to review current thinking on the use of course books for language teaching and then provide a series of adaptation methods to help teachers ensure a better fit between the course book materials and their learners’ needs. Keywords: course books, curriculum, syllabus, materials, Korea, pro- fessional development. I.CourseBooksAren’tAllBad Take a random selection of teachers and ask them what they think of their current course book and you will probably get an overwhelming sigh and some sporadic grumbling. Ask these same teachers to then think about the advantages and disadvantages of course books and you will hopefully get a more circumspect discussion ending with a fairly evenly balanced list. I have tried this activity during several course book workshops with over one hundred English language teachers in Korea from a variety of teaching backgrounds and contexts. The lists I get are generally similar and the main points are discussed in more detail below.

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Page 1: Adapting Your Course Book :Becoming Skilled in the Art of Manipulation

Tim Dalby 145

AdaptingYourCourseBook:Becoming

SkilledintheArtofManipulation

Tim Dalby

Jeonju University

Abstract

In language teaching situations all over the world, course books are the mainstay of many teachers’ lessons. Whether new or experienced as a teacher it soon becomes apparent that assigned course books have advantages and disadvantages for a class at any given time. This paper attempts to review current thinking on the use of course books for language teaching and then provide a series of adaptation methods to help teachers ensure a better fit between the course book materials and their learners’ needs.

Keywords: course books, curriculum, syllabus, materials, Korea, pro-fessional development.

I.CourseBooksAren’tAllBad

Take a random selection of teachers and ask them what they think

of their current course book and you will probably get an overwhelming

sigh and some sporadic grumbling. Ask these same teachers to then

think about the advantages and disadvantages of course books and

you will hopefully get a more circumspect discussion ending with a

fairly evenly balanced list. I have tried this activity during several

course book workshops with over one hundred English language teachers

in Korea from a variety of teaching backgrounds and contexts. The

lists I get are generally similar and the main points are discussed in

more detail below.

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146 Adapting Your Course Book: Becoming Skilled

1.1 Advantages

Course books provide guidance

As is the case in many parts of the world, many teachers in academies

and the public school system in Korea have no formal English-language

teaching qualifications or experience (Maley, 1992; Shin, 2004, p.68).

For these teachers, course books can provide a welcome level of guidance

on how to teach particular language structures or skills (Ur, 1991, p.184).

They can also provide professional development opportunities

(Cunningsworth, 1995; Cunningsworth & Kusel, 1991; Littlejohn, 1992;

Richards, 1993) in addition to those provided by their employers (if

any) or organizations such as Korea TESOL.

Course books save time.

For the busy teacher, a course book means a reduction in the amount

of planning that is required to teach a class (Graves, 2000, p.174).

Materials are (usually) neatly presented along with a series of activities

which takes the leg work out of lesson planning.

Course books provide a starting point for further activities.

The topics that are covered in course books provide teachers with

a jumping off point from which they can delve into deeper areas with

their learners. This could include getting into aspects of culture, looking

at different viewpoints in an argument and doing research. This view

is supported by Harmer (2001, p.8) who talks about course books as

‘...proposals for action, not instructions for use’. It refutes the idea

that teachers slavishly follow a course book. Take the example of commu-

nicative language teaching in Vietnam where materials are used in

the classroom in a wholly different way than intended by the materials

developers (Kramsch & Sullivan, 1996, p.202).

Course books provide structure.

In any communicative language classroom there is a level of un-

certainty and change that can be both threatening and uncomfortable

for learners. The course book provides a structure so that the level

of unpredictability is reduced for learners and the learning event becomes

more tolerable (Crawford, 2002, p.83). Likewise, the course of study

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Tim Dalby 147

is predictable for the teacher who is able to see how a particular lesson

fits into the course of study.

