Northstar: Focus on Listening and Speaking (Northstar)

Rating:
Summary: Authentic Listening and Critical Thinking for ESL Students
Review: I have used this book with accompanying tape with my upper-intermediate and advanced ESL students and it has been a hit. (This is NOT baby-pre-school reading level. I would put it more at about 7th or 8th grade...)

They use authentic interviews from National Public Radio for the listening segments. The exercises are fairly good, particularly in the area of conversation. Some of the listening comphrehension exercises could be better-written though. The audio segments are rather long and divided into only 2 parts.

I'm a big fan of the entire North Star Focus on Listening and Speaking Series (It's in 4 parts--basic, intermediate, upper-intermediate, advanced.). The topics are always interesting to students, and the units are arranged according to grammar function.

This book works in conjunction with the North Star Focus on Reading and Writing, as well as the Focus on Grammar series.