This page describes the pedagogic philosophy of The English Course.
The English
Course is an integrated Lower Intermediate English language
course, which comprises a Textbook, DVD and self-access web site. This first
edition is principally intended for young adult Japanese students at college
or university
level. The aim of the course is to form a balance between activities associated
with the communicative approach; such as, listening, role-playing and information
gap tasks, with the use of cutting-edge technology, for both classroom use
and student self-access study. Each unit in the course includes: at least
five video conversation clips; at least four guided and semi-guided role-play
production tasks; and a variety of associated visual, audio and oral tasks.
The video material features actual Japanese EFL students interracting with
native and a variety of nationalities of non-native speakers of English in
conversational situations that are realistic and plausible in terms of the
target learners' likely English-speaking opportunities in their present or
future lives.
Each unit in the textbook is designed to teach an important language function
and is divided into two sections, each concentrating on a different, but
related language function. Each section of the unit comprises two realistic
video conversations, associated listening tasks and role-playing activities.
The language which is presented is intended to be basic, commonplace, contemporary,
age-appropriate, internationally understood and interesting to students.
The course is designed to make learning English enjoyable and interesting,
and takes into account the fact that individual students have both different
learning styles, and different strengths and weaknesses. By offering self-access
to the DVD and a wide variety of practice exercises and quizzes on the web
site, The English
Course allows students to study at their own pace and to
concentrate on the areas that they feel that they need to improve most. The
authors recognise that most students have a particular need to improve their
English oral production skills and aural receptive ability. Consequently,
the aim has been to give students as much opportunity as possible to listen
to and speak in English.
The course can be taught in any classroom with DVD capability, or in a multi-media
room. Ideally, students could be taken into the multi-media room every few
weeks to allow them to review the work covered at their own pace and with
teacher support. However, the DVD is linked to the website, thereby allowing
students to work on both the DVD or the web site activities, in either the
classroom or their own homes.