Side by Side Book 3 (2nd Edition)

Rating:
Summary: Great Book for Multi- Lingual classes
Review: After teaching for 2 years, this is a great book. It has an excellent mix of grammar, vocabulary and reading texts. I only wish it had a DVD and mall flash cards to go with it.

Rating:
Summary: Another Score for the Authors
Review: Another easy, visual approach to learning English from the authors of the Word by Word Picture Dictionary and the Word by Word Primary Phonics Picture Dictionary.



Rating:
Summary: A great text for beginners and building accuracy
Review: I have been teaching English for the past seven years, and anything that these two authors write is better than anything out there. I have taught a variety of levels of a variety of students, and this works the best. Any teacher who knows what they're doing will try to use either this book or Expressways as often as possible.

Rating:
Summary: BEST ESL/EFL supplement workbook
Review: I have been teaching English to Japanese and Korean students for four years. Out of all of the workbooks that I've used, Side by Side is the best at getting shy students to engage in conversation. Someone mentioned that the fashions are a little bit outdated; however, none of my students have had a problem with this and letting students have fun is key. The illustrations are amusing and fun to look at and talk about! This book can be used in so many different ways. Sometimes I will copy the illustrations and put them on a poster or on flash cards. I am DEFINATELY not an artist and these pictures really help. Give this series a try! They are great!

Rating:
Summary: A textbook that rates a C minus
Review: I taught from Side By Side for two years while living in Japan and intensely disliked it. I found the dialouges extremely moronic and unrealistic. Endless repitition and substitution drills are really no way to learn English. Furthermore, the first unit, in which students are complete beginners, contains 1. a reference to Social Security Numbers and 2. introduces the city of San Juan, Puerto Rico. Students at this level are still trying to cope with English letters and sounds; it is unfair to throw a cultural reference at them so early on. The inclusion of San Juan--with Spanish, not English pronunication--is really inexcusable.

Rating:
Summary: The Bet, Yet Most Abused ESL/EFL Text on the Market Ever !
Review: I've taught with this text in three different countries... and have sworn by it and it.

What I love about it is that it really gets down to the basics of speaking English and does so in a systematic manner. A lot of teachers abuse it by having their students read and write through it, then complain what a dry book it is. The same teachers also use it in such a haphazard manner that after a year the students are in book one, when really Volumes 1 2 and 3 (especially) are a jump start English course. This however is often the result of either inadequate training or not reading the teacher's manual, especially in Japan where teachers and students come and go by the bushel.

Overall, while the book might lack the "cuteness" of other programs, trust me... the pedagogy is well thought out - - especially if you know how to expand from the book and have other activities to bring the language to life. The book is for adults for example, but using the Molinsky and Bliss WORD BY WORD flash cards I've actually created games for children based on the activities in the book. And if the students are too used to reading through the book (from former teachers) I actually copy the pictures from the book with the words whited out, cut them into flash cards, team them up for pair work, and then let them engage in the conversation activities from the book.

This is an incredible book, and a new version has just come out... USE IT DON'T ABUSE IT and your students will make incredible progress. Check out the WORD BY WORD PICTURE DICTIONARY as a great supplement to expand the activities with additional (yet practical) vocabulary as well as EXPRESSWAYS (also by the same authors).

Rating:
Summary: Side by Side Activity Workbooks 3
Review: The Side by Side Activity Workbook 3 is a great additional exercise tool to use in conjuction with the Student Book for ESL students. I am currently tutoring Japanese students in English, at various levels, and we find the Activity book is presented in an easy to follow and enjoyable format. The ten chapters are full of practice drills in intonation, stress and pronunciation. In addition, there are plenty of grammatical exercises, which are accompanied by skillful animated stetches to help you along. Many of the activity books, I have used in the past, do not have these helpful visual aide, which certainly communicate well in all languages. All levels of the Side by Side Activity Workbooks are working out very well for my students, so I really do recommend them to other instuctors and will continue to use them in my lessons.

Rating:
Summary: Great Book for Multi- Lingual classes
Review: When you use the right level book for the right level student it is great. There are many other books out there that gloss over all types of grammars, functions, vocab'and pronunciation. However, this does attempt to explore the more important parts of grammar. The grammar is graduated based upon increasing levels of student's ability, which is an important point. Also, I especially like it's drilling of the third person.

It is a good book if you know what you are doing. A text + student does not equal an English lesson. There is more than just the text book in language learning.