| Book of the Month | ||
| English@work | |
Publisher: Beaumont Publishing. (1998)
Author: David lloyd
95 pages, 9 chapters
Price £9.95 (in England)
ISBN 1-902264-01-0
This is an interesting idea - an English course that is half in the book, and half on the web. The idea is that you use the book and the website together to learn English and how to use the internet at the same time.
The first thing that you notice about the book is that there is not very much of it. At 95 pages, you are paying almost 10p per page. They are large pages, but then there is not much written on each page, with plenty of white spaces without text or pictures. There are a good number of pictures, which are quite nice pictures, but they take up space and don't really do much apart from decoration.
The book is written by David Lloyd, who is an experienced teacher, and the work is well laid out and easy to read. If you are new to the internet, this book is very helpful in showing you what you can do on the net, and how you can use it to study and develop your English. A lot of the information and exercises in the book are actually on other web sites, and you can see a list of English web resources at the back of the book.
If you want to learn grammar, this book is not for you. The nearest that it comes to grammar is a short exercise on idioms, and some exercises on the difference between US and British English. (And references to other web sites, though not all these links are working). In fact, the book concentrates on projects. "Prepare a daily newspaper", "let's write a novel together", "find out about daily life in other countries" are examples of the kind of project you can do.
We did not try the online projects, as you have to enrol on a course to get your "cyberspace passport". This means giving some of your personal details such as full name, and e-mail address. (If you are over 17 you are also asked for your actual address, and to say if you are male or female). Once you have sent this off and received your "passport" you can participate in some of the interactive areas on the site. Beaumont are a well-respected publishing firm, but we would have liked to see a privacy policy that told us who would be allowed to see and use the information. When you have your passport you can register at the message center to find a penpal (called a keypal). There have been a lot of stories about unsuitable people using the internet to meet young people, and it would be nice if Beaumont could have said exactly what precautions they have taken to make sure that you meet the right people. You can find out more about how to get your passport at the site : - www.beaumont-publishing.co.uk/books/englishatwork
The site seemed to need a bit of care taken on it. Maybe we came on a bad day (it can happen) but some links to other sites were broken, and the passport registration page was half taken up by a complex error message explaining that the database was not working either. If you are thinking of buying the book so that you can join an online community, it might be a good idea to look at the site, and decide for yourself how active that community is.
Who would the book be good for? It seems that the book is designed for older school children. It would be especially useful for a group of people, such as a class, who enrolled together and who could do the work in the book as homework on the web. The possibility of meeting and talking with people from other countries is a good idea, but you would need to be sure that everything is working properly.
Verdict - This book is a good idea, and a very original one. If everything is working as the author and the site designer planned, then even though the book is rather thin, it might be very good fun, and a way to explore the English resources on the net, meet new people, and learn some English. Our visit to the site did not make us very confident, but go there and decide for yourself.
Assessment 6/10