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Test your Vocabulary 4 | |
Publisher: Pearson Education Ltd
Authors: Peter Watcyn-Jones and Mark Farrell
€14.30
ISBN 978-0-582–45169
Almost every EFL teacher has come across the little paperbacks in Peter Watcyn-Jones' series, and knows that each of the tests on the book is likely to keep a class busy and quiet for five to fifteen minutes. These tests are a useful way of building vocabulary, and are both attractively presented and imaginatively constructed. However, they do not by themselves teach even a fraction of the English that a student needs, and they are particularly poor at teaching abstract vocabulary such as 'melancholy' 'irritation' or 'freedom'. As these books have recently been updated in collaboration with other authors, we decided to revisit the series and see what parts have changed and which bits have stood the test of time. (For example the current book has an exercise on vocabulary to do with computers – something not in everyday conversation when the original book came out.).
This book is upper-intermediate, the fourth in a series of five, and at this level aimed at upper intermediate students. There are sixty tests dealing with a huge range of subjects, which come in what looks like random order. The first test, for example is on 'containers' and bears little relation to the one which comes afterwards. Some of the vocabulary is more than just finding the right word – users are also tested on things like synonyms and phrasal verbs. What is new are little coloured strips of 'vocabulary tips' marked by a magnifying glass icon and giving bits of advice such as that 'when a preposition is followed by a verb it takes the '-ing' form'. The illustrations are the same style of black and whilte line drawings that was present in the very first books of the series, and indeed some of the cartoons looked familiar as well. As well as the cartoons and crosswords, there are some clever ways of introducing vocabulary for example 'Who said that?' gives a sentence and the user has to decide if it is more likely to have been said by, for example a cook or a detective. Oh, and the original covers were much better.
Who is this book for? Anyone – either a student studying alone, or a teacher with a class full of students, who has a few minutes to kill and wants to use them constructively. These tests are a quick way to get a bit more vocabulary inserted between an English learner's ears, and they are just enough fun to do that the vocabulary has a better chance of staying learned. Ever remember these are 'tests'. On their own these books do not have enough range to do more than begin teaching vocabulary – for that reading and watching films are still better.
Verdict: A good way to pass a few minutes
Assessment 9/10