Learners expect a course book

Although a teacher in Korea may believe this to be a particularly

Korean issue, it is more widespread than that. Learners like to have

a course book because it gives them some control over their learning

(Crawford, 2002, p.83). There is also the view of course books providing

both authority and expertise (de Castell, Luke, & Luke 1989), where

teachers’ handouts do not (Harwood, 2005, p.151).

1.2 Disadvantages

Course books are a straitjacket.

For more experienced teachers, a course book can limit the amount

of creativity and freedom allowed for a class. This is especially true

in large programs where the learners are given tests which are based

on the course book. This is a form of negative washback which affects

the teachers and learners alike (Taylor 2005, p.154).

Course books are poorly designed.

Of course this depends on the course book, but it is fair to say

that production standards vary from publisher to publisher in terms

of the quality of the paper used, the layout, and the number of typographical

errors encountered in any given publication. One workshop participant

described a teacher’s book she was assigned as being unusable as it

was written entirely in Korean.

Course book topics are boring and/or irrelevant.

Most teachers would agree that at some stage they have come across

a topic that bears no relevance to themselves or their learners. It could

be that the materials are out of date or feature a celebrity that has

no following in a particular country. Either way, the materials lose

validity for the learners and teachers alike.

Course books are culturally removed.

As many course books hail from British or American roots, it is

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148 Adapting Your Course Book: Becoming Skilled

likely that learners in an EFL situation (i.e. where English is not a

common language), will not be able to relate to the materials presented.

Likewise, books used in Korea that were developed in Japan carry

images and content that is specific to a Japanese context – something

unlikely to be appreciated by many Koreans. Richards similarly suggests

that in course books ‘an idealized white middle-class view of the world

is portrayed as the norm’ (2001, p.255). It is possibly because of this

that the Korean Ministry of Education has tried to instill Korean values

in public sector course books (Yim, 2007, p.45).

Course book language is not authentic.

Although this is beginning to change, course book dialogues are

generally written within a limited list of headwords or to incorporate

and practice specific language points and are therefore not authentic

or realistic (Richards, 2001, p.255). While this can lead to issues of

credibility for some teachers, others see simplified English as a stepping

stone towards being able to cope with authentic English (for more

on the ‘cult of authenticity’, see Day & Bamford, 1998).

1.3 Balance

There are of course many other arguments that can be leveled both

for and against the use of course books (see for example, Crawford,

2002; Graves, 2000; Harwood, 2005; Richards, 2001; Ur, 1991 for

more in-depth analysis). In the end, we need to accept the fact that

course books are not going away anytime soon. Most of us, at some

time, need to use them, so we should try to find the best way to

incorporate them into our program of learning.

II.EvaluatingCourseBooks

Before this can be done, there is a need to understand a course

book in a particular context. Course books are necessarily a compromise

between what the authors want to produce using the very latest and

best teaching methodologies, and what publishers know will sell (for

an in-depth analysis of how a course book is produced from conception

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Tim Dalby 149

through to publication see Bell & Gower, 1998). Course books are

designed for everyone and for no one (Graves, 2000, p.174), but without

doubt there is a need for the teacher to understand the course book

that is being used. There are several lists of criteria for evaluating

course books currently available (see for example, Breen & Candlin,

1987; Cunningsworth, 1995; Dougill 1987; Hedge, 2000; Hutchinson,

1987; Richards, 2001; Sheldon, 1988; Ur, 1991) and an interesting

research question could be formulated to discover how widely, if at

all, they are used. In the event that formally developed evaluation criteria

are not used, what then is the basis for institutions to choose the course

books they choose? Leaving these questions aside, I would like to

introduce a simple set of course book evaluation criteria that were

used successfully in my workshops by experienced and inexperienced

teachers alike. The criteria were developed by Tanner & Green (1998,

p.121) and are presented in more detail below.

2.1 The MATERIALS Test

Hutchinson describes course book selection as ‘the single most im-

portant decision that the language teacher has to make’ (1987, p.37).

