Preliminary for Schools Trainer:

https://www.scribd.com/doc/183924825/Elliott-Sue-Gallivan-Liz-Preliminary-Pet-for-
Schools-Trainer#download

Oxford owl
http://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/for-home/reading-owl/find-a-book/library-page?
view=image&query=&type=book&age_group=Age+9-
11&book=1&book_type=&series=#

Why use graded readers http://www.macmillanreaders.com/wp-

content/uploads/2010/07/UGRIC-web-2014-Macmillan.pdf

In agreement with McGrath (2002) and Cunningsworth (1979) in McGrath (2002: 31) I
believe the best materials are those that prove appropriate for a specific situation and a
particular group of learners. Because most course books are designed with a global
audience in mind, material adaptation is crucial in offering students an effective,
personalized learning experience that is modeled after the students internal syllabus,
presenting information in the order and way that students are ready to receive it, rather
than blindly following the sequencing of materials decided by the course book author, as
suggested by Tomlinson (2008) and Ellis (2006). Material adaptation can also be
supplemented with material development, if the needs analysis reveals needs, lacks or
wants (Waters, 1987) in Nation (2010: 24) not addressed in the course book, following
Tomlinsons (2011) 16 guiding principles.

For a teacher with little experience, teaching a new level, as is my case, the course book
will be my main resource for the course and I will mostly adapt materials rather than
create my own. In this respect I have chosen 3 different sources that I plan to use while
teaching my PET students. My materials selection is based on a set of general and
specific criteria Ur (1996) in ( McGrath, 2002: 31) that are highlighted in the external
and internal evaluation and derive from my own beliefs about teaching and learning,
language research, the needs and situational analysis and my course goals.

As suggested by Tomlinson (2011) I started my material selection process by analyzing

the target situation. We then performed a first glance evaluation (McGrath, 2002)
followed by an internal evaluation (McDonough, Shaw, Masuhara, 2013) to determine
whether there was a congruence (Madsen and Bowen, 1987 in McDonough, Shaw,
Masuhara (2013: 65) between the target situation of use and our selected materials.

External evaluation

In the first stage of my material selection I adopted the first glance evaluation (McGrath,
2002) and considered the same elements Littlejohn in Tomlinson (2011) describes in his
level 1 analysis. I therefore thought about the book objectively, in terms of:
 Overall suitability for target situation including course aims,
learner level, age, culture and exam preparation

Recent publishing date in relation to the latest PET exam

revisions

Accessibility in terms of price for books and both price and user
requirements such as an Internet connection or level of
proficiency in using the computer for resources available online

Organization of the book/website

Approach to assessment

Suitability for course length

A clutter-free layout

Whether it follows the principles of multimodality in the case of

resources accessible over the Internet

Preliminary for Schools Trainer by Sue Elliott, Liz Gallivan

This book scores highly with regards to all the criteria listed above. The book is aimed at
school age learners preparing for the PET for schools exam, at/working towards a CEFR
B1 level and is organized into training and exam practice and practice tests. The former is
concerned with building up students exam skills by offering vocabulary and grammar
tasks that prepare students for evaluation and the latter focuses on practicing exam skills
through a series of 6 complete tests. Exam skills development and practice are part of my
course goals. Continuing, the introduction advertises tips on how to approach each paper,
reminders on grammar/vocabulary rules and a Cambridge learner corpus section, drawing
students attention to recurrent mistakes. Moreover, it encourages students to keep track
of their progress, by suggesting they write down their results in a table modeled in the
book. The book comes with an optional answers page, so students can self-assess or the
teacher can mark their answers. Not only that, but it also informs students of exam
requirements such as the CEFR level that they need to reach in order to pass the exam,
what to bring on the day of the exam and also the time available for transferring answers
onto the answer sheets. All of the above address my autonomy and skills development
course aims.
Furthermore, the book was published fairly recently (2011) and reflects the latest PET
exam revisions and has an affordable price (around 20 GBP). It is suitable for all year as
an addition to the course book and in combination with other materials. The layout of the
book can seem crowded at times, but this is to be expected as Preliminary for Schools
Trainer is in its essence a practice test book which aims to accustom students with the
PET exam format.
Webquests

