A. Syllabus

1. Read the English translation of a syllabus used in China below. Discuss the following questions in small groups:

a. What is your general impression of the syllabus? Is there anything that is particularly interesting/surprising about or in it?

b. How do you best characterize this syllabus? What type of syllabus is it? How do you think such a syllabus will affect classroom instruction?

c. Study "Characteristics of a Syllabus in Box 12.1 on p. 177 in Ur (1996). Which of those characteristics apply to the Chinese syllabus?

d. According to Stern (1984), a syllabus should have four components. "(1) A language proficiency component which can well be formulated in the structural-functional combination... (2) Next, I believe it is important for the curriculum to contain provision for an experiential component... In addition to both these, I would (3) like to see a distinctly identified cultural component which in ESL/EFL terms would express itself as knowledge about one or several anglophone target communities. Finally, for ESL/EFL in general education, I would like to see as fourth component one I refer to as general language education which is meant to offer an opportunity and an encouragement to the learner to reflect about language, language learning, and culture in general." (p. 11)

Analyze this syllabus in terms of Stern's four components.

2. A syllabus is not available in many teaching situations. Instead, the textbook dictates what to teach and, to some extent, how to teach. The way lessons are organized in a textbook often shows what kind of syllabus is adopted. Now study the contents pages of four ESL textbooks and decide what kind of syllabus each of them seems to follow. Work in pairs or small groups if you want.

B. Teaching Materials

1. Elements of an ESL textbook

a) Examine the textbooks you have,

b) Retrieve from Network Neighborhood, then the folder "jiang" a file named masterfl, locate your name in the table, save it in a different name (the new file name should begin with the number before your name in the table, plus your initials) in the same folder; locate their name, use that row to type in the information, save it.

c) Enter information into the table based on what you find in the textbook. Provide the following information in the 2nd and 3rd columns: a short version of the title of the book and the target language (e.g., eng, spa, fre, ger), and the target proficiency level, (e.g., begin, inter, advan, college) Then put a Y (for yes) for the information you can find in the textbook in the other columns. Note that an exercise focuses on form and an activity focuses on meaning.

c) I will put the information I get from you into the following table to show what kind of information is included in the 20 or so L2 textbooks we examine.

2. Evaluating ESL textbooks (see Ur, 1996, p. 186)

1) Modify Box 13.2 in the following way:

a. Change "importance" into "weight" in the first column;
b. Add "Your Rating (1 to 5)" in the top cell of the last column

Importance>Weight 0=not important 1=important 2=very important	Criterion	Your Rating (1 to 5)

2) Follow the instructions on p. 185 Stage 1: Deciding on criteria. Instead of using question mark, single tick and double tick for criteria that are not sure/important, fairly important and very important, respectively, use "0", "1" and "2" for each of them respectively.

3) Apply these criteria to the textbook you brought to class. Rate the textbooks on a 1-5 scale in terms of those criteria, with 1 indicating minimum quality and 5 indicating maximum quality. Calculate the overall score for the book by first multiplying the rating for each criterion with the weight of the criteria and then add them up.

4) Exchange the books with a partner, and do the same for the second book. Then compare your ratings to those of your partners.