Choosing A Good Course Book for Beginning English Learners

Everybody who studies English for the first time will find that this international language is very difficult. Beginners do not have enough vocabularies and grammatical understanding to communicate their ideas in English.

Many English course institutions publish their own course books. These books should not become a burden for the students. They should contain colorful illustrations and photos to attract the interest of the students to study English. They should also provide various games and activities to make the English lesson more interactive. Sometimes, multimedia can be introduced into the classroom to support the teaching and learning activity.

Fortunately, there are books that have been provided by English Teaching Experts to help beginning English learners. I do not want to recommend any books here. I only want to explain what it should contain.

1.       A good book for beginners must explain vocabularies with more pictures or illustrations. It does not have to be bilingual but it has to be easy to learn. For instance, the word teacher has to be accompanied with a picture or illustration depicting someone standing in front of a classroom teaching a subject matter to students. The word bicycle also has to be accompanied with a picture or illustration depicting a boy riding his bicycle.

2.       A good student book for beginners must contain samples of English conversation for various situations.  Beginning English learners also need to practice listening and speaking in English. So, the course book has to be equipped with CD or cassettes. Teachers must play the CD or read the conversation a loud in front of the classroom. After that, students can repeat the conversation sentence by sentence. When they have finished reading the conversation, they can practice it in front of the classroom with their classmates.

3.       English grammar is introduced in the conversation. Teacher will highlight several sentences in the conversation that contain certain grammar to be dealt with in detail. To deepen more understanding of the grammar, more exercises can be given to students.

4. Guided exercises and various activities need to be introduced to students to make the subject more interesting. Activities can be done both inside and outside the classroom. by Charles Roring

Bahasa Indonesia version: Memilih Buku Kursus Bahasa Inggris yang Baik