ESL-Library

Each Follow Friday (#FF on Twitter) we will pull a buried blog post from the dusty archives of the web. We hope you agree that there is a lot to learn from these “oldie but goodie” posts on education.

Title: If your Students Hate Classes Based on the Textbook
Writer: Alex Case
Date Posted: November 12, 2009
Subject: Textbooks
Twitter ID: Known as “Alex I don’t do Twitter Case” but he still deserves an #FF.
Blog: TEFLTastic

Why we pulled it from the archives? To use or not use textbooks is a hot subject on the TEFL block these days. It’s no surprise that this blogger veteran had something clever to say about the issue way back when. 

Summary: Alex Case suggests 6 “possibilities” why students may not enjoy lessons based on textbooks, including the most important: “You’re using the textbook the wrong way.” Alex defends his use of textbooks as a base for lessons and shares ideas for mixing things up.

Do you teach textbooks as they were “designed”? Do you have any tricks for using textbooks more efficiently in the classroom? Share your comment here or on Alex’s blog.

Previous #FF Archive Features

Eva’s Post on The Simplest Tool
NYT’s Post on Telling the Tale
Shelly Terrell’s Post on Cooperation vs. Competition
Tom Whitby’s Post on Senioritus
Seth Dickens’ post on Skype
Marisa’s post on the Power of Play
Aniya’s post on the ABC’s of Online Teaching
Talk to the Cloud’s post on Mass Market Magazines
Nik Peachey’s Seven Things you Probably Don’t know about Me.
Lindsay Clandfield’s Six Great Ideas that will Never Happen
Silvia Tolisano’s post on Digital Storytelling
Karenne Sylvester’s post on Creative Commons
Jamie Keddie’s post on Search
Kate Klingensmith’s post on PLN’s

If you know of a blog post that deserves to be pulled from the archives, please share a link. (Pre 2010)

Tara Benwell

Tara Benwell is a freelance writer and editor who specializes in materials and articles for the ELT industry. She is the media director and head writer for ESL-Library. Her debut novel, The Proper Order of Things is available on Amazon and in the iBookstore.   Website: http://www.tarabenwell.com   Twitter: @tarabenwell