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I NTR O D U C TI O N
We have met and spoken to many different teachers in many
different countries over the years, and we are very aware that
no teaching situations are ever the same. For this reason we
have tried to make American English File 1 as flexible as
possible. Apart from the main Student Book lessons, there is
a wealth of other material that can be used according to your
students’ needs and the time available, for example:
● the Writing and Review & Check pages.
● over 70 pages of photocopiables in the Teacher’s Book.
● extra self-study support for students both on the
MultiROM and the American English File Website.
The Teacher’s Book also suggests different ways of
developing many of the Student Book activities depending
on the level of your class.
We believe that this flexibility makes the course suitable both
for high-beginner students from school age to adult.
We hope you enjoy using American English File.
What do high-beginner students need?
It is no coincidence that when we talk about language
knowledge and ability, we use the verb speak: Do you speak
English? How many languages do you speak? What most
students want above all is to be able to speak English and
this is why our aim is to get students talking.
Grammar, Vocabulary, and Pronunciation
If we want students to speak English with confidence, we
need to give them the tools they need – Grammar,
Vocabulary, and Pronunciation (G, V, P). We believe that
“G + V + P = confident speaking,” and in American English
File 1 all three elements are given equal importance.
Each lesson has clearly stated grammar, vocabulary, and
pronunciation aims. This keeps lessons focused and gives
students concrete learning objectives and a sense of progress.
Grammar
High-beginner students need
● clear and memorable presentations of new structures.
● plenty of regular and varied practice.
● student-friendly reference material.
We have tried to provide contexts for new language that will
engage students, using real-life stories and situations,
humor, and suspense.
The Grammar Banks, at the back of the Student Book, give
students a single, easy-to-access grammar reference section
with clear rules, example sentences, and common errors,
plus two practice exercises for each grammar point.
Student Book page 122.
The photocopiable Grammar activities in the Teacher’s Book
can be used for practice in class or for self-study, especially
with slower or weaker classes.
Teacher’s Book page 140.
Vocabulary
High-beginner students need
● to expand their knowledge of high-frequency words and
phrases rapidly.
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● to use new vocabulary in personalized contexts.
● accessible reference material.
Every lesson in American English File 1 focuses on high-
frequency vocabulary and common lexical areas, but keeps
the amount realistic. Many lessons are linked to the
Vocabulary Banks, which help present and practice the
vocabulary in class and provide a clear reference for students
to review and test themselves in their own time.
Where we think the pronunciation of a word may be
problematic, we have provided the phonetic script.
Student Book page 140.
Students can practice the pronunciation of all the words
from the Vocabulary Banks using the MultiROM and the
American English File Student Website.
Pronunciation
High-beginner students need
● a solid foundation in the sounds of English.
● systematic pronunciation development.
● to see where there are rules and patterns.
High-beginner learners want to speak clearly but are often
frustrated by English pronunciation, particularly the
sound–spelling relationships, silent letters, and weak forms.
In the first two Files we introduce the vowel and consonant
sounds of American English through American English File’s
unique system of sound pictures, which give clear example
words to help students identify and produce the sounds.
American English File 1 has a pronunciation focus in every
lesson, which integrates clear pronunciation into grammar
and vocabulary practice.
Student Book page 9.
This is often linked to the Sound Bank, a reference section
that students can use to check the symbols and to see
common sound–spelling patterns.
Student Book page 156.
Throughout the book there is also a regular focus on word
and sentence stress, where students are encouraged to copy
the rhythm of English. This will help students to pronounce
new language with greater confidence.
Speaking
High-beginner students need
● topics that will arouse their interest.
● achievable tasks.
● regular opportunities to use new language.
The ultimate aim of most students is to be able to
communicate in English. Every lesson in American English
File 1 has a speaking activity that activates grammar,
vocabulary, and pronunciation.
Student Book page 81.
The Communication section of the Student Book provides
“information gap” activities to give students a reason to
communicate.
Student Book page 108 and page 111.
Photocopiable Communicative activities can be found in the
Teacher’s Book. These include pair and group activities,
mingling activities, and games.
Teacher’s Book page 185.
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Listening
High-beginner students need
● confidence.
● to understand the gist of what is being said.
