UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DO TRIÂNGULO MINEIRO

CURSO DE LICENCIATURA EM LETRAS

HABILITAÇÃO PORTUGUÊS/INGLÊS

COURSE BOOK EVALUATION

Trabalho acadêmico apresentado por THAÍS BERNARDES COSTA como requisito parcial de avaliação da disciplina Práticas de Ensino de Língua Inglesa IV ministrada pela professora Valeska Soares Souza.

UBERABA – MG

Novembro de 2010

The course book “Touchstone 1” (Cambridge, 2006) has many different didactics and way of showing contents. This book is targeted at students who are in the initial acquisition of a foreign language, in this case English. As it is basic, it must insert the language in the routine of the learner and must show the application of content in daily life, even if the learner is in a country which the mother tongue is not English.

The “Touchstone 1” brings all the content, statements and examples in English Language, without translation. To exemplify the analysis, I will give examples from the first unit of this book, where we have "presentations", "verb to be", etc.

The textbook is used in a language course of Uberaba. In the unit 1, “All about you”, the content is showed in a modern way and completely contextualized; there are pictures of people applying the language. We can see that this book is colorful, has many pictures and illustrations, so it is so attractive for the learner.

At the beginning, there is a "listening", which allows the student to listen to the pronunciation of words from the text and practice the reading of the dialogue (attachment 1). Then, exercises are given with the similar use of the first example, teaching the students to present theirselves, saying their names and of other people, age, etc. It also brings the alphabet (attachment 2), showing the sounds of each letter; it makes the assimilation easier.

The book demonstrates all the content in exercises, texts, sounds and then brings the grammar (attachment 3). This method is considered the most efficient in the acquisition of any language, because instigates the student to know the situations of use, differentiating them, to learn the concepts after. This unit comprehends in a satisfactory way all the content. So, the book uses the four skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing.

The book helps the teacher because it is well organized, the parts are clearly divided, the titles give an overview of the unit and they are within the context of the lesson, it also has an index. Besides, it contains a teacher’s book which has all the question’s answers, vocabulary additional, more grammar explanation and suggestions for improve a class.

One exercise takes from “Touchstone 1” we can see, in the page 9, the author gives a board with “everyday expressions”, dividing it into “More formal” and “Less formal” (attachment 4); than we have the exercise:

A. Complete these conversations with expressions from the box above. Compare with a partner.

1. The friends are in a Café.

Kathy: Hi, sorry I’m late.

______.

Mike: Pretty good. How are you?

Kathy: ______.

LATER…

Kathy: Bye. See you.

Mike: ______.

2. The friends are at school.

Jeff: Good Morning, Mrs. Swan.

______.

Mrs. Swan: ______. How are you?

Jeff: I’m fine, ______.

LATER…

Jeff: Good-bye, Mrs. Swan.

Mrs. Swan: ______.

It is clear for us that the intention is to show for the leaner the different communicative situations and the appropriate language for everyone. The exercise is not mechanic; it is creative and interesting, because it is related to real situations, which the students could be inserted.

Additionally, this course book has a supplement called “workbook”, in other words, is a book with exercises for home that complement each activity from the other one. There are a variety of activities using different types of assessment, like the end of each unit, there is a kind of K-W-L chat (attachment 5). It is a chart where the students write at the beginning and end of a unit “what I know” (K), “what I want know” (W) and “what I’ve learned” (L). According to Tannenbaum (2005), “This helps to keep students focused and interested during the unit and gives them a sense of accomplishment when they fill in the L column following the unit and realize that they have learned something.”

It also has an CD with the listening of each unit, a teacher’s CD with others listening, an extra material with suggestions for tests and a website for the learner improve his/her knowledge.

Some people can think that the English teaching is not so important at school, because it is far from the reality of many students. In some cases, people say that the learner will not use English in his/her life. But, according to PCN’s of Foreign Language, the English can help students in the development of reading in their mother tongue. It can really happen if the teaching was like we could see in the textbook “Touchstone 1”, contextualized and attractive for students. So, this course book is adequate for any English student to build his/her learning process.


REFERENCES

McCARTHY, M.; McCARTEN, J.; SANDIFORD, H. Touchstone 1. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005.

TANNENBAUM, Jo-Ellen. Practical ideas on alternative assessment for ESL students. ERIC Digest, 2005. Module 10 Reading A. p 78-81.

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