I teach 2 of my 3 English Learners at my local public library and I make as much use of their ESL collection, and that of the affiliated libraries as I can. Occasionally, a book I come across is so useful, I add it to my personal library because I don't want to risk needing it and having it out of the library with another tutor or learner.
Perfect Phrases for ESL Conversation Skills is one of those books. I have borrowed several books of idioms, that have been helpful, to a degree. The whole area of idioms and phrases is imperative to English Learners, because Americans speak in idioms incessantly. One of my learners has an excellent vocabulary and can write well, but he can be confused when listening to Americans speak, because we don't speak in the formal way he was taught English in his native country.
This book, Perfect Phrases for ESL Conversation Skills by Diane Engelhardt, is not brand new, but I hadn't seen it in my library before. It was published last year. She has brilliantly blended idioms and commonly used phrases and classified them in such chapters as:
- Small Talk
- Past Experiences
- Likes, Dislikes and Interests
- Objects and Processes
- Problems and Advice
- Decisions and Goals
The above topics comprise Part 1 of the book. Part 2 consists of:
- Opinions
- Group Discussions
- Serious Subjects
And Part 3 is entitled
- Afterthoughts
The best aspect of this book is its contemporaneousness. Several other idiomatic resources I have consulted are a bit outdated. Language is not static, it evolves and we need to keep our students understanding how American English speakers actually talk. Perfect Phrases for ESL Conversation Skills by Diane Engelhardt has captured current speech in the kinds of phrases we use and has classified them in a user friendly way.
As I indicated above, this book is going to become part of my personal library.
No comments:
Post a Comment