● to make sense of connected speech.
Many students say that they find understanding spoken
English one of the hardest skills to master. This can be
especially demotivating at lower levels, where students often
find the speed of the listening material too fast and the tasks
too difficult. We feel that students need confidence-building,
achievable tasks that help them understand the gist even
though they will not understand every word.
Students also need a reason to listen. As with the reading
texts, we have chosen recordings that we hope students will
want to listen to.
Student Book page 88.
Receptive work on pronunciation also helps students get
used to speakers of English and gives them practice in
“decoding” rapid speech.
American English File 1 also contains eight songs that we
hope students will find enjoyable and motivating. For
copyright reasons, these are cover versions.
Reading
High-beginner students need
● engaging topics and stimulating texts.
● manageable tasks that help students to read.
Many students need to read in English for their work or
studies, and reading is also important in helping to build
vocabulary and to consolidate grammar. The key to
encouraging students to read is to give them motivating but
accessible material and tasks they can do. In American
English File 1, reading texts have been adapted from a variety
of real sources (newspapers, magazines, websites) and have
been chosen for their intrinsic interest.
Student Book page 34.
The Review & Check sections also includes a more challenging
text that helps students to measure their progress.
Student Book page 87.
Writing
High-beginner students need
● clear models.
● the “nuts and bolts” of writing on a word- and sentence-
level.
The growth of the Internet and e-mail means that people
worldwide are writing in English more than ever before both
for business and personal communication. American English
File 1 has one Writing lesson per File, where students study a
model before doing a guided writing task themselves. These
writing tasks focus on a specific text type and provide
consolidation of grammar and lexis taught in the File.
Student Book page 61.
Practical English
High-beginner students need
● to understand high-frequency phrases that they will hear.
● to know what to say in typical situations.
Many high-beginner students will need English “to survive”
if they travel to an English-speaking country or if they are
using English as a lingua franca. The eight Practical English
lessons give students practice in key language for situations
such as checking into a hotel or ordering a meal in a
restaurant. To make these everyday situations come alive
there is a story line involving two main characters, Mark
(American) and Allie (British).
The You hear / You say feature makes a clear distinction
between what students will hear and need to understand (for
example, Are you ready to order?) and what they need to say
(for example, I’d like the pasta, please.) The lessons also
highlight other key “Social English” phrases such as Let’s go,
OK, and It doesn’t matter.
The Practical English lessons are also on the American
English File 1 Video, which teachers can use with the same
Student Book exercises instead of the Class Audio CD. Using
the video will provide a change of focus and give the lessons
a clear visual context. The video will make the lessons more
enjoyable and will also help students to role-play the
situations.
Extracts from the video (the first dialogue from each
Practical English lesson) are also on the MultiROM.
Student Book page 12.
Review
High-beginner students need
● regular review.
● motivating reference and practice material.
● a sense of progress.
However clearly structures or vocabulary are presented,
students will usually only assimilate and remember new
language if they have the chance to see it and use it several
times. Grammar, Vocabulary, and Pronunciation are
repeated throughout American English File 1.
At the end of each File there is a Review & Check section.
What do you remember? reviews the grammar, vocabulary,
and pronunciation of each File. What can you do? provides
a series of skills-based challenges and helps students measure
their progress in terms of competence. These pages are
designed to be used flexibly according to the needs of your
students.
Student Book page 14.
The photocopiable Grammar and Communicative activities
also provide many opportunities for recycling.
Teacher’s Book pages 140 and 185.
Study Link
The Study Link feature in American English File 1 is designed
to help you and your students use the course more
effectively. It shows what resources are available, where they
can be found, and when to use them.
The Student Book has these Study Link references:
● from the Practical English lessons MultiROM.
● from the Grammar Bank MultiROM and Website.
● from the Vocabulary Bank MultiROM and Website.
● from the Sound Bank MultiROM and Website.
These references lead students to extra activities and
exercises that link in with what they have just studied.
The Workbook has these Study Link references:
the Student Book Grammar and Vocabulary Banks.
the MultiROM.
the Student Website.
The Teacher’s Book has Study Link references to remind you
where there is extra material available to your students.
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Student Book Files 1–9

