Hansen Susan 2/6/06 SNHU-EFL 525 Kathy McCarthy
Annotated Bibliography
1. Chamot, A., Hartmann, P., & Huizenga, J. (2004). Shining star. White Plains, NY: Pearson Education, Inc.
Shining Star textbook series is a high school level ESOL series thats main focus is literature but it is demonstrated in a cross-curricular method. These books can be used for a multilevel classroom as the teaching suggestions offer beginning level and advanced teaching suggestions; there are also different levels to series. Each unit of the book is broken down into two parts. Each reading passage is in a particular content area and linked to literature. They follow the sequence of objectives, prereading strategies, what the content area is, review and practice, literature and writing connections, and a check your knowledge section. At the end of the two parts there are different workshops where the students put everything together in a project of some form. There are workbooks, CD Roms, Audio CDs, and videos that correspond to the textbook. In the back of the textbook is a glossary or literature and grammar terms and an index. The units are designed to include specific vocabulary, grammar, writing styles, phonics, and spelling, which are outlined in the teachers manual. Examples of each focus are taken directly from the text and taught through context, not as a separate item. I think that the Shining Star series has a lot of potential for teaching students English through context. This text could be useful but I am not sure what my teaching situation will be, so I dont know whether I would use it or not. The type of class it would work for would be a strictly ESL class that are there to learn English, not as a supplement to assist students with work from other subject areas, it would not work. The book has a lot of reading/writing strategies, uses vocabulary in context rather than just a definition, and the grammar is taken from the initial reading text so that it relates more. The grammar exercises in the book were drills but I did not have access to the workbook so I do not know if it is the same in there. They need more authentic practice than what the book offers. I do find that the units are kind of random, they do learn some interesting information, but one unit they are learning about the Boston Tea Party, and the next they are in Belgium, but it is a lot better than it being a straight U.S. history book. I would consider this book to use if I had a classroom situation that work with this type of curriculum format. 2. Aguilar Lawlor, A., & Mariscal, J. (2006). Social Studies. White Plains, NY: Pearson Education, Inc.
Social Studies is designed for a student that possibly has never taken a social studies class before and teaches them the basic terms of social studies and what to expect to
learn about in a social studies course. It is a beginning level book for either middle school or high school. It covers all the different studies e.g., economics, geography, history, etc. and gives an overview of what is learned in these types of courses, with some examples. The textbook uses a lot of artwork, maps, graphs, and charts besides text to demonstrate the message it hopes the student will learn. The book covers major time periods in U.S. and world history chronologically beginning in the Stone Age up to 2005 to help the student get familiar with social studies. The text begins with an introduction unit to teach the students general social studies vocabulary and how to use the book. Then each unit is broken down into two lessons and begins with vocabulary through context and pictures, then pre-reading strategies, readings, and review exercises. At end of the unit there is a review and an essay to write. The book ends with a glossary of social studies terms and an index. Given my teaching situation, I do not think that I will be able to use a book like this. I am not certified to teach Social Studies and probably wont be working in a magnet program, so I probably wont get the chance to use this book. I think this book would be excellent to use for students before they get into their social studies classes. It not only teaches them some history, but it also teaches them what social studies is, which some students may not know. It doesnt go real in depth about each historical era, but it does provide a good overview of major events in our worlds history. I think the use of pictures is very helpful and the captions are very descriptive with bold words as vocabulary. I think a weakness would be that there is so much information a students will never remember it all. Also, it is a typical one-sided U.S. history book and does not address the perspective of others through its writing. I think if the book talked about a students countrys history, s/he could be offended. 3. Sion, C. (1985). Recipes for Tired Teachers. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc.
