Customer Reviews

ESL Smart! Ready-to-Use Life Skills & Academic Activities for Grades K-8

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

In reviewing the book ESL Smart: Ready-to-Use Life Skills and Academic Activities for Grades K-8, I believe it is an invaluable resource for anyone working with English Language Learners, particularly newcomers and beginners. This book provides a wealth of ideas about how to facilitate the acculturation of ELLs into our American public schools. The book is a source of ideas and topics that can be adapted for a broad range of social and academic skills required of ELLs to be successful in our public schools. This book is precisely the type of reference book every ESL teacher should have on the shelf.

The book has 2 basic parts--the first is about safety, hygiene, etc., and I don't have a need for this in my ESL classroom. The second part covers just about every second-language cultural issue (money and measuring are the 2 I've referred to in the 2 weeks I've had the book, but there are TONS!) and I believe it will be extremely helpful. The book was recommended to me by a veteran ESL elementary school teacher who uses it often. It would be useful for ESL teachers at all levels, I think. Great info on verb tenses and, like I said, TONS more!

1. Illustrations-two thumbs down
2. Lesson plan/student worksheet conflicts
3. Best for use in the American ESL classroom

I bought this book to help me teach ESL in China. I found that the illustrations are more like frustrations because they are so terrible and confusing. I think my ESL students could have produced a better looking book.
Moreover, this book supplies lesson plans for the teacher and worksheets for the students... However, they are often combined... So if you were to xerox a worksheet for a class, it would have part of your lesson plan "instructions" listed on the top of the worksheet right under the student's name and date.
The topics I think are only ok if you are teaching students who are living in the states. They describe safety issues and hygiene typical in America, but "Greek" to any foreigner.

I found this book very useful. I teach a muli-level ESL class to adults and I use this book for all levels. This book is better than most out there.