However, the majority of teachers are unlikely to find themselves able

to make this decision. More likely a course book has already been

chosen for them, whether by committee or by the course manager.

Regardless of this, the ability to evaluate a course book is important

because it provides a baseline from which to make judgments about

what to adapt and change. Without understanding a particular context

and how the course book is set up, we cannot effectively make changes

that will benefit our learners. The quick evaluation provided by Tanner

and Green (1998) is comprehensive, in that it covers many of the most

important aspects in the more detailed checklists described above, and

it is efficient, in that it focuses on what teachers are likely to find

important in the here and now. In addition, by using the mnemonic

device of MATERIALS, it is easy to remember the steps.

Method

This applies to the teaching method used by the course book. Much

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150 Adapting Your Course Book: Becoming Skilled

of our teaching style is wrapped up in our personality (Hunt & Joyce,

1967) and so it is important that the style of the book and the activities

within match up with our own method of teaching. Does the book

focus on grammar, or does it have lots of fluency activities, group

work and mingling? Are the questions open-ended, or of the yes/no

variety?

Appearance

As discussed in the section above, the appearance of a book can

greatly affect how it is perceived and accepted by teachers and learners

alike. If a book looks very ‘busy’, it can be overwhelming for learners.

If there are a lot of mistakes, the teacher is likely to question the

level of expertise of the course book writer. Clearly laid out activities,

bright colors and adequate amount of white space can go a long way

towards making a book acceptable.

Teacher-friendly

This applies to how easy or difficult it is for the teacher to use.

If the book has teaching ideas, it may actually form part of a teacher’s

professional development (Cunningsworth, 1995; Cunningsworth &

Kusel, 1991; Littlejohn, 1992; Richards, 1993). The book should save

the teacher time, and so information should be easy to find. An index

or table of contents with the skills and/or grammar focus of each unit

should be included along with an answer key to exercises.

Extras

Some books come with a wealth of extras which might include

downloadable listening activities, a DVD, an adaptable workbook, a

student CD, a website, a teacher’s book and supplemental materials.

Other course books come with little more than just the student book.

How many or how few extras a course book comes with will determine

how much lesson planning work a teacher has to do along with how

much searching a teacher will need to do to find materials that are

suitable for her class. Of course, extras need to be easy to use too.

Realistic

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Tim Dalby 151

With the advent and increasing use of corpuses and concordances,

the ability for course books to use authentic language has increased

dramatically over the last few years. Some course books, such as the

Touchstone series, now state that they are using corpus data in their

books (McCarthy, McCarten, & Sandiford, 2005). Of course, being

authentic is one thing, being up to date is another. A course book

filled with out of date slang is unlikely to ring true with learners and

teachers alike. Deciding what is authentic and balancing it with words

that will have lasting appeal is a difficult task. Take the example of

‘bovvered’ which was Oxford English Dictionary’s word of 2006 and

now is rarely heard, if at all, especially outside the British Isles. Check

the OED’s website if you are not sure what this word means.

Interesting

By looking at the topics in a course book, a teacher can decide

if they are relevant and interesting to his or her learners. It is also

important to ensure that the topics are relevant and interesting to the

teacher as she has to use the topics as a vehicle for teaching. As well

as the obvious advantages in terms of schema activation that interesting

topics afford, interested learners tend to be more focused in class and

less likely to engage in disruptive behavior (Hidi, 1990).

Affordable

Although this may be outside the realm of either the teacher or

the learner, the cost of a course book should have some level of bearing

on the value a learner places on the book. If the book is too cheap,

it may not be valued by the learner as authoritative. If it is too expensive,

the learner may have unrealistic expectations about how much they

will achieve by using the book. Also, in countries like Korea where

there is a strong expectation to finish any given course book (Carless,

2003, p.492), an expensive book may limit the teacher’s ability to

skip activities or units as learners may feel they didn’t get the full

value out of the book they purchased.