Because my course goals include developing students learning autonomy and their
productive skills as well as lowering students affective filter through a variety of tasks
and materials that encourage peer interaction, I looked for a modern tool that would be
both effective and engaging to use. I came across webquests which together with other
technology based tools are described by McDonough (2013) as an opportunity for
student-lead learning in agreement with my course aims.
According to webquests.org and zunal.org the concept of webquest was created in 1995
and is described by its creator, professor Dodge from San Diego University, as an
inquiry-oriented activity which draws its resources from the internet. The webquest has
increased in popularity in recent years as a tool that promotes real-world transferable
thinking skills development, which is also one of my course goals.
Zunal.com is a free web-based software for creating webquest and as described by
McDonough (2013) it offers a template that is specific for most free webquests, and is
organized into the following: introduction (the equivalent of a books table of contents),
task (assignment details), process (guidance on how to solve the task and available
resources), evaluation (a listing of the webquests goals and the evaluation criteria),
conclusion (a brief revision of what was achieved) and teacher page (notes on helping
other teachers use this webquest). Because of the evaluation segment
Acessing webquests requires an Internet connection and as little as smart-phone which
makes this tool easy to use both in class and at home.
The tools layout is clutter-free because it follows Mayers (2001) 12 principles of
multimedia learning. It also offers the possibility of providing links to different resources
over the Internet as well as embedding presenting students with the information
simultaneously and in different ways, it offers the possibility of employing a more
informal style that is likely to lower students affective filter a more personalized learning
experience by nominating students for specific tasks that address their specific struggles
as well as group work and by giving them a choice of the order and the medium through
which they receive the information.

Internal evaluation

I adapted McDonough, Shaw, Masuharas (2013) internal evaluation and Littlejohns

(1998 in McGrath, 2002: 22) level 2 and 3 analysis to compile my own evaluation
criteria:

Adequacy of approach to teaching and learning in relation to

course aims and learner needs

Student interaction patterns and tasks variety

Opportunities for learner autonomy and learning skills

development
 Skills coverage in relation to course aims and exam requirements

Integrated skills work to cater to creative and critical thinking

development

Real life transfer value of the skills

Preliminary for Schools Trainer

The book is in agreement with my course aims, as it is written in an informal tone,

offering students useful tips and tricks (appendix) on how to approach each paper and in
doing so it lowers their affective filter. Moreover it provides opportunities for both skills
development through preparatory tasks (appendix) and practice offering students 6
complete tests to solve.
Because self-evaluation is encouraged by asking students to keep track of their results for
each paper and at the end of the book students can reflect on their progress by ticking the
can do sentences that are true for them, I feel this helps build learning autonomy.
Moreover, all 4 skills are covered, although there arent more opportunities for skill
integration compared to the course book. As was the case with the latter, the teacher will
need to adapt the material to create a sense of cohesion between exercises and incorporate
tasks that allow students to use their own language resources in preparation for the PET
exam and to develop students real life skills.
Higher order thinking skills are promoted by the structure of the exam itself which this
book focuses, with students asked to make decisions and reach conclusions (speaking
part 2).
Conversely, tasks do not offer much variety in content or suggested peer interaction but
rather closely model the exam pattern. However, seeing how the main purpose of this
material is to supplement the existing course book by offering extra test practice and
simulate exam condition, this is not a problem.

Webquests

Taking a closer look at the Zunal.com platform reveals that it offers all of the benefits of
a webquest. The websites offers useful instructions and ideas on how to create and use
webquests and signing up allows any user to access numerous already existent
webquests, structured by interests, that are free to use.
Because the platforms main role is to offer a template and host the webquest, it is up to
the teacher and students how they organize their work, which tasks they design and
employ.
The tasks I plan to design for my students will derive from Communicative Language
Teaching method which largely reflects my beliefs about teaching and learning, and will
focus on integrating the 4 skills to offer students a natural language use experience and
help develop skills transferable outside the classroom. I will also engage students in
individual work, giving each student a specific role in researching information and
solving an activity personalized to meet his/her needs as well as pair and group work that
will help lower students affective filter and lead the way towards student generated
materials based on guided Internet research. Students can also develop their online
reading skills and overall improve their computer literacy, by using the computer to write
essays, search for information in a variety of sources and decide for themselves what is
useful in answering the requirements of each task. This aspect will further engage their
critical and creative thinking and in doing so be in agreement with course goals.