ESL textbook recommendations for beginner adult learners

[大块头]

I've started volunteering as an English teacher for Chinese-speakers at my local senior center in the US. Most of the students have only a very basic English ability. I've searched online for textbook ideas, but I would like to hear your recommendations too if you've taught similar students.

[ChTTay]

What textbook are you using now? Don’t they give you one? 

 

I can’t really recommend a textbook for students BUT a book to help you teach students would be;

 

Teaching English a grammar: what to teach and how to teach it by Jim Scrivener. 

 

It was an invaluable book when I taught English and can be found on Amazon.

[大块头]

3 minutes ago, ChTTay said:

What textbook are you using now? Don’t they give you one? 

 

I'm not using a textbook currently. For the first few classes I've been winging it. They don't have a formal ESL program, so there isn't a particular textbook I have to use.

 

Thanks for the recommendation. I'll check it out.

[ChTTay]

This might help you wing it:

 

https://breakingnewsenglish.com/

[歐博思]

My old school used the Step by Step 3000 textbooks for some of the classes, and I recall not being very fond of them, especially as a general English course textbook. The books which replaced them, however, were pretty decent. Will update if/when I can find the name.

[艾墨本]

I've only used a few different textbooks, but this one was recommended to me by someone who has used many books: Side by Side

 

I found teaching it to be really straight forward and if you can also get the teacher book it does a really good job of laying out what to teach, how to teach, and the necessary background knowledge to teach each section. I'll PM you a link to my google drive that might have some useful documents.

 

The content looks quite kid-friendly, but I imagine seniors might get a kick out of the role-playing. I've always found the elderly to be way less self-conscious with tasks like that. Try to make it as relevant to their lives as possible, too. Swap out a few words for something they can use since the textbook assumes a classroom setting and that might not be applicable to seniors.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Value-Pack-Student-Activity-Workbook/dp/0135087236/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1519104587&sr=8-1&keywords=side+by+side+english