There are textbooks and there are textbooks but one which I highly recommend for grammar, especially elementary grammar is the series Voyages in English. In the Philippines, reprints are available at the Bookmark office in Makati only, as it's Bookmark that publishes the said series. Though I never used it as student, I became familiar with the book when a tutee of mine from an exclusive girls' school brought it to the house. I was amazed that it still existed as I had seen similar books in the house when I was much younger. My older sisters were "raised" on the series.
The book contains not only grammar lessons but a few poems and an occasional script. There are very short stories as well that somehow or other present values without their appearing as "hard sell". The series was first issued by the Loyola Education Group and is therefore Catholic in orientation. A blurb on the series from their website reads:
Writing & Grammar Grades 1-8
The revised 2006 edition of Voyages in English for grades 1-8 continues the 60-year history of teaching students the fundamentals of writing and grammar in a logical, coherent fashion, reinstating the strength and rigor of the original program. Recognizing and responding to teachers' talents and time restraints, this new edition provides exceptional teacher support in a flexible format that makes it easy to assess and plan lessons according to students' needs.
The books contain lots of exercises per topic and have an index—features I want to point out to show my frustration with Filipino-published books which, more often than not, are devoid of indices or have very inadequate ones.
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1 comment:
Voyages in English! Wow, this was the textbook that we used when we were in grade school. I didn't know that they continue to publish this book until now.
As for local textbooks and indices ... that's exactly what i said in my blog. Sometimes I am tempted to think that the local publishers refuse to do this so they can save on costs, ergo bigger profits.
AND my students complained about their accounting textbook (a local one, of course ... recommended by the school) not having enough exercises. This means added work for me because I have to make more problems and exercises for them.
P.S. Nice background color ... reminds me of lemon pie, yumyum!
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