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English Language for Cambridge International AS & A Level
Drive analytical skills and exam confidence with this key classroom text. Structured and accessible, it guides learners logically through the latest Cambridge International AS and A Level English Language 9093 syllabus. A free teacher support site enhances your teaching with engaging and up-to-date international examples.
288 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 19, 2014
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January 12, 2015
I am currently teaching AS and A Level English with this book as our main text, and it's a struggle. Aside from the pretty obvious factual mistakes and ambiguous explanations, it has an irritating and unhelpfully chatty tone, especially in the second half, which makes me suspect each half (AS and A2) was written by a different one of the authors... basically it's a long-winded and anecdotal pep talk for students, in a smug and somewhat jokey style, and anyway don't give me any of that: just give me solid material and clear explanations. The early units are better and there are some fairly useful texts here and there (I especially liked seeing a full, short Carver story, and some Jim Garner PC fairy tale action) but the exercises are uneven and the explanations are often irrelevant, or a mismatch with the purported focus of that section.
It often wanders off topic, feeling rather like the random thoughts that occur to an off-duty teacher. Throughout, there's a distinct lack of a sense of progressing through material towards some goal. It's also missing things; there is reference to a glossary, which does not exist, and a late chapter that claims to give sample exams only gives half of the exam.
Altogether it's a confusing and disappointing book which feels thrown together and rushed out to fill a gap in the market (as the syllabus changed) but it is raw and poorly thought through, and you'd be better off with an older but more careful text (or perhaps the new Cambridge one (Gould/Rankin), which I haven't taught from but which, from the look of the preview, seems worth a shot). At best, this could serve as a supplementary text from which to pick a few extra exercises.
Also it refers to a teacher support website, and that, when you eventually find it, is currently very sparse and unhelpful.
If I sound bitter.... well I am, because this book is giving me and 18 bright teenagers a collective headache and a bit of worry about their exams.
It often wanders off topic, feeling rather like the random thoughts that occur to an off-duty teacher. Throughout, there's a distinct lack of a sense of progressing through material towards some goal. It's also missing things; there is reference to a glossary, which does not exist, and a late chapter that claims to give sample exams only gives half of the exam.
Altogether it's a confusing and disappointing book which feels thrown together and rushed out to fill a gap in the market (as the syllabus changed) but it is raw and poorly thought through, and you'd be better off with an older but more careful text (or perhaps the new Cambridge one (Gould/Rankin), which I haven't taught from but which, from the look of the preview, seems worth a shot). At best, this could serve as a supplementary text from which to pick a few extra exercises.
Also it refers to a teacher support website, and that, when you eventually find it, is currently very sparse and unhelpful.
If I sound bitter.... well I am, because this book is giving me and 18 bright teenagers a collective headache and a bit of worry about their exams.
Displaying 1 of 1 review