Criterion

Grade: 5/4/3/2/1

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

Originality

5

@work is a good choice of title as it emphasizes that the course is primarily for learners using English at work rather than necessarily using English when doing business. The Upper Intermediate Teacher’s book (p6) claims the coursebook “avoids the dryness of the corporate world” and the blurb on the back of the Student’s book promises “real-life non-executive contexts”. Presumably the majority of students learning English are not (and never will be) senior managers or ‘executives’ but will have to communicate in English at work at some point - so this coursebook should be relevant to a large number of students.

Some familiar business English functional skills are still included in the coursebook, such as making presentations, meeting people, having interviews and so on but there is often a fresh spin. For example there is an interesting lesson that introduces the topic of meetings through focussing on different people’s negative experiences of “My worst meeting”. This leads to a discussion of meeting dos and don’ts and best practice. In a later lesson in the unit there is an engaging reading text giving advice about “How to get heard in a meeting” followed by a focus on the language needed to be assertive in meetings. I found the content stimulating as it often made me reflect on certain situations when I’m at work and should hopefully get students involved and expressing themselves.

Each unit has a double-page ‘Scenario’ which is a ‘task-based’ lesson involving pair work or group work. These scenario lessons will appeal to a wide range of learners and are not really that business-y. For example two of the scenarios are based on the arts, two on sports clothing and two on holidays, so the subjects are sensibly business-lite (although the final unit scenario does reach for the dreaded and predictable ‘environmental issues’ topic).

Practicality

4

Throughout @work Upper Intermediate B2 there are ‘more practice’ icons placed next to Student’s Book exercises (usually grammar or vocabulary) that direct students and teachers towards additional exercises in the workbook - which also has a digital version. Other course components available include access to a Virtual Learning Environment with tests and email templates and there are also videos focussed on business skills such as negotiating and presenting. The components add extra flexibility for a teacher to respond to students when planning.

Unfortunately, there are no photocopiable worksheets available for teachers in the Teacher’s book, and the coursebook is relatively short at only ten units long. However, there is a 12-page ‘emailing’ section in the middle of the coursebook looking at different functions such as enquiring, making arrangements and apologizing and links to each unit by topic. There is useful

advice on style in emails and language tips like the following:

“A quick reply to an email can be referred to as a prompt response (formal) or a speedy reply (informal and friendly)”

This seems very practical and something a student could really take away and use. Learners have ten practice email tasks each based on an imaginary situation and a different function.

Presentation

4

The quality of the photos and printing could be improved. Some of the photos look out-of-focus (see Arnold du Toit on page 12) or rather dark (Larry Page on page 4).

There is a good use of colour and plenty of different photos and other images to keep things visually interesting for learners. The people featured in the photos seem to represent a variety of nationalities and there is a balance of men and women and different age groups shown. The cartoon-style cover has a retro EFL feel to it but communicates an impression of this course being different to other business English books (the original title of the series also contributes to this).

Lesson objectives are clearly expressed in both the Student’s Book and Teacher’s Book and the layout of the pages are well organized, not too dense and clearly labelled so the lesson is straightforward to follow for both Students and teachers.

Overall rating

4

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

@work Upper Intermediate B2 has an original choice of texts and fresh, interesting angles on typical business English subjects. The material is accessible, thought provoking and should be relevant to a wide range of learners.

Some teachers could possibly be put off by the cover (although hopefully not by the concept of ‘work’) and the lack of photocopiable materials in the teacher’s book or a CD-Rom resource disk or DVD.

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

It is suitable for business English courses and would also be good for courses that have a business English optional element as part of a general English course. Some of the lessons – in particular the scenarios – could be used to supplement a general English course and there is plenty of other material that could work well with general English students. The course would work best with adult learners (maybe starting from graduate age) who work or will soon be starting careers.