Level

The course book should be aimed at the level of the learners being

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taught. While there is an onus on institutions to provide leveled classes

where learners in any given class have similar levels of language ability,

it is not always practical or achievable to do this. Whether classes

are leveled or not, the course book should provide for either situation:

flexibility in the multi-level class, and congruence in the leveled class.

Skills

The final section is about what kind of class is being taught. If

it is a multi-skills class, does the course book adequately cover the

skills that are required? If it is a conversation class, does the course

book teach conversation skills, or is it merely a speaking course? Does

a writing book have a process or product approach to writing? Does

a reading book look to develop reading skills into reading strategies,

or does it merely have a reading section followed by comprehension

questions? Whatever the situation, the course book needs to fit the

class syllabus, whether it is imposed or negotiated.

III.TheArtofManipulation

Whatever ratings a course book may receive after being given a

thorough evaluation, at some point it needs to be used in the classroom.

The level of ‘fit’ between the needs of the learners and the resources

available in a course book will vary from course to course and class

to class and so, to be effective, the teacher will need to manipulate

the materials in some way. Graves explains that course book adaptation

can happen at three different levels – the activity level, the unit level

and the syllabus level (2000, p.188). Syllabus level adaptation is taking

a course book and reordering the units and/or adding supplementary

materials to the units to better fit the learners’ needs over a course

of study. At the unit level, the steps in the order of activities in a

unit are changed. In an example of this, Graves gave twelve activities

from a course book unit to groups of teachers and asked them to produce

a unit plan for their students. At the end of the activity, each group

had reordered the units in a totally unique way, and none matched

the original course book order (2000, p.197). For simplicity at this

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Tim Dalby 153

level, I will again turn to Tanner & Green’s categories which I have

adapted into the easy-to-remember acronym DEAR (1998, p.122).

3.1 Four Basic Methods of Manipulation at the Unit Level

Delete

In this scenario the materials or activity are simply not covered.

In some situations, whether it is due to a lack of time, the level of

difficulty or the relevance of the materials to an upcoming test, the

teacher can decide to ‘move on’ to the next section.

Edit

By editing we basically take the activity that we have been given

and change it to make it more relevant, interesting, up to date, or

practical. A nice device that I have seen is in the ‘Smart Choice’ series

where the resource book pages are provided on a CD as editable documents

allowing me to change the names of characters to the names of students

in my class (Wilson, 2007). I can also change the photos to use well-known

Korean celebrities – or the students themselves.

Add

In some course books, teachers notice a gap between two adjacent

activities. For instance, a listening activity may contain key vocabulary

that has not previously been covered on the course. In this case, the

teacher could add an activity to introduce this vocabulary to the students.

Similar examples could include a prediction activity before reading,

or a research project before a debate.

Replace

The final option is a combination of the first three where an activity

is provided in the course book, deemed unsuitable by the teacher, and

so replaced with something that will work with a given set of learners.

Teachers familiar with resource books such as ‘Speaking Extra’

(Gammidge, 2004), ‘Vocabulary Games and Activities 1’ (Watcyn-Jones,

2001), or ‘Grammar Games and Activities 1’ (Watcyn-Jones &

Howard-Williams, 2001), for example, have materials to hand which

will neatly replace a course book unit with something more engaging.

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Replacement of activities also encourages teachers to build up their

own set of resources which can be used at a moment’s notice or to

liven up their classes at the end of the week. This is what Maley

refers to as the ‘wet Friday afternoon effect’ (1998, p. 281).

3.2 Practical Techniques at the Activity Level

At the activity level, there are several resources for the teacher

to refer to including Maley, who provides a comprehensive list of the

ways in which a course book can be manipulated (1998, pp.281-283)

and Ur (1991) who looks at how activities can be adapted to match

the skills taught. The suggestions given below are ideas based largely

on a handout I was given by Paul Michel while working at the Caledonian

School in Prague, Czech Republic along with ideas that I have collected

over the past nine years. They may not all work with all levels of

learners, in all cultures all the time, but are provided as examples of

what can be done with various materials that are generally available

in course books. As Bruton argues, there is a certain ‘sameness’ about

course books (1997, p.276) which should mean that the activities offered

below can be used with most course books most of the time.

