Text books SUCK!

Text books are all well and good. They give you structure to lessons and direct the class through different language points. Yes. True. Nice.

They also waste materials without taking full advantage of a good listening or a meaty reading text. Never be afraid to re-write or supplement materials from text books. I do it all the time and it makes so much more of what the book has tried to do but either run out of space or time or both.

The best thing about text books though is the pictures. They're generally hilarious. Your students will know this and most people with a brain (which, believe it or not, will include some of your students) will recognise this fact. They simply try to ignore the pictures and grin and bear it.

Having noticed this, I have started taking the piss out of the pictures with the class. Making comments like 'is the woman in this picture just short or is her friend a giant?'

Students like the fact that you recognise the fact that the text book is, in some ways, total rubbish and it helps with the rapport. It can also puff out a bit of material that is a bit scant.

Try it out. It's fun and it gets them talking.