In need of advice on course books to use

[sauveterre]

Hi, I have been teaching a class of about 12 people (it fluctuates) in a very small French village. They are quite diverse - I have a child of 8 who comes with her uncle and aunt to a 75 year old ex-action man who obviously spoke quite good English when he was young. (and is very funny!) Most are of a similar level, higher elementry, remembering their school French. None of them need English for exams or work, just for holidays or for the interest.
The only resourses I have are a basic whiteboard + paper and my own CD player. I am in an association (it is neccesary in France) who supplied me with the board, paper, pens and grammer and vocabulary books.
The Maire has a fit about the length of time the heating is on, so no help there! The association will photocopy things for me and will buy me more books if I ask. My problem is, which ones? I have searched Cambridge and Oxford university presses and every time I think I've found just the thing, it turns out to have a CD rom and it it neccesary for each student to have their own book and be interactive. I can only use an audio CD and I don't think many of my students will want to fork out for the book.
Any suggestions?

[English-coach]

One grammar book which I really like is "Grammar in Use" by Raymond murphy.

In your case I would get the pack which includes the book, cd and answers. That way you can photocopy excersises for the students and use the cd yourself in class. It is a great tool. I love it. It is also great for giving as homework after you cover a grammar point in class and with the cd you can do many activies in class. (Each grammar point has an explination page and then an exercise page. :) There are three different levels as well so I assume you would start with the first level.

You can buy it online or in most book stores. I think this would be great for you and your students.

Let me know how it goes and if you get the book or not (if not...what did you end up getting? I always like to know about new books!).

All the best,
Diana
http://www.helping-you-learn-english...mar-books.html

[Clare James]

I'd say that if you can get hold of it, using the new versions of 'English File', published by OUP, even without any of the backup materials and on-line elements would beat just plodding through grammar books. The courses are communication based and have a properly integrated syllabus and of course, you can adapt the materials to suit your group. I did a similar kind of course for a very mixed group with almost no resources in a freezing ambulance depot for the Red Cross in a small town in Italy last year.

If you are looking for free materials you could print out and use, there are lots of excellent materials on the BBC website. I've got a site, too at www.eltgames.com which is fairly easy to use with very limited resources, and a friend of mine has just made a free site of lessons based on jokes which you might find useful at www.esljokes.net