3.3 If You Have a Written Text

Course books generally contain texts of varying lengths, whether

they are an integral part of the course book or thrown in as additional

activities in the teacher’s guide. In most cases, course book texts follow

the basic process which has learners reading the text and then answering

comprehension questions. The following adaptations can be used with

texts of all shapes and sizes.

Role play or mime characters from the text or act out the story.

In a text which involves characters, has a story, or is an event,

ask learners to choose a character and mime or act out the character’s

role in the story. They can use a dialogue that is already in the text,

or, more creatively, create a dialogue that fits the story in the text.

This could be done in class or assigned as a video project.

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Tim Dalby 155

Create a prequel to the story.

If you have a story, get the learners to write or act out a prequel.

Ask them what they think could have happened before the story got

started, what were the characters doing etc.

Continue the story.

As above except this time the learners figure out what happened

next. Again, they could do this using drama, posted as a video project

on the class website or a group writing assignment.

Discuss or debate the issue. Ask provocative questions.

Discussions and debates are excellent ways of practicing speaking,

and for a text that involves a somewhat controversial topic, learners

can discuss or debate the issues around it. For an added level of difficulty,

have learners that are ‘for’ an issue speak for the ‘against’ team as

this can enhance their skills of persuasion. It also helps learners to

understand that there are two (or more) sides to every issue. To help

learners get started, the teacher can ask provocative questions to invite

reaction. Over time, learners can be encouraged to do the same.

FIGURE 1

Reply to the author (Touchstone Level 2, p. 41)

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156 Adapting Your Course Book: Becoming Skilled

Interview or reply to the author.

As well as helping learners understand that a piece of writing is

a form of communication between the writer and the reader, by interview-

ing or responding to an author we ensure that a deeper connection

is made to the text. The activity below is from Touchstone Level 2,

and involves students having to ‘fill in the gap’ in the invitations

(McCarthy, McCarten, & Sandiford, 2005). Once this is done, students

could respond to the invitation either by accepting or declining them.

Making predictions, skimming, scanning, semantic mapping and

summaries.

For any reading text of length, the following procedure can be

used in full or by skipping sections that are unnecessary.

1. Using the headline or a photograph, have learners make a prediction

about the contents of the text, the characters, what happens etc.

2. Have learners in groups write down the vocabulary that they

would expect to find in a text with the predicted topic. This

can be developed further into a semantic map – like a mind

map of connections between words.

3. Learners scan the text quickly to find any words from their lists.

The time limit here should be short.

4. Give learners one or two questions based on the overall idea

of the text. Allow only a short time for learners to skim the

text and answer the question(s). Stress that students don’t need

to understand every word, just the main idea(s).

5. Once the course book activities associated with the text have

been covered, learners could write a summary of the text. This

could be done in class or as a group assignment to be posted

on the class website.

Research assignment (in the L1).

If you have a monolingual class (which is generally the case in

Korea, though changing), you could ask learners to prepare for a reading

text by doing a research assignment in their first language. The research

is for learners to have a better understanding of the topic of the reading

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Tim Dalby 157

as research consistently shows that readers with background knowledge

of a topic read more effectively (Alderson, 2000, p.44).

3.4 If You Have a Listening Activity

Like reading, listening is generally considered a ‘receptive’ skill,

but, also like reading, is far more interactional than that (Grabe, 1991;

Richards, 1983). Like reading, many course books follow a pattern

of listen and then answer questions – with the questions often being

answered during the listening activity. Unlike reading, learners cannot

control the speed of the input, so other adaptations are offered below

which are more specific to various listening texts.

