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A Year In the Life of an ESL (English Second Language) Student: Idioms and Vocabulary You Can't Live Without

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Michael Lewis caused quite a stir in the world of ESL when he published his "The Lexical Approach" in 1993. Lewis's point was basically thus: ESL students are force feed too much English grammar. The idea that grammar can be mastered and then students fill in the blanks with vocabulary is naïve, according to Lewis, and makes it difficult for students to understand natural English phrases such as "Let's have a coffee," because students have only studied "Shall we drink coffee?" Having taught English to Japanese students, who are taught grammar and only grammar in high school, I found this to be a huge obstacle. Lewis's book caused a huge sensation on the ESL teaching community, and many teachers thought they didn't have to teach grammar anymore, it was fine just to teach idiom after idiom. Lewis followed up a few years later with a book on how to apply the lexical approach, saying that it is idioms, expressions and grammar are not so far removed from grammar. In other words, idioms and expressions should be taught as a part of grammar.

Since Lewis shook up the ESL world, there have been attempts to bring out commercial textbooks that implement the Lexical Approach. However, most of them are not so different than previous textbooks, with traditional grammar the focus of the lesson, and idioms kind of tacked on as an afterthought. "A Year in the Life of an ESL Student" does a good job of introducing idioms as an integral part of communication, not just as an added bonus. Colorful idioms such as "Drink like a fish" or "toss one's cookies", as well as expressions that are not idioms, but present difficulties to ESL students, such as "mope around" are presented in natural conversations, and than reinforced through various exercises, such as crossword puzzles, word find exercises, and so on. Many ESL students have the goal of being able to watch Hollywood movies with no subtitles. Just studying grammar and straight vocabulary will never allow this to happen. However, this book will equip students with hundreds of natural and useful expressions that will help them understand and by able to speak more natural English.

The book focuses on a Swiss student, Andre, as he studies for a year at a private language school in North America. All of the conversations in the book involve Andre and his friends at the language school. Students will like this because it makes the stories easy to follow and understand. Teachers will like this book because there are lots of good exercises in each of the 16 chapters, making it easy to teach good lessons with no or very little preparation. Then there is the theme of this book, studying language abroad for a year. This should be the goal of many of your students, and if it is not, studying with this text will hopefully get them interested in the possibility. For classes with more advanced students, this can be a good springboard for a discussion on the topic.

I purchased this book based on the product information and all the good reviews, so I was surprised to find it disappointing in a couple ways. But first the positive.

The author chose some excellent real-life situations for framing the idioms and language. He also includes plenty of repetition and reinforcement through follow up worksheets based on the introductory dialogue for each unit. This is sometimes a weakness in other idiom presentations.

The disappointment lies in the over abundance of idioms in each dialogue and the sense that too many of them are consequently forced into non-natural usages. Those of us who teach English have all experienced the over zealous language learner who wants to sound natural and tries to do so by throwing idioms into every other sentence. That is how some dialogues in this book sound. By doing so, it feeds the non-native speaker's belief that idioms are used constantly in speech rather than aiding them in sounding more like a native speaker by using them only in true context and sparingly. Take the first dialogue for example; there are 25 idioms / slang words used in a 2-minute dialogue. Unless I'm just a really boring person or I've been working too long with low level speakers, my natural conversations are not filled with half that many unusual expressions. And a couple examples of 'forced usage'. Chapter 3 in a student to student discussion about a teacher: "Actually, the course materials are pretty good, but the teacher certainly isn't the cream of the crop. I'm sure his days are numbered." Chaper 6 in a conversation at a shopping mall: "What about this pair of pants? They're right up your alley, don't you think?" (I don't remember ever talking about clothing with this idiom??)

All in all, there's some great language in the book for the basis of creating a lesson, and I would still recommend buying it. But I will be taking the dialogues and re-writing each one to eliminate at least half the idioms / slang words. Not only is the over usage a little annoying, it's also poor pedagogy to introduce so many pieces of social language that are so context-dependent.

