Review - face2face Advanced

Criterion

Grade: 5/4/3/2/1

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

Originality

        4

There are several features of Face2Face Advanced that very effectively help teachers engage learners and really get them involved. Each lesson starts with a dynamic ‘Quick Review’ task that briefly reviews language from the previous lesson (and sometimes works as a lead-in to the new lesson too). Students are asked to make contributions such as completing sentences, making phrases or testing a partner. These are great ‘warmers’ but also usefully remind students (and teachers) what was studied previously. The oddly named ‘Get ready…Get it right!’ sections are designed to get learners thinking and communicating. Often these activities are personalized speaking tasks, debates or opportunities to discuss opinions. The task is structured so that first there is some preparation time for the learner to reflect before joining other learners for sharing in groups or pairs. Topics have been chosen to appeal to a wide range of learners and should enable most learners to be able to express themselves. One example would be this from page 89:

Make a list of things you have bought and experiences you have had that have given you great pleasure. Which of the experiences didn’t involve money?

These types of activities could be particularly helpful for less experienced teachers to make their lessons more student-centred, active and enjoyable.

Each Unit in Face2Face Advanced contains a useful ‘Help with pronunciation’ section. This focuses on an aspect of pronunciation using examples taken from a previous listening exercise. As this is an advanced coursebook, the material deals more with intonation and stress rather than dealing with individual sounds. C1 students often make just as many errors with pronunciation as with grammar but don’t always spend equal time studying to deal with these. The ‘Help with pronunciation’ sections, although short, importantly help to raise awareness of pronunciation as a (still) relevant part of studying English at advanced level.

Practicality

         4

There are clearly signposted links at the end of each unit to further practice and review activities located in different parts of the coursebook and its accompanying course components. This ‘Continue2learn’ feature also indicates that there is a video lesson for each unit with full-page materials that teachers can use in class. The additional study material caters for different student needs so that learners who want to do more self-study have the option to do so and a teacher or student also has access to testing materials if these are needed to motivate or satisfy students.

The focus of the different parts of each lesson is clearly labelled throughout the coursebook and therefore straightforward for students and teachers to follow. The blurb on the back of the coursebook claims that ‘Each lesson is easily teachable off the page with minimal preparation’ which in my opinion feels true and I would recommend Face2Face Advanced to inexperienced teachers who may not have taught higher levels before. It also has a good balance of vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation and skills lessons to provide a rounded, substantial course for C1 students.

Presentation

         3

Compared to some other general English advanced coursebooks Face2Face Advanced (Second Edition) doesn’t have the best quality photos both in composition and sharpness of image. Have a look at the police officer on page 75 for an example or the back of a gamer’s head on page 89. This gives the impression of a rather rushed image selection process or could be partly due to the quality of the paper or the printing (I wouldn’t know). The coursebook is smaller in size than some of the other popular coursebooks and is not as ‘photocopier friendly’ because it is less than A4.

Overall the coursebook visually emphasizes its global credentials through having many images showing different parts of the world and having photos of people that try to suggest that a variety of nationalities have been included.

Overall rating

     4

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

The majority of the reading texts are up-to-date and relevant, as one would expect from a new edition of a coursebook. Topics include social media (p11) and using mobile phones instead of cash for payments (p91). The subjects feel fresh but will obviously reach a ‘best before’ date in a few years’ time.

Face2Face Advanced (Second Edition) has a consistently strong focus on vocabulary development throughout the book which C1 students should find challenging and worthwhile. Its engaging communicative activities are also a very positive feature which teachers and learners will appreciate.

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

It is particularly suitable for adult (18+) learners on general English group courses. It is a ‘safe’ choice as the content should be appropriate for most adult educational contexts around the world.