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| Oxford English for Careers |
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Tourism 1 by Robin Walker and Keith HardingOxford University Press 2006 0-19-455100-8 Commerce 1 by Martyn Hobbs and Julia Starr Keddle Oxford University Press 2006 0-19-456975-6 Oxford English for Careers is a new series of ESP coursebooks which aim to teach students what they need to know in terms of skills and specialist vocabulary for careers in commerce, tourism, nursing or technology. Level 1 of Tourism and Commerce are available now, with further levels and further topics in the pipeline. The student’s books are bright and attractive and the photos appear to be of real people at work rather than models in suits posing in front of high-tech buildings. This sense of reality is further enhanced by the authentic interviews in the It’s my job sections, in which students hear from a variety of young people talking about their jobs. In addition, the books are clearly aimed at the realistic aspirations of pre-service business students – many of whom will do the photocopying and answer the phones rather than engage in high-level negotiations. All four skills are covered and it is good to see considerable time and space given to pronunciation. Added support is given by reading and writing banks which give practice in working with specialist texts. Revision and extension are provided by projects and webquests, together with online interactive exercises. Students are encouraged to keep track of their learning by checklists at the end of each unit with ‘can do’ statements in the style of the Common European Framework for them to tick off. Each book is also marked clearly with its CEF level. The handy and easy-to-follow Teacher’s Resource Books which accompany the series provide useful background information to the area covered in each unit, plus tips, additional activities for mixed-ability classes, grammar tests and photocopiable worksheets. Business Vocabulary Intermediate by Kenna Bourke and Amanda Maris Oxford University Press 2006 0-19-4329205-8 This is a very useful book which several of my students have been using and getting great benefit from. One of the titles in the Test it, Fix it series, it helps students identify any language problems that they may have in certain business areas and then helps them ‘fix’ them. Pages are grouped in fours. Students start on the first Test it page by doing exercises on a particular theme. Then they turn over to the third page of the sequence, the Fix it page, where they can check their answers and read notes explaining why some answers are right and others wrong. Next they turn back to the second page, Test it again, and do more exercises. They then check those answers, again on the Fix it page. More detailed information on the language areas covered in the exercises can be found on a fourth Review page. The wide range of topics in the book includes talking about your job, job applications, promotion and unemployment, giving opinions and numbers and figures. Just about compact enough to fit in a pocket and certainly a useful size for reading on the train or bus, this small book should be a big hit with business students. Naomi Ramsden Manchester, UK |
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