Research in second language vocabulary acquisition demonstrates that learning idioms is one of the most important aspects of acquiring a second language. ESL students who do not understand idioms will not be able to understand a large portion of the English language. Consider that an ESL student can understand the grammar of the phrase "kick the bucket" without having any clue as to its actual meaning. Furthermore, ESL students who do not understand idioms will have a much harder time fitting into the culture of native English speakers. This struggle can be severely detrimental to a learner's intrinsic motivation, which is one of the most important factors influencing language learning success. A Year in the Life of an ESL Student: Idioms and Vocabulary You Can't Live Without is an outstanding resource that addresses this important issue of idioms by teaching ESL students an expansive number of them in an engaging and enjoyable manner.

As to the expansiveness of the text, it provides idioms that address a wide variety of situations from attending a TOEFL class to suntanning on the beach. The following examples give a glimpse of the range of idiomatic expressions that students will learn: "better late than never," "cover for someone (to)," "hangover," and "work one's butt off (to)." The presentation of each idiom is clear with each of them first appearing in bold letters in a stimulating dialogue. This feature of the book is beneficial since research has shown that lexical items are much better remembered when learned in authentic contexts. As the author states, "Context is the key to making the daunting task of understanding and using idiomatic English not only possible, but enjoyable too." The dialogues are followed by pages where each idiom is placed in glossary format. After that, there are a significant number of exercises for students to learn the idioms interactively.

Beyond meeting a need in the ESL community, the other aspect of this text that makes it so successful is its engaging style. Many language learning materials present grammatical and cultural information with pictures and other helpful graphics; however, when it comes to vocabulary and idioms these items are often still presented in lists. On the other hand, A Year in the Life places idioms in interesting dialogues that often contain humor and are related to the actual experiences that an ESL student may have. In addition to the dialogues, learners also have the opportunity to learn idioms by playing games. Two common exercises found throughout the book are crosswords and word searches. The realistic dialogues and the exercises make learning the idioms interesting and fun.

Considering the need for a text of this kind in the ESL community and its engaging style, I would recommend it without reservation to both ESL teachers and students. A Year in the Life will lead learners into a much more native-like competence.

A Year In The Life Of An ESL Student: Idioms And Vocabulary You Can't Live Without is an excellent resource for English as a Second Language classrooms or self-study for students learning English. Following Andre, a student from Switzerland spending a year completing his English studies at a private language school, the lessons cover a wide variety of language situations directly relevant to adult ESL students, from disembarking at the airport to getting around the city to hanging out with classmates. A Year In The Life Of An ESL Student is particularly valuable for its definitions of common idioms - English phrases with a specific meaning that is not immediately identifiable to those unfamiliar with the language's nuances, such as "blow someone away" (astonish someone), "into something" (enjoy something), "give someone a ring" (phone someone), and much more. Simple exercises for idiom recognition and daily use and a host of online resources round out this consumable textbook.

I am an English teacher in Japan and I was looking for a book that had a lot of useful, everyday English for my students that covered material not usually taught in the language schools. After searching many book stores I still had no book to use for my students. I really thought I was going to have to write my own book. Then, one of my students came to me with this book. I was amazed that she was the one who came across such a good book. I felt like one of my friends won the lottery. After flipping through a few pages I knew I had to order it. I ordered it that night and use it almost exclusively for our lessons. The students love the content. The exercises are fun, simple, yet effective in helping students retain the new material. The layout is perfect, particularly if you need to make a copy from the copy machine when you are in a pinch for material needed in an unexpected class. The choice of content in this book is excellent. My lessons with this book now give the students a lot more useful English phrases to speak like a native English speaker, and understand a lot of idioms Americans use.