Predict the answers. Bet on the answers.

Sometimes comprehension questions are written in such a way that

the answers can be fairly easily predicted. Even if not, by having learners

predict the answers to questions, they have more reason to listen. This

can be further enhanced by having learners in groups betting on the

answers in a whole-class team game.

Make the questions easier.

It is not always well understood that pretty much any piece of

listening can be used in a class. What makes an activity easy or difficult

is what you expect learners to do. If you find you have questions

that your learners are finding too difficult, make them easier. You

can do this by giving answer choices or simply making questions closed

rather than open.

Topic prediction, semantic mapping, gist listening and summaries.

As in the reading activity above, by giving learners a title or a

picture that is associated with the listening text, learners can try to

predict the topic and/or the vocabulary that they are likely to hear

in the recording. Then, by asking one or two global questions, learners

can confirm their predictions and listen for gist – without worrying

about understanding all the details. Once done, learners can move on

to the course book comprehension questions and then write a summary

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158 Adapting Your Course Book: Becoming Skilled

of what they heard.

Vocabulary grab.

This is an incredibly enjoyable activity that students of all ages

enjoy. Choose a listening script which has some vocabulary that you

want to target. Put learners into groups and give each group some

slips of paper – the same number of slips as target words. Have each

group write down one target word on one slip of paper until they

have all the target words written down. Groups put all the slips face

up in front of them. As the learners listen to the recording, they have

to grab the correct piece of paper with the word that they hear as

they hear it. The learner with the most pieces of paper in the group

wins. This is, roughly speaking, a scanning activity for listening and

can be used just as effectively when watching a video. In this case,

the words can be things that learners see, rather than hear.

3.5 If You Have a Picture

One of the best and most adaptable resources in a course book

is the pictures which accompany topics, units and skills activities. Images

are often specially commissioned by publishers to fit with whatever

is on the course book page. The activities offered below are quite

extensive and are for various types of image. Of course, not every

suggestion will be for every type of picture.

Describe the people, places, actions and things in the picture.

There are several things that a learner can talk about including

what they know or think about the place, city, or country in the picture.

They can be encouraged to think about the people, the food, the music,

the architecture, forms of dress, the climate, the religion, traditions,

customs, what daily life is like, the leaders, the type of politics, the

history, or the sports that the country enjoys or is well known for.

In the example below from Breakthrough, Level 1, learners could be

encouraged to discuss what they know about each culture (Craven,

2008).

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Tim Dalby 159

FIGURE 2

What do you know about each culture?

(Breakthrough Level 1, p. 66)

Compare and contrast.

Learners faced with a picture of a place or a person can compare

or contrast them with a place or person they know (such as the teacher).

If there are two or more pictures on a similar theme, they can be

compared or contrasted. Learners could speculate on where they woul

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160 Adapting Your Course Book: Becoming Skilled

like to live and why or which person they would like to be and why.

Images of celebrations, traditional ceremonies and festivals could be

compared and contrasted with similar events in Korea. For a more

creative angle, groups of learners could create a ceremony, holiday

or tradition similar to the picture. The picture could encourage learners

to write a story or a newspaper article with the learners as reporters,

again with a comparison or a contrast to what occurs in Korea.

Speculate about the picture.

Getting learners to think outside the box, or picture in this case,

helps to get the creative juices flowing. Ask learners to decide what’s

happening outside the picture and why. They could discuss or write

about why the people are there, who they are, what they are doing,

their relationship, when they arrived, how long they have been there,

when they will leave, how they are feeling and why.

Thinking more about a person, learners could speculate about the

person’s job, age, education, family, lifestyle, nationality, their hobbies,

personal relationships, political opinions and musical tastes. They could

think about the person’s favorites in terms of the food they like, the

types of restaurants they go to, the vacations they take, and sports

they enjoy. Learners could think about what the person or people did

yesterday, what they have done in their lives, what they are doing

later today, what they are going to do next year, a secret they have,

or a crime they have committed.

