Title: Solutions Elementary Students Book Publisher: Oxford University Press 1) COURSE PACKAGE AS A WHOLE

Author:Tim Falla and Paul A Davies Year: 2008

1. Type: General 2. Intended audience Age range: 10-11 school: primary schools location: worldwide 3. Extent: a. Components: consumable Students book with MultiROM (SB), consumable Workbook (WB), Audio CDs, Teachers Book (TB), Test Bank MultiROM, Flashcards, website b. Total estimated time: one school year 4. Design and layout: four-colour SB, two-colour WB, two-colour TB 5. Distrubution a. Material teacher learners audio [x] [ ] audio scripts [x] [ ] answer keys [x] [ ] guidance on use of the material [x] [ ] extra practice [x] [x] tests [x] [ ] b. Syllabus overview Wordlists 6. Route through the material: Specified User-determined [ ] [ ] [x] [ ]

[x] [ ]

7. Subdivision: Introduction + 10 units, each consisting of 7 subsections (A/B/C/D/E/F/G), after each unit there is a Get Ready for your Exam section and there is a Language Review + a Skills Round-Up every two units. At the back of the book, there is a Grammar Builder and a Grammar Reference section of each unit and then a Vocabulary Builder section of each unit as well. Each subsection has some standardized elements: Section A: introduces the vocabulary of the unit plus some listening exercises Section B: presents and practices one grammar point of the unit Section C: contains a reading text which provides cultural information about Englishspeaking countries

Section D: presents and practices another grammar point of the unit Section E: contains a reading text plus some comprehension activities Section F: presents functional dialogues and includes listening and speaking activities Section G: focuses on writing and each of these sections involves one different text type

2) IN DEPTH ANALYSIS

1. The learner is supposed to match the picture with the words individually. The type of content is meaning, as it focuses on vocabulary, in this case clothes.

2. The students are supposed to listen in order to check their answers from the first activity. This activity focuses on the pronunciation of words and students have to repeat them. The part that focuses on repeating is done as a whole class, but the part that has to do with checking the previous answers is done individually. This task focuses on meaning. 3. In this task, students are supposed to match the words with the items of clothing that were introduced in the previous activities, the focus is on meaning and students should work individually. 4. The learner is supposed to play a memory game in pairs; this task requires students to speak and also to perform a mental operation, as they have to remember certain aspects of the picture. It also requires students to focus on form, in the sense that they have to use the sample to make similar questions. 5. Students are supposed to work individually and make sentences describing the picture, using the vocabulary introduced in the previous activities. It focuses both on form and meaning as they have to use the vocabulary introduced but also thy have to follow the example of the structure of the sentences. 6. A listening activity in which students are supposed to choose the correct answer. This task is to be done individually and requires a mental operation and it focuses on meaning, as they have to answer whether they wear a uniform or not. 7. Another listening activity in which students have to complete the blanks using vocabulary previously learned, that is why the content is meaning. It is supposed to be done individually and it requires mental operations. 8. In this task students are supposed to work on a speaking activity, they have certain questions, and they are supposed to answer them. It doesnt specifically say whether they have to work in small groups, in pairs or as a whole class. The idea is that when they answer they are supposed to focus on meaning, the vocabulary theyve learnt and practiced in the previous tasks. 9. Students are supposed to write sentences similar to the ones which theyve worked with but in this case, they should describe a classmates clothes (without including his/her name) This activity is to be done individually and it involves a mental operation and it focuses both on form and meaning. 10. In this activity students should read the description to the rest of the class, so that they guess who that description is referring to. The whole class should participate in this activity. It focuses on meaning. Visual: In this case, the visual has a use. Without it, several tasks couldnt be done. It is not a decorative visual, it is the case of a purely functional illustration, which is necessary to match and clarify the meaning of the vocabulary items that appear in the box. In this book there are not decorative visuals. Some visuals have the aim of making comprehension easier and others are to stimulate a mental and linguistic response (students can make guesses of what the text is going to be able merely by looking at the visual) Most of the activities in this section are to talk about the picture (describe it, write sentences, etc) as it in this case. The following example is of a visual that can be used in order to encourage predictions as regards what

the text is going to be about. It depends on the teacher, but it can also be the case that she/he decides to make students talk with the picture and ask them more questions in which students may invent stories round the characters in the photos and even they may try to relate them. However, the speaking activity does not require students to do that, it is merely asking students to describe the picture.

C. WEB COMPANION: www.oup.com/elt/solutions In the case of this textbook, it provides a web companion and I know it is so, because it offers materials that may be useful during the course. There are three tabs users can select from:

Product information: It displays pages of the book as a sample and the information on the material included. Also, it gives you the option to purchase it. This section is the promotional one of the website. Teaching Resources and Learning Resources: As regards links to authentic materials, there are none in this site. Nevertheless, there is a lot of publisher-produced material. For students, there is the possibility of further practice for each unit. They can choose from: grammar, vocabulary, everyday English or some games to practice topics from the unit.

For teachers, there is the possibility to access the workbook answer key plus extra activities and some pdf files on teaching specifically. In terms of speed, the website loads quickly and there is no need to sign up in the case of students. However, teachers must sign up in order to be able to access all of the activities available

for them. The internet address ends up being quite long, but it is easy to access if you just Google it. The website is clearly labeled and every label has descriptions of what it contains. However, it is not very user friendly as there arent many colours, especially in the teacher section where it turns out quite difficult to realize whether something is clickable or not. Every link Ive checked was active on this site. Although the website works properly and offers lots of exercises and files, they arent really useful. They are extra practice using the same type of exercise of the ones that appear in the book. There are sections that help teachers work with videos, but the website does not include any video at all. Nor are there listening activities for students.