New! Learning to Communicate is designed to be used from LKG to class VIII. The course components are as follows:
Distinguishing features of the Primer New! Learning to Communicate Primer Coursebooks A and B and their companion Activity Books A and B provide a comprehensive and joyful programme in English for children of the Lower and Upper Kindergarten. The books focus on the development of the four basic skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing. The course engages young learners in language structure and vocabulary using communicative methods that give pleasure and confidence. Care has been taken to introduce a stimulating environment for the use of language relevant to the particular age group. It is suggested that the lessons of the Coursebook should synchronize with the Activity sheets of the Activity Book, that is; after completing lesson 1 of the Coursebook the learner should do Activity Sheet 1 of the Activity Book. Moreover, teachers are encouraged to use the related Teacher's Book, which provides useful pedagogical resource material. It has a variety of songs, poems, stories, and language activities to complement the materials available in the Primer and the Activity Book. Distinguishing features of the Coursebook 1. The course book is designed to develop and integrate the four basic language skills of reading, writing, listening, and speaking along with the ability to think. 2. It underscores communicative tasks which figure in each lesson and equips the learner to use English in real-life situations for performing different language functions 3. A conscious attempt has been made to recycle and consolidate language material-both grammatical and lexical-taught earlier and to further expand the linguistic resources of the learner. 4. Language is presented in natural situations. There is nothing artificial or contrived about them. 5. The coursebook exposes the learners to good samples of contemporary English which they can emulate and different genres such as stories, plays, poems, letters, pages from a diary, and so on. 6. A sincere attempt has been made to select pieces which are in accord with the age group that they are designed for. Thus, there are pieces highlighting adventure, mystery, wit, and humour. 7. The course book also aims at developing certain values and attitudes like caring for others, compassion, and preservation of the environment. Strategies for using the Coursebook The format of each lesson of the course book is :
1. The introduction may be discussed briefly to rouse the learner's curiosity and to motivate him/her to read the text. 2. Plays, dialogues, and conversational pieces should be read aloud; the lessons, by and large, should be read silently. 3. The lesson should be divided into manageable units and a detailed study of each unit should be done by an intelligent interplay of questions and answers. 4. After the lesson has been studied, it should either be summarized or dramatized. 5. Questions on reading comprehension, using grammar, word power, and writing should first be done orally; a few of them, depending on the needs of the students and the thematic and linguistic density of the passage, should be written out. 6. Let's talk and listening activities should be done in pairs or groups. One pupil should be made the leader of each group and (s)he should record the answers/the main points of the discussion and then report it to the class. Distinguishing features of the Primer Activity Book New! Learning to Communicate Primer Activity Books A and B are an intergral component of Primer Coursebooks A and B and are chiefly designed to initiate the beginner in lower and upper kindergarten into the skills of reading and writing. It is suggested that the children are encouraged to carry out the activities independently, with minimal direction. They should use pencils for doing the activities. While initiating discussion on the subject on every page the teacher could describe the pictures and elaborate the description. Distinguishing features of the Workbook 1. Complements the Coursebook The Workbook is an integral component of the new edition of New! Learning to Communicate. It dovetails with the Coursebook and aims at helping the learner consolidate essential grammatical and lexical items and also providing extended writing practice. Each lesson/unit of the Coursebook has a corresponding Worksheets. The first Worksheets, for example, complements the first lesson of the Coursebook. There is an explicit unit-wise link between the Coursebooks and the Workbooks through extended drilling of the grammar items. There is also additional practice of lexical items. 2. Grammar in use This section deals with an important item of grammar culled from the reading text in the Coursebook. A detailed explanatory note on the grammatical item is followed by a set of contextualized exercises. These will enable the learner to use the item with ease and confidence. 3. Word power Words, phrases, and idiomatic expressions are used for the purpose of vocabulary expansion and enrichment. A wide variety of tasks is provided: from the use of synonyms and antonyms to the use of derivatives, compound words, and collocations. 4. Writing The learner is given practice 5.Tests To make the course truly user-friendly, the Workbook also contains:
It is hoped that these activities will deepen the learner's insight into the functioning of language and make the learning of English a pleasurable experience. Distinguishing features of the Enrichment Reader 1. The Enrichment Readers 1 and 2 are a new element in the language kit of New! Learning to Communicate for classes 1 and 2. They provide graded material for the development of a child's reading skills at the formative stage. 2. A wider purpose of the books is to initiate children into the pleasurable experience of reading, through a variety of themes that will influence and delight them. Teachers will find scope for activities and chats in the stories, plays, and poems in the two books. Distinguishing features of the Literary Reader 1. The Literary Reader, along with the Course book and the Workbook, is an intrinsic component of the language kit-New! Learning to Communicate for classes 3 to 8. The six readers present a composite set and aim to develop literary appreciation skills, an important goal of learning English in the primary and middle school. 2. A special attempt has been made to 3. The texts represent fine specimens of contemporary English. The readers contain stories and plays that depict different facets of life, and portray the vast gamut of human emotions from joy to sorrow. They also contain several poems to sensitize the learners to the creative use of language and enjoy their melody and images. A close interaction with these texts, we hope, will inculcate in the student the habit of reading, and a love for books. 4. TThe introduction in italics at the beginning of each story or play is designed to serve as an appetizer. It highlights the thematic landscape of the story or asks questions to aid brainstorming. 5. Each story or play is followed by two sets of activities-one on inferential comprehension and the other on personalized responses. The activities appear under the subheads:
6. Each poem is followed by activities which are designed to aid comprehension and literary appreciation. 7. New lexical items which might obstruct comprehension have been glossed. Distinguishing features of the Teacher’s Book The Teacher's Kits for each level consist of the Teacher's Books and accompanying CDs. The Teacher's Book includes notes on methodology, strategies for handling the course components, guidelines on assessment as well as answers to the questions in the Coursebook, the Workbook, and the Literary Reader. The CDs carry all poems, phonic exercises, and listening texts. |