Recipes for Tired Teachers was created for teachers who have run out of ideas or are stuck in a rut and are looking for something new to spice up their lesson plans. The lessons are grouped into the following units: group activities, creative writing, reading and writing, listening, role-play, etc. The table of contents gives you a short description of each lesson so you can scan through the lessons quickly and see the level, time length, and objectives without having to page through each lesson. Each lesson plan was submitted by experienced ESL teachers and they tell you what level the lesson was designed for, the time length, language functions, materials needed, preparations, and the in-class activity. Some of the lessons include an example handout that one might need. The lessons are broken down into steps and some of the creators chose to include an authors note for additional suggestions and comments. I think that this book has a lot of neat ideas that can be modified to fit my classroom. The book appears to be similar to the book we used in class, New Ways in Reading, for our own mini lessons. Since it was written twenty years ago, I think that there are some things that may need to be updated. I think the content of the activities is great, but it really does not give an introduction to the lesson or any suggestions for
evaluation or extension. It more of less, tells you want to do for the actual activity. The use of reading and writing strategies was kind of a mix. Some activities had them while others did not. I really think that these activities are useful, they just need to be updated a little bit. I do like the table of contents and how it tells you more than just the name of the lesson, it saves a lot of time not having to page through the book. 4. Hecht. & E., Ryan, G. (1979). Survival pronunciation: Vowel contrasts. Hayward, CA: Family Tutorial Program, Inc.
Survival Pronunciation: Vowel Contrasts was created to help adult learners improve their pronunciation of vowels in American English. The series consists of a teachers manual, a student workbook, and a cassette tape of dialogues. It was created for advanced adult learners but some of the activities can be adapted for beginning learners as well. Each chapter is created with a vocabulary set like, the doctors office, for example. All of the exercises in that chapter pertain to this scenario. Each chapter begins with a pretest and ends with a posttest to gage what they know in the beginning and how they improved in the outcome. They learn through listening to dialogues and monologues, repetition, learning spelling, minimal pairs, etc. It also includes games and listening comprehension quizzes. Each chapter has a particular vowel focus or two that they are studying throughout the chapter through these exercises. The goal of this text is to improve both the listening and the speaking of the language learner. In the index there are examples of similar sounds in five other languages that might help the students if they speak one of those languages. I do not have a lot of experience working with pronunciation exercises. When I taught Spanish the students would repeat after me and I would correct them, but we did not have drills and a whole book on pronunciation like this one. I think a pronunciation book would be useful to use from time to time, but I dont think it would be the main focus of my curriculum. I think it can be important to work with minimal pairs though from time to time because often mispronunciation of a vowel can change the meaning of what one meant to say and what they said drastically. I think this book does have some valuable activities in it. There are a lot of rote practices but sometimes that is just the way it has to be with pronunciation. They do use a lot of sentence examples instead of just one word though and I believe that is helpful. Definitely the style of the book needs to be redone. The book was written by typewriter in 1979 and even some of the phonetic symbols are hand written. Some of terms are a little out of date too. I do think this book has many valuable exercises and I would consider using a more modern version of this book in my classroom. 5. Cary, S. (2000). Working with second language learners: Answers to teachers top ten questions. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Working with Second Language Learners was created for educators that are new to the ESL teaching field in the United States public school system. The author surveyed across the country and answers ten How do I questions about teaching ESL. The book is organized into ten chapters and each one is separate so you do not
have to read the whole book, just the chapters that are of interest to you. Each chapter includes four parts: the question, a readers guide, a classroom story, and reflections. The readers guide pinpoints the central issue and the background information of the story. The story is a real teaching situation that uses researchbased practices. Then the reflection provides insight about the story, teaching suggestions, why the people in the story acted the way they did, etc. At the end of the book is a reference section that offers books and website resources that might be of use to a teacher. When I looked at the questions in this book, I found that they are many of the questions that I often wonder about as a new teacher to the ESL field. Many of the questions we have been addressing in our courses here at SNHU, but there are others that I am unsure about, for example, How do I teach grade-level content to English beginners? I think I would definitely be interested to check out this book and read some of the chapters when I have more time, but I do not think I would purchase it for my own resource library. I also think that I could find the same informa...