TOPICS INTO TASKS: ENGLISH COMMUNICATION FOR REAL

This book will help English come alive for secondary school students around the world who have been used to a grammar-driven syllabus and feel daunted by the challenge of speaking English spontaneously. Each unit contains a set of carefully graded tasks on different aspects of a popular topic, each with a ‘How do...’ title to set the scene. For each level, the task goals are engaging and clearly defined; they all have real-life relevance to young people in today’s society. The task cycles, which follow a spiral development, allow learners to communicate freely in a variety of different interactional settings, moving from exploratory, informal talk (to encourage fluency) to more formal situations (to develop both fluency and accuracy). These in turn lead to a focus on language form where learners can practise new words, phrases and grammar in the context of the task, thus extending their linguistic repertoire. This methodology is clearly described, with rationale, in an excellent introduction. Teachers who follow the recommendations here will find their learners becoming more motivated, gaining confidence in speaking, and feeling good about using their English in today’s world. The audios can be downloaded from the Express Publishing website Teacher’s Corner Free Resources Audio CDs (https://www.teachers-corner.co.uk/free resources).