A guide to Teaching English

1.17 Using a course book 
You should look at any course book you are about to use with a critical eye. Check 
over each unit to see whether it suits your students’ goals. If so, you can go ahead with 
it. If not, you might want to choose a different book or stick with it and find other 
material that covers the areas that are lacking. This can apply to whole units or parts of 
them. There might be parts of the book that are too difficult or too easy for your 
students; you might consider leaving those bits out or supplementing them. You might 
also want to do things in a different order to how it appears in the course book. The 
key is to think about your students. Remember you’re teaching students not teaching a 
course book. It’s important to look at these aspects before you start using the book. It’s 
more difficult to change a book when you’ve started using it. 
1.18 Choosing a course book 
If you are asked to choose a course book, here are some guidelines to help you 
through. It is a list of questions; I suggest you go through the course book, answering 
each of the questions. 
Topics: do you think the topics will interest your students? Will students have 
something to say about the subjects? 
Aims of students: will the book cater to your students’ needs? First think about 
your students’ reasons for learning; their aims might be to learn general English. 
On the other hand, you might have a class who are studying because they have a 
specific purpose in mind, e.g. participating in meetings in English. If so, check 
whether the book will provide enough practice in such work. 
Completeness: does the book provide enough explanation and practice of 
language and skills? Is there enough practice of vocabulary, grammar, and 
pronunciation? Is there enough skills work? Or will you need to supplement? 
Remember, supplementing will take time. 
Skills: how does the book deal with the four skills? Are they all dealt with 
adequately? Does this correspond to the needs of your learners? 
Approach: think about the approach to the activities and language – will it suit 
your students and your own teaching style? 
Syllabus: is the book pitched at the right level (e.g. not all intermediate books are 
at the same level); check this carefully by looking at how language work is 
presented. Does the book follow on from the students’ previous course book? 
Additional materials: what extras accompany the course book? Is there a 
teacher’s book, a workbook, a cassette or CD? What are these like? Can you get 
hold of them easily? If not, can the book be used without them? 
Availability: how easily can you get hold of multiple copies of a book? Even if it’s 
the best course book on earth, it won’t help you if it can’t be delivered on time. 
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Copyright © Lucy Pollard 2008 All Rights Reserved
This e-book may not be reproduced in part or in full without the express written permission of the author.

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Flickability: this refers to the attractiveness of the book; flick through the book and 
note whether it looks appealing or dry and boring. Obviously, not the most 
important of the criteria! 
Finally, you have to like the book.