The Student Book has nine Files. Each File is organized like this:

A, B, C, and D lessons Four two-page lessons that form the core material of the
book. Each lesson presents and practices Grammar and Vocabulary and has a
Pronunciation focus. There is a balance of reading and listening activities, and
lots of opportunities for spoken practice. These lessons have clear references to
the Grammar Bank, Vocabulary Bank, and Sound Bank at the back of the book.

Practical English One-page lessons that teach functional “survival” language and
vocabulary (situations like checking into a hotel or ordering a meal) and also
social English (useful phrases like Nice to meet you, Let’s go.). The lessons have a
story line and link with the American English File 1 Video.

Writing One-page lessons that focus on different text types (for example,
informal and formal e-mails) and writing skills like punctuation and
paragraphing.

Review & Check A two-page section – the left- and right-hand pages have
different functions. The What do you remember? page reviews the Grammar,
Vocabulary, and Pronunciation of each File. The What can you do? page
provides Reading, Listening, and Speaking “Can you…?” challenges to show
students what they can achieve.
! File 9 has two main lessons (A and B, which present the present perfect), and
then four pages of review of the whole book: a two-page Grammar section and
a two-page Vocabulary and Pronunciation section.

The back of the Student Book

In the back of the Student Book you’ll find these three Banks of material:
Grammar Bank (pages 122–139)
Two pages for each File, divided into
A–D to reflect the four main lessons.
The left-hand page has the grammar
rules and the right-hand page has two
practice exercises for each lesson.
Students are referred to the Grammar
Bank when they do the grammar in
each main A, B, C, and D lesson.

Vocabulary Bank (pages 140–153)

An active picture dictionary to help
students learn, practice, and review key
words. Students are referred to the
Vocabulary Bank from the main
lessons.
You’ll also find:
● Communication activities
(pages 108–113)
Sound Bank (pages 156–159) A four- Information gap activities and
page section with the American English role plays.
File sounds chart and typical spellings ● Audioscripts
for all sounds. Students are referred to (pages 114–121)
the Sound Bank from the main lessons. Scripts of key listenings.
● Irregular verbs list
(pages 154–155)
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For students
American English File 1 gives your
students everything they need for
successful learning and motivating home
study.
Workbook Each A–D lesson in the
Student Book has a two-page section in
the Workbook. This provides all the
practice and review students need. Each
section has:
● More Words to Learn, which reminds
students of new vocabulary from the
lesson that is not in the Vocabulary
Bank.
● Question Time, five questions for
students to answer, which show them
how their communicative competence
is developing. (These questions also
appear on the audio CD portion of
the MultiROM.)
For each File there is a Study Skills tip
on how to learn Vocabulary.
Each Practical English lesson has a one-
page section in the Workbook, and
includes “Practical English reading.”
MultiROM
The MultiROM works in two ways:
● It’s a CD-ROM, containing review of
Grammar, Vocabulary,
Pronunciation, and functional
language (with Practical English video
extracts from the Video).
● It’s an audio CD for students to use
on a CD player or computer. They can
listen to, repeat, and answer the
questions from the Question Time
sections of the Workbook.
Student Website
www.oup.com/elt/americanenglishfile/1
The American English File Website gives
students extra learning resources,
including more grammar activities for
every lesson, more vocabulary activities
for every Vocabulary Bank, Practical
English audio activities, and games and
puzzles.
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For teachers
American English File 1 gives you everything you need to teach motivating,
enjoyable lessons, to save you time, and to make your life easier.
Teacher’s Book The Teacher’s Book has detailed lesson plans for all of the
lessons. These include:
● an optional “books-closed” lead-in for every lesson.
● Extra idea suggestions for optional extra activities.
● Extra challenge suggestions for ways of developing the Student Book material
in a more challenging way if you have a stronger class.
● Extra support suggestions for ways of adapting activities to make them more
accessible for weaker classes or true beginners.
All lesson plans include answer keys and complete audioscripts. Extra activities
are color-coded in red so you can see where you are at a glance when you’re
planning and teaching your classes.
You’ll also find over 70 pages of photocopiable materials in the Teacher’s Book:
Photocopiable Grammar activities see pages 140–174
There is a photocopiable Grammar activity for each A, B, C, and D lesson. These
provide extra grammar practice, and can be used either in class or for self-study.
Photocopiable Communicative activities see pages 185–219
There is a photocopiable Communicative activity for each A, B, C, and D lesson.
These give students extra speaking practice.
Photocopiable Song activities see pages 222–228
American English File 1 has a song for every File. In File 4 the song is in the
Student Book, and the other seven songs are in the Teacher’s Book.
The Teacher’s Book also includes the Answer Key for the Workbook (see pages
229–240).
Video This is a unique “teaching
video” that links with the Practical
English lessons in the Student Book.
The video has stylized minimalist sets
that help students to concentrate on
the language, and there is a story line
that features Mark (American) and
Allie (British). Each video section can
be used with the tasks in the Student
Book Practical English lessons as an
alternative to using the Class Audio CD.
There’s no extra video print material, and you don’t need to find extra time to
use it. It shows students language in clear contexts and will help them role-play
each scene.
The speed of delivery is slightly faster than on the Class Audio CD, as video is
easier for students to understand. Extracts of the video also appear on the
MultiROM.
Class Audio CDs These three CDs contain all the listening materials for
the Student Book.
Test Generator This CD-ROM includes over a thousand questions organized
both in ready-to-print tests (in PDF format) and in question banks, where they
can be selected and edited into tests customized to your students’ needs. The
CD-ROM also includes the audio for the listening sections of the tests.
Teacher Website
www.oup.com/elt/teacher/americanenglishfile
This gives you extra teaching resources, syllabus information, etc.
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