Collins Cobuild English Course - First Lessons - Teacher's Edition [antikvár]

IntroductionThe Need for Real EnglishThere is a need for real English: English as it is actually used in the world today. Until now, teachers and materials writers have not had sufficient evidence to say which are the most central and typical patterns of English, and therefore important usages have been missed. Thanks to the findings of the COBU1LD project, we now know exactly which words, phrases and patterns learners are most likely to hear and need to use for international communication.First Lessons is based on the COBU1LD lexical syllabus, and therefore respects the natural patterns of the language. In this way, the materials offer the learner plenty of exposure to everyday English, and this helps students to leam to cope with the real English they will meet outside the classroom.Real Beginners and False BeginnersFalse beginners usually have quite a large passive vocabulary, and some (often faulty) knowledge about grammar rules, but they cannot use this to communicate with. They often feel they have failed to learn the first time, and must start again.Real beginners assume they know nothing, but they are normally very keen to work hard and hope to learn quickly. They usually have open minds about how best to leam, and few preconceptions about English, which is good.When in a class with false beginners, however, real beginners often find that the others seem to leam much faster. In fact the false beginners are simply recalling many of the new words and patterns from previous learning, whereas to the real beginner the initial learning load is enormous, since it is all new. Because of this, the real beginners tend to lose heart, and drop behind.What Does the Real Beginner Need?Real beginners need?to build up a large bank of useful words and phrases as fast as possible;?to practise recognising these words and phrases when they hear them spoken naturally or see them in written form;?to gain the confidence to put to use some of the words and phrases they leam;?to feel a sense of achievement and progress;?to recognise that people leam best by doing; and with a language this means trying to communicate even with very little English, and trying to make sense of what they hear or read;?to have as much exposure as possible to spoken and written English. This exposure will help them learn faster, acquire a wider vocabulary, better pronunciation, and build up a balanced picture of the grammar of the language;?to realise that learning a language is hard work, and that the more they listen and read and practise their English, the quicker they will improve.The Rationale behind First LessonsFirst Lessons recognises what real beginners need and offers a balanced introduction to English, that takes account of the factors below.Most real beginners do actually know some words of English already. Words like 'football', and place names like 'America' are often the same or similar in their own language. Early lessons help the teacher to capitalise on what the learner knows already or can leam easily. Later lessons build on this knowledge, and with a single topic focus in each lesson, more useful words and patterns are introduced as they are needed.Carefully graded communication tasks give students a reason for talking and a purpose for communicating. Tasks have been designed to help students put into use the few words of English they do know. Completing each small task in English gives students a sense of achievement and growing confidence. They leam by doing. Students are using English for a real purpose, and gain a sense of progress as the tasks become more varied.