Let'S Go Book Series To Use At Home For Thai Kids.

[haveaniceday]

I am after advise from experienced English teachers. I am retired in Thailand and have 2 kids here that of course speak Eng-rish. Their English teach at a Thai Gov school is at best only described as shocking. I could not communicate with her in English that she was the schools English teacher, not embarrassed one little bit, actually she is very proud of her English. Everything done from text book and CD by the sounds of it.

My kids are the only Half Farlang in the school and by far have the best English skills in the school. Things like hitting daughter hard enough to leave marks for pronouncing “ph” and in phone or phantom as “p” as in pan as the incompetent bitch of a teacher thinks it is. Fact is our kids can speak much better English than their English teacher. Teacher has a problem. Anyway, next year they are moving schools, I am not asking about that.

I wish to do much more English with our kids at home, I have no teacher training, and think it best to start with a home course from start to cover many things I have never thought of. Grammar was never a strong point at school all those years ago ! It appears to me that Oxford University Press (OUP) has many series of books that look good for me to use. I have been looking at them online and in the “SE-ED” book shop chain.

Looking at “Let’s GO” and “Get Set Go” published by OUP. Does anyone have any recommendations in this area?

I saw in one book shop a series of flash cards at over 2000b for ‘Let’s Go’ (I think it was by memory). I have never seen any teachers book in any of the stores. In Thailand’s obsession on being the hub of censorship have they banned them as to much information in them ?

Would the teachers book be very helpful for me as I have never seen one?

I see a huge amount of work sheets and stuff for free online which is great, any suggestions would be great thanks.

//elt.oup.com/catalogue/items/global/young_learners/lets_go/?cc=global&selLanguage=en

Edited October 19, 2010 by Scott
Direct commercial link edited out/Scott

[aussiebebe]

Hi, you don't mention the ages of your children so it's hard to give guidance for their level, which is probably why anyone has yet to reply.

If your children are fluent in English they don't need ESL surely. Surely some foreign teachers working in languages schools have children and would never dream of sending them to study 'Get Set Go'. It's for children who have English as a second language. You support your children's reading and writing at home by following the curriculum in your home country, there are thousands of home-schooling and other websites to offer tips about how to accomplish this. For example British expats who want to help their children to keep abreast of the British National Curriculum could go to the website of the newspaper 'Times Educational Supplement' http://www.tes.co.uk/resources for over 50,000 ideas and resources for teaching children of all ages. It depends where you come from and what system you want for your children.

If your children's mother tongue is Thai, the 'Get Set Go' range is eternally popular throughout Thai language schools and many schools have to use inferior courses just so they are offering something different. You can buy the range cheaply from SE-ED book shops. One of the best ESL sites I've seen is www.bogglesworldesl.com and one of the most popular websites for reading (for young children) is the American www.starfall.com which also has a paid version. There are countless sites, free and paid, you need to pick one which supports the country and system you want to follow.

[Scott]

Direct links to commercial sites are not allowed. You can list the site, but not a direct link.

The "Let's Go" series is American English and the "Get Set Go" is British. Chose the one from the country you are from (or the closest series). The books come with CD's, a workbook and a course book. They are relatively simple. Your children shouldn't be overwhelmed by them and you shouldn't have much trouble helping them. The teacher's book is helpful, but these are conversation oriented books and they don't really explain the grammar, if it's not your forte.

Depending on the age of the children, they may not need much explanation, just more practice.

If you are not a teacher, then it's probably wise to go with a series and see how they do with it. A series does cover all the different grammar in an orderly fashion, otherwise a series of downloads might just go all over the place and end up being frustrating and not entirely productive. Downloads and worksheets are good, but generally as a supplement to what they are learning.

There is a lot more to learning English than simply being able to speak it. They need to have a functional use of the language, including reading and comprehension skills if your overall goal is for them to use the language effectively.

Their ages and grade would help posters point you in the right direction.

Best of luck and keep us posted.

[otherstuff1957]

I have used the "Let's Go" series, the "English Time" series and the "Chatterbox" series. I would say that Chatterbox was the best and English Time was the worst. If you are near a branch of DK Today (they are located in BKK & Nonthaburi), you should be able to find some Chatterboxes or another good series.

I don't think that links are allowed, but if you google DKToday dot net, you should be able to find their website. They have an online store as well.

[Phatcharanan]

What nationality are you? Brit, US etc? Which specific English do you want them to learn? Brit......American? (Spellings etc.)