Page 24 - ELG1903 Mar-Apr Issue 464

IATEFL special .

“Honey, I just blew up the cour

Lindsay Clandfi eld switches cha

Where is the coursebook going and why is it going there? Mel

Lindsay Clandfi eld to fi nd out.

“I really have to put in a word for the practice, gap fills, more techy gap fills, sexy
publishers here,” says Clandfield. “Helbling gap fills…”
have been wonderful. I really wanted to work We sigh in synch.
with a smaller publisher. The big companies “Where’s the communication? What
have become so risk conscious, ‘let’s be happened to the C in ICT!”
realistic’, they say or ‘this is what the markets Sure, that there was a place for tech in the
are telling us.’ Helbling have been really classroom, as a platform for communication,
supportive all the way.” Lindsay set off to find out. He spent time
I sigh sympathetically. I worked in watching teachers using tech in class.
course book publishing twenty-five years He expected to see lots of interactive
ago, and I heard all the same messages. whiteboards. Instead, what he found was that
Over the years, I too have become most teacher used projectors, niftily dipping
increasingly tired of the dominance of the in and out of programmes, and switching
long-distance topic. Who wants to talk video on and off.
about food for ten classroom hours – that The results of his research and work are
could take four whole weeks in a part-time exciting, apps for downloading pair work,
evening class. And most of the global market vocabulary beats – the digital version
for adult learners takes place part-time and of the dear, old Jazz chant, lots of audio
in the evening. formats. “The young are busy discovering
o, you’re sitting down to plan a The research, I tell Lindsay, supports the the joy of audio, look at the popularity of
coursebook,” I say to Lindsay idea of recycling topics, particularly when it podcasts” says Lindsay, the father of two boys
Clandfield over the phone. “What comes to lexis. We have to meet a word seven and amateur podcaster himself (he hosts a
S is your agenda? You’re sitting down times before we get to know it – and learning podcast with Shaun Wilden called the TEFL
with a blank piece of paper, what do you write a lot of words in a lexical set and then not Commute).
down first” seeing them again till we start the next level Lindsay and Robert are particularly
“The first thing I write is, ‘We need to do of the course is possibly the worst way ever pleased with the videoscapes, which allow
something about topics’,” he says. “For the invented of teaching vocabulary. the teacher to project a scene onto a screen,
last twenty years, virtually every course book “What surprised us, was how so much of complete with backdrop, props, even sound
has had long, topic-led units. I wanted a more the language recycled itself naturally as we effects at times. The student can then act
flexible approach.” moved through a unit,” out a dialogue in front of
I tell him when I flicked through the Clandfield remarks. it, film it and view the
sample pages of his new course, Studio, it’s That’s what …over the years results.
the first thing I noticed. It was like flicking happens when you it seems to have been My favourite is the
through a magazine. Topics are recycled in loosen the ties use of video in the units
short bursts through the courses, making between the words used mostly for work on functional language.
the material in the individual units are you teach and outside the classroom: “To be fair,” says
more varied the topic you are Lindsay, “we are not
“I’ve always liked that magazine feel,” covering. grammar presentation, the first to use video
Lindsay agrees. “My co-author, Robert But for many and lots of books have
Cambell, used to run a magazine called It’s people, loosening lexical practice, gap fi lls, functional language.”
which I wrote for. I always liked the way the stranglehold of more techy gap fi lls, But for me, it is the
you flicked through and there was a piece the topic is not the match between video
on sport, followed by something on food, main way that Studio sexy gap fi lls… and functional language,
or maybe the family. So, Robert and I came seeks to deconstruct the medium and the
up with the idea of TV channels, a sports the course book. The way the authors use message, which works so well. It is the way
channel, a food channel. Different text types, technology as a classroom tool means that that the book presents functional language as
different media.” the course is really no longer just a book with the focus of a whole lesson, rather than just
The new course has twelve channels, each some nice techy add-ons. a bunch if useful phrases in a box, that feels
featuring a different topic. It’s the Netflix “I started off being really optimistic about so fresh.
approach, a structure which fits in with the use of Information and Communications Lindsay admits he was looking for a way
a millennial aesthetic. Simple, but quite Technology (ICT), but over the years it seems to translate CEFR, can-do statements into
revolutionary in the risk-averse world of ELT to have been used mostly for work outside a classroom activity that students could
publishing. the classroom: grammar presentation, lexical relate to. “We came up with the idea of 101

24 March/April 2019