Focus for Bulgaria Teachers Book B1.1

Dear Teacher,

We are writing to you to introduce Focus, our new course for upper secondary students. This course is the fruit of our many years' teaching, writing and developing materials. Our aim has been to produce a set of materials that will help you to be the best teacher you can be. In other words, we want to help you to create the optimum conditions for your students to learn English.

Of course, we accept that everybody's teaching context is unique and the perfect English course is an unattainable dream. That said, our own experience in the classroom has taught us to value three things above all when using teaching and learning materials: reliability, flexibility and credibility.
Quite simply, we want the materials to work.

We don't want the course to let you down in the classroom. So we've gone for a dean design, dear, easy-t.o-understand instructions and a wide variety of engaging topics, texts and tasks that have been combined in a logical way that will make sense to you and to your students.

Needless to say, the course covers all the necessary language work appropriate for the level and follows the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR). We hope you will appreciate the stimulating and memorable way in which each carefully selected grammar structure and vocabulary item is presented. But we are well aware that presenting language is not even half the story. We have designed these materials so that they systematically recycle the language that has been presented. 'Use it or lose it' is our motto. You wilt discover that this course, with all its supporting print-based and digital materials, provides your students with the repeated exposure and practice they require. Reliability = trust. We are confident you will be able to trust Focus,

Flexibility

One of the things we learnt early on in our careers is that you teach the students, not the lesson plan. There is no point in slavishly following a prescribed 'teaching path' through a set of materials.if the students are not with you. Your ability to react to emerging classroom situations and adapt your lesson accordingly is a vital teaching skill. We strongly believe that a rigid unit structure does NOT have to be a teaching straitjacket The lessons themselves are brimful of different ideas, task types and interesting information. Then the
supplementary material we have developed, both print-based and digital, offers you almost limitless flexibility. You can give extra multiple choice grammar exercises, do a communicative A/В information-gap activity or watch a video clip. Flexibility = choice. We think you wilt appreciate the range of choice in Focus.

So, while we are sure that a reliable and flexible course will help you, it's this third characteristic that really counts. We'd like to take this opportunity to summarise our thinking on this and explain what lies at the heart of Focus. We can do this by grouping our thoughts under three words beginning with M: Motivation, Memory and Meaning,

Motivation

This is our starting point: students learn best when they are interested in the material. It's as simple as that. We may not have got it right every time for your particular teaching context, but our overriding concern has been to select topics, texts and tasks that engage students both emotionally and intellectually.

Memory

Systematic recycling of new language is a core feature of Focus. There is a particular emphasis on vocabulary. In the process of building their own 'Word Store', students using Focus will devote valuable time to new vocabulary, as well as learning a variety of ways of recording it.

Meaning

We are strongly opposed to mechanistic practice and drills where form dominates and meaning is irrelevant. Don't practise language for the sake of it. Language exists to make meanings and our learning materials should reflect this.

These are some of the more important ideas that we hold dear. Over the years, they have influenced our teaching and our writing. Credibility = belief. We want you to believe in Focus.

So now it's over to you. We'd like to take this opportunity to wish you and your students every success.
Our warmest regards,

За повече информация: 0886 82 47 47

За повече информация: 0886 82 47 47