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Review - Collins English for Life Skills Series- Upper- Listening

Title:  Collins English for Life Skills Series: Listening - Upper Intermediate/ B2

Publisher:  Collins

Reviewed by: Jon Clayden, Academic Manager, Eurocentres London

Overall rating: 

 

Criterion

Grade: 5/4/3/2/1

Comments (5 being the highest grade and 1 the lowest)

Originality

4

This book provides learners with a challenging variety of accents and topics to listen to and presents learners with a large amount of useful information, advice and practice exercises with the aim of helping them understand more when they listen to English being spoken.

 

The listening recordings used with the book are all advertised as ‘authentic’ and ‘unscripted’ and feature a mix of speakers, some with English as a first language with different accents and non-native speakers, whose speech is sometimes hesitant with the odd error or unusual phrase. The ‘authenticity’ of the recordings means that some are more difficult to comprehend than the typical listening material one finds with EFL coursebooks that use actors (or friends of the author) and graded scripts. For example there is one listening recording that seems to have been recorded on a mobile phone (p27 Changing a booking) and another that feels unedited as it is very long and slightly rambling (this is the first recording on page 8 where two English guys discuss cycling. I imagine one of the speakers Matt to be slightly drunk here as he shares his pro-cyclist views in too much detail). Although learners are exposed to numerous different accents and many lengthy recordings, the tasks are well designed and structured which focus and guide the learner so they are not overwhelmed and won’t become easily de-motivated.

 

The information and advice given to students throughout the book to help them with listening in English is excellent, interesting and varied. Each unit contains several text boxes highlighting particular linguistic features, listening strategies or raising awareness of relevant cultural factors. These include’ ‘Clear usage’ boxes which may focus on a grammatical form pulled from the listening such as ‘modals with infinitive form’ (e.g. ‘She may be asked to change her clothes’) or functional phrases such as ‘expressing tentative opinions’ on p45 (e.g. ‘As you can imagine’). Another feature is referred to as a ‘speech bubble’ which draws attention to the meaning of vocabulary and phrases that may be unfamiliar to learners and also highlights other aspects from the listening texts such as how intonation is used in ‘good-natured banter’ (p16) (which sounds like flirting to me when you listen to it) and also offers listening tips and cultural information such as the following on page 17:

 

“…one in three primary school children in the UK thought that cheese was a vegetable, that fish fingers came from chicken and that pasta was an animal product!”

 

[Unfortunately there isn’t an accompanying teachers book with answers to say where these food types actually come from if students ask!]

Practicality

5

Collins English for Life Skills Series: Listening B2 is easy-to-follow with clear instructions and labelling with simply structured, four-page units and an answer key and tape-scripts at the back of the book. It is therefore perfect for self-study like the other books in the series.

It can also be used with a class, with some supplementing and added ideas from a teacher. Many of the listening recordings could provide an effective springboard for discussion and cover ‘classic’ topics such as travel, food and animals that could be linked to other classroom materials used by a class.

A substantial amount of the content of the book deals with cultural comparison and awareness that that would work well in a mixed nationality classroom where students can compare and share aspects of their own cultures. In unit 2, for example, there is an interesting recording of someone from Saudi Arabia talking about the differences between how the British and Saudis perceive and treat dogs. I wasn’t aware that some Saudis believe that dogs mustn’t be touched (especially on the mouth) and that in Saudi Arabia it is not common to see a dog being walked - instead dogs walk alone without owners (see page 105). In my experience students are more inclined to talk about animal-related topics than any other so I’m sure this would be a winner to set-up a fluency lesson where everyone can contribute.

Unfortunately, some of the other units may not go down so well with quite so many students. Who would be fascinated by the ‘fountain pen enthusiast’ talking about his pen collection on page 62? Furthermore, I’d like to nominate ‘An environmental project in the Philippines’ as being the least promising lesson title I’ve come across for a while – although I must admit that I couldn’t actually bring myself to listen to that one…

Presentation

5

The book shares its impressive visual style with the others in the series with its clever use of minimal colour, text boxes and simple labelling which allows pages to contain a relatively large amount of information without confusing a learner or feeling too dense. Space is limited due to the size and portability of the book and just one photo is included per unit, which to my eyes gives it the look of a self-study book.

I like the way the photo on the cover suggests the pleasure to be gained from being able to listen effectively in English (Look at the happy young man stretching back and smiling (rather than speaking) with a phone to his ear).

 

Overall rating

4.5

 

What outstanding strengths/ weaknesses do you feel this title possesses?

+ves

  • Large amount of challenging listening material with a variety of topics, accents and contexts
  • Cultural awareness raising topics and cultural comparisons ideal for mixed nationality classes
  • Many useful listening skill development tips given and interesting linguistic points highlighted and explained.

-ves

  • Some of the listening recordings are very (or too) long with a few uninspiring, unimaginative (potentially boring) topics

On which courses do you envisage being able to use this material?

Generally the material seems suitable for adult learners of a post-university age, as some of the topics are work-related and perhaps geared towards people with a certain amount of life experience. As mentioned above the lessons are challenging so would be suitable for C1 students and strong B2 learners. The content of the book would appeal more to students who are interested in other cultures (not all students are of course) and those who want to be able to understand people with different accents.

The book would also be useful for exam preparation courses for exams such as Cambridge First and Advanced.

Other comments

The book comes with a CD that needs to be played on a computer.  Copies would need to be made to play it using a CD player.

Teacher resources with lesson plans and ideas will be available online (although were not ready when this book was reviewed).