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The texts vary both in form and in content. There are topical and descriptive texts,
poems,
short dialogues, songs. The texts cover a wide range of topics: School,
Family, Animal World, Holidays, Seasons, Shopping, Travelling, Appearance, etc.
The texts are taken from foreign language textbooks, and there is little reference to
Armenian culture. The names of the characters (Jane, Mike, Pete, Bob) are foreign
which again makes children feel the difference of their native environment from
the English one, thus creating distance between them and English.exercises are
aimed to develop childrens reading, speaking and writing skills.
The activities
facilitate childrens use of grammar rules by creating situations in which these rules
are needed. For example, children should make up dialogues on their own or write
short compositions answering the given questions. However, grammar rules or
grammatical patterns are not presented in the textbook in any way. The textbook,
therefore, meets the language needs but doesnt take into consideration the learners
needs. Besides the grammar references, vocabulary lists and expression glossaries
are not included in the units either.new vocabulary is presented with sample
sentences and pictures. There are no flashcards to make vocabulary presentation
more interesting and effective.weakness of the textbook is that it has few revision
units. Children have an opportunity for formal review after every 5 lessons, and the
new vocabulary words are not repeated in subsequent
lessons to reinforce their
meaning and use.word-stock is quite large and a little complicated for children who
have been studying English only for a year. The concepts presented in the texts
may be unfamiliar to children even in their native tongue. For example, a ten-year-
old child may not know (and doesnt have to know yet) what is volleyball,
sportsground, stomachache,
monument, or it may be difficult for a child to
understand and memorize the difference between snub, straight, large noses.unit
begins with a short list of new words. For example, exercise 8 of Unit 4 (Family)
presents five words together with sample sentences. The plural form of the words
and their transcription is given. There is, however, no
translation of the words in
mother tongue. A more complete list of words is given at the end of the Unit. The
latter doesnt give the translation or the usage patterns of the words. The word- list
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should not be presented at the end of the Unit. Besides, it should be as clear as
possible to make vocabulary learning an easy task for the children. Another
shortcoming of the unit is that there are no games and special activities for the
assimilation of the new vocabulary.are different recognition
and drill exercises
such as True or false, Complete the sentences according to the example, Make up
sentences, dialogues according to the example, etc. This will help children to retain
the vocabulary learnt. However, drill exercises are of little help when not
combined with creative exercises and activities (role play, crossword puzzles, etc.)
It is due to creative exercises that children develop their speaking and writing
skills, use the vocabulary they learn to communicate and express their own ideas or
to solve problems. So it would be good to add this kind of exercises to each unit.
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