I will approach this matter by presenting the strengths & weaknesses of the use of state books in my opinion and from my experience.
Strengths
- CEFR levels are covered in particular hours and that is 115 hours for A1, 230 for A2, 460 for B1, 720 for B2, 1040 for C1 and 1680 for C2 according to Common Programme for Foreign Languages Studies (ΕΠΣ-ΞΓ). Practically this means that each school year ONLY a part of each CEFR level is covered. As a result, CEFR levels may take two or three school years to be completed. For example A-, A, A+ for the third, fourth and fifth school grades correspondingly. To my mind, this works in favour of students as they have time to drill and absorb the new knowledge.
- Units explore GRAMMAR phenomena in 2, 3, or 4 lessons because they explore one grammar rule at a time.
- VOCABULARY thematically follows a vertical and horizontal pattern. This means, it follows the structure of topic related vocabulary according to the most common knowledge areas the other books from local and foreign publications follow but at the same time they are age and school subject related on a cognitive level i.e Geography, History, Maths, Language wise. In other words, methodologicaly it is crosscuricularly oriented.
- There is no rigid LESSON PLAN -only suggested one- as to how a teacher can work on a lesson and the little number of exercises leave time and space for using other resources which I believe enriches the possibilities of fruitful teaching and learning.
- Teachers can cover a course in whatever order they wish. This FLEXIBILTY of the course give them the opportunity to create their own time schedule and mini curriculum according to their students’ potential and needs.
Weaknesses
- Some exercises lack CONSISTENCY between their description and their practice or might be more complicated than they should be. This results in discouraging students from doing them.
- Reading, speaking and listening SKILLS definitely deserve and need more time and that is why I suggest the extension of time and classroom limits by using certain apps (see article about “my edu tools”) but this is really on students’ good will, not in their school material.
- Some TOPICS and related material such as listening tasks, songs or projects are outdated so this fact leaves students indifferent and less motivated to get involved.
Any other strengths and weaknesses YOU spotted?
State school books από Claire Dagoula's Blog διατίθεται με άδεια χρήσης Creative Commons -Αναφορά Δημιουργού – Μη Εμπορική Χρήση – Παρόμοια Διανομή4.0.