Never before in my 20 years of E.S.L. teaching have I seen a better idioms textbook. A Year in the Life is simple to use, is extremely comprehensive, and helps meet a need for relevant, structured, higher level material dealing with spoken English. There are a variety of exercises and activities that can be utilized/skipped according to needs and tastes, and the extensive definitions and examples make it possible for students to learn correct usage at home. All in all, a great find for students and teachers alike. Bravo Mr. Francis!

Among the many difficulties faced by English as a Second Language learners is our seemingly random used of words and phrases to express ideas. Our idioms are opaque (chicken out, spare tire), slang changes before the dictionary can catch up (wimp, freak out), and many words are rarely used, except in a specific circumstance (bawling, hilarious).
What is the poor ESL learner to do?
Edward J. Francis has come to the rescue with A Year in the Life of an ESL Student - Idioms and Vocabulary You Can't Live Without. (Trafford)
Following Andre, a student from Switzerland, through 16 chapters of activities ranging from suntanning on the beach to catching a movie, the 300-page text is filled with dialogues, definitions, crosswords and cloze activities, not to mention comprehension and discussion questions. Everything is well laid out and easy to read. There are web sites listed for each chapter, answer keys and an extensive glossary with definitions and page references. All that is missing is a CD recording of the conversations.
This book would make an ideal extension resource for the Advanced ESL class.

Haven't you ever wondered why it's so difficult to understand a conversation between native speakers or a movie in its original language version? Don't you think it has something to do with the way you were taught the language?
I'm French. I've been teaching English to high school students for over 20 years now, and yet it's the first time I've come across a textbook which emphasises on every day language in such an efficient and enjoyable way!
Edward J. Francis manages to browse a great number of idiomatic expressions through sixteen lively dialogues related to true life situations. Various exercises help us memorize the idioms which we can then use to express our own experiences and feelings. At the end of the book you can find a very useful glossary including all the idioms and vocabulary covered in the dialogues, as well as a list of websites related to the topics discussed in each of the chapters. Discover about the history of fireworks, visit America's national parks or book a room in a bed and breakfast inn for the weekend! This book urges you to travel!

I highly recommend "A Year in the Life of an ESL Student" to advanced high school students or any adult who intends to travel to an English speaking country, as well as to people who, like me, want to brush up on their conversational English!
So just kick back and have a great time reading Edward J. Francis' book! It's "two thumbs up!"

English is a difficult language to master. Idioms, figurative expressions, slang,
and vocabulary can turn the most basic conversation or reading passage into a complex and bewildering dialogue for ESL students. In my eight years of teaching, I have watched dozens of students struggle to learn conversational English so that they would fit in and assimilate to their new surroundings.

Challenges arise when students whose English skills are emerging engage in conversation with native English speakers. Idioms and vocabulary usage can often present problems when the ESL student does not understand the intended message of the native speaker. Many ESL students are reluctant to ask for clarification because they do not want to appear to be uneducated or disrupt the flow of conversation. The end result, however, is that the ESL student leaves the conversation confused and frustrated.

While there are several respected books geared toward younger ESL students, there are very few resources available that are specifically designed for advanced ESL students. A Year in the Life of an ESL Student takes a more mature and engaging approach in order to best meet the needs of the advanced ESL student.

The educational content is presented in a story format that students will find appealing. Andre, the main character, is a Swiss student who is studying in a private school in North America. Each chapter follows one of Andre's adventures during his year of study. The author has carefully created sixteen chapters that reflect the interests of advanced ESL students, such as shopping at a mall, working out at a fitness club, catching a movie, or snowboarding, and follow a logical structure designed to provide the ESL student with ample opportunity to learn and practice what they have learned.

A Year in the Life of an ESL Student is a wonderful resource for a high school student or an adult who would like to learn conversational English. The chapters are high interest and easy to follow, whether the student is working with a teacher or is working by themselves. I would highly recommend this book to both ESL teachers and students.

This book is an excellent tool to learn how to speak English like an American.The chapters and the exercises are second to none. I enjoy studying this book, because it uses a different method to teach English as a second language.I made a great purchase.

Benny Fernandez