The Practice of English Language Teaching, 3rd Edition (Longman Handbooks for Language Teachers)

I think this book is a very good book. It was required for my LING 316 class and I think it is a very good book for teaching methodology and the principles of teaching English such as explaining how to do various activities within the classroom without making some students feel left out. I found the text a little difficult to read as it is designed for graduate students, but I seemed to do well reading it aside from that fact.

For both soon-to-be and established teachers, Harmer's book is a good introduction to the research behind English language learning and thus the more effective ways of teaching. It is short on specific teaching ideas, but that isn't its point. He points out ways that people learn, what some of the difficulties of learning English are and how to work on specific areas. I've found the book very helpful in becoming a better, more knowledgeable EFL teacher.

The Preface points out that the target audience of this book is postgraduate students, teachers in inservice training and practicing teachers. In other words people who have had some training in the past which they are now looking to put into practice. This is not my situation. I have none the less found the book to be very useful as a guide to the practical principles to be followed in Enlgish language teaching. Though it does not include very much in the way of sample activities or grammer rules, the principles the book discusses, if creativly applied, have the potential to offer a much more versitile range of activities then a collection straight forward lesson plans to follow or model after.
Admitedly I have not yet started teaching so I have not yet been able try it out.

I needed the book two days after I ordered it because I was going out of the country. And I needed to take it with me! It arrived in one day. I was pleased, and feeling very fortunate.

Harmer was one of the two recommended texts for my CELTA English as a Second Language course. I found it heavy going, long on theory, short on practical advice for the new ESL teacher. I much prefer Scrivener, "Learning Teaching." It's hard to find in the US, but worth the effort.