Customer Reviews

Teaching English as a Foreign or Second Language: A Teacher Self-development and Methodology Guide

5 star:		(3)
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This is a book on language teaching for language teachers. The book takes the view that language teachers must be responsible for making the ideas in the book real for their own particular contexts. The book starts with self-development as a theme and then moves on to teaching skills. Jerry Gebhard is careful to point out that he is not providing a bag of tricks as each application is backed-up with a sound theoretical perspective. The references in each section are excellent if the busy teacher has some time to read in more depth. Also, each chapter has activities that teachers can explore in order to apply the chapter information to their own particular context. What I especially like is that these activities encourage teachers to talk to other teachers and colleagues. This is where real self-development starts. This book, then, is a welcome user friendly addition to the field of English Language Teaching. If the user is a teacher, you have found the right book!

After reading Gebhard's book, I decided to see what others thought about the book. I was quite surprised to see one reviewer give the book only one star. But, then I read the review and realized that this person had not actually read the book. He simply decided that he did not like the book because he thought the author had friends write the reviews. His review without reading the book is like not liking a person because someone told you a few things about her.

I like Gebhard's book because he does not claim to know the best way to teach. Rather, he wants us, as ESL teachers or future teachers, to learn how to make our own decisions about what to do in the classroom. He gives lots of examples of things we can do as teachers. (I especially like his section chapters on teaching skills -- conversation, listening, reading, writing -- and his chapter on culture and teaching.)He also provides real problems that real teachers have, and gives multiple examples of activities and materials that experienced teachers use. But, he does not tell teachers how they should teach.
The book is full of ideas and easy to read. As an ESL teacher, I can highly recommend it.

This is an absoulute work of superb scholarship. Dr. Gebhard is obviously speaking from years of both research and real-life experience. In an area filled with dull and lifeless preachings by secluded scholars tucked away in ivory towers, this work stands out as a testament to thorough reaseach complimented by understandable and readable conclusions. A must read for anyone in this field!