English Skills for University 2A Combined Course Book & Workbook with CDs

Table of Contents:
Course Book Unit 1: Education Unit 2: Daily Life Unit 3: Work and Business Unit 4: Science and Nature Unit 5: The Physical World Review Workbook Unit 1: Education Unit 2: Daily Life Unit 3: Work and Business Unit 4: Science and Nature Unit 5: The Physical World Review Transcripts Course Book transcript Workbook transcript Word list

About the Author :
Terry Phillips has worked in ELT for more than 35 years as a teacher, teaching supervisor, manager and language school owner. As a consultant, he has worked in more than 20 countries in all parts of the world, advising state and private language institutions on all aspects of school management. For the last ten years, he has been a full time freelance writer with his wife Anna, producing more than 160 published books in ELT. Although he and Anna have worked for all the major publishers, all recent works have been for Garnet Education. Terry is the series editor of the English for Specific Academic Purposes series for Garnet Education, which aims to prepare students to entry into a particular faculty for English-medium tertiary education. The series won the ESU award in 2009. Anna Phillips has worked in ELT for more than 30 years. She has worked as a teacher of both multilingual and monolingual classes, with teenagers and adults, in both the UK and abroad. Anna began writing materials for special courses as a senior teacher working for the British Council in Oman. Later, as Director of Studies and Owner-Manager of the International House school in Oman, she spent much of her time adapting and developing materials, owing to the lack of suitable course books for the needs of the students. During this period Anna was also extensively involved in teacher training, both in-service and also for CELTA and DELTA. She was also an examiner for CELTA and travelled extensively throughout the Gulf region in this role. In 1989 Anna completed her MA (TEFL) from Reading University. Since returning to the UK, Anna has worked with Terry Phillips on a large number of textbooks for a variety of publishers. Anna's particular interest is making course books more 'user friendly' for teachers who are not native speakers of English.

Review :
English Skills for University is a combined coursebook/workbook aimed at pre-intermediate learners at an A2 CEFR level or band 3 IELTS. At first glance, it looks like most other EAP textbooks and has the same requisite accompanying CDs, teacher's book and transcripts. What makes this text different from similar texts are its topics and extra focus on pronunciation and spelling. English Skills for University is split in to five units: Education, Daily life, Work and business, Science and Nature and the Physical World. There is the usual breakdown of the four skills and then sections for vocabulaly, pronunciation and grammar patterns. The five units, and review unit, are further separated into five distinct lessons. Key vocabulary is identified on the first page of each unit and a set of learning objectives ends each unit to assist learners in quantifying what they have learned. In the first unit, the reading lesson is on how students can help each lesson count. This is a wonderful topic to start with as it helps the learners identify reading strategies they will need in future texts. The lesson focuses on the pronunciation of vowel sounds and article usage, both of which are incredibly useful to learn at the beginning of English lessons. In unit five, preposotions of place are identified in linear terms, followed by a reading about geography and a writing lesson on distances and size. The listening follows naturally with information about the solar system and planets and distances. The layout is incredibly practical and the topics are relevant for students hoping to study in an English speaking university. The pages are colourful, pictures are current and the layout is consistent. Three CDs accompany the coursebook, which provide the learner with plenty of opportunity for listening and pronunciation work. I especially like the last page of each unit which includes boxes labelled 'Transfer' and 'Reflect'. The questions in the 'Reflect' box ask students to think about the topics introduced and to decide what is most interesting to them and why. These would be excellent journal topics for students to write about and would provide extra opportunitues for them to use new vocabulary and grammar. It's good to see lower level books with practical, adult topics which can help to motivate learners who have a long road of learning ahead of them." -Sandee Thompson for IATEFL Voices, Issue 227, July / August 2012