If the picture shows a group of people, learners could rank the

people in terms of who earns the most money, who is the most educated,

who has the most interesting job, who has the most friends or enemies,

or who is most likely to commit a serious crime. Once done, learners

could compare their rankings and discuss any differences. Learners

could decide who they would most or least like to have dinner with

and why. They could discuss which of these people they would be

and why.

If the picture shows a problem, learners could talk about the problem

being shown, why the problem developed, and possible solutions to

the problem. In a cityscape, learners could discuss everyday life in

the city, the possible advantages and disadvantages of living in the

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Tim Dalby 161

city and compare this with living in the country, the sounds, noises

and smells of the city. Thinking more about vocabulary, learners could

figure out how new vocabulary in the course book can be related to

the picture. Ask learners to think about whether they would like to

live in the city and why. They could also think about whether they

would like to visit this place and, if so, who and what they would

take with them and why.

Production.

For more focused production activities, take a picture and have

learners talk non-stop for one minute about the picture without hesitation

or repetition. Have learners look at two pictures then, in pairs or threes,

see how many sentences they can make about the first picture in one

minute. Then do the same for the second picture, but learners have

to try to beat their first score. Learners could be asked to look at

a picture for one minute, close their books and then tell a partner

everything they remember about the picture, as in the example below

from Top Notch Level 1 (Saslow & Ascher, 2006).

FIGURE 3

Remember as much as you can.

(Top Notch Level 1, p. 76)

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162 Adapting Your Course Book: Becoming Skilled

Learners could also ask each other their opinions about the picture.

Learners could be encouraged to use the target grammar, vocabulary

or exponents to interview a person, object or animal in the picture.

If it is an event, the learners could interview an eyewitness. If it is

a city, interview someone who lives there.

Have learners brainstorm anything that comes to mind about the

picture. They could give a personal reaction to what they see – as

in the example below from Top Notch Level 1 (Saslow & Ascher,

2006). They could talk about how they feel about a particular person,

event or place shown in the picture. They could talk about which parts

of the picture are most or least important to them and why.

FIGURE 4

Write a personal reaction to the story

(Top Notch Level 1, p. 72)

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Tim Dalby 163

IV.FinalThoughts

Throughout the world, teachers of English language are thrust into

a classroom, course book in hand and told, ‘Teach that!’ It is neither

ideal, nor pedagogically sound, but it is the reality of an ever-expanding

and diverse industry. No matter how controlled the working environment

is, there is always room for adaptation at the activity level. As a teacher

becomes more proficient, the activities suggested above will become

second nature and lesson planning will become easier with more focus

on what the learners require. A teacher may even start to enjoy using

a course book for the challenge of adapting it to his or her learners!

In a less controlled environment, teachers will have the ability to

adapt course books on the unit level. At this point, course books become

less of a crutch and more of a tool. Teachers have more freedom and,

as they experiment and learn about what works and what does not

work, they will begin to gain an insight into syllabus and curriculum

design.

As a teacher’s experience grows, and as they move into more senior

teaching positions, educators will have both the confidence and experi-

ence to adapt course books at the syllabus level. It is worth remembering

though that the teachers who have to work with a syllabus are probably

busy adapting the materials that have been so carefully prepared. My

hope is that senior teachers in course management positions will see

this as a positive step in their staff and so reward and encourage them

for their efforts. After all, if our learners’ needs are being satisfied,

what more do we need to do?

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Paul Michel of the Caledonian School

in Prague for many of the adaptation ideas presented in this paper,

as well as the two anonymous reviewers for their suggestions for

improvements.

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164 Adapting Your Course Book: Becoming Skilled

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Tim DalbyJeonju University

[email protected]

Received: 2009.09.11

Peer reviewed: 2009.10.28.

Accepted: 2009.11.06.