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Smart English NATE review 2012
Smart English is top of the class!
Smart English is a new series which provides themed resources written to engage students in progressing skills in Reading, Writing and Speaking & Listening across Key Stage 3.
This review by Margaret Glover (NATE) outlines the Smart English Survival resources.
"Smart English Survival is the most recent addition to Smart Learning’s themed units for Key Stage 3 students. The package is relatively complex, comprising Student’s Book(s), Teacher’s Book and CD-ROM, plus an optional Resource CD-ROM.
As the name suggest, the concept of the package is indeed ‘smart’, as well as being attractively presented. The teacher’s element comprises three differentiated and overlapping level bands, aiming for Levels 4 to 6, aiming for Levels 5 to 7, and aiming for Levels 6 to 8. Each level has 15 lesson plans, outlined in the Teacher’s Book in a neat double-page spread. A double-page overview of each Level band gives learning objectives, lesson summaries and core resources referencing the Student’s Book. There is also an outcomes summary for the three essential skills of Speaking and Listening, Reading and Writing. The Assessment Focuses and Criteria used are from the Assessing Pupils’ Progress (APP) initiative. This content is also available on the Teacher’s Book CD-ROM.
Additionally the Teacher’s Book CD-ROM provides downloadable worksheets that are inventive and attractive, student assessment sheets to complement the outcomes summary, a complex curriculum mapping tool, and a very useful lesson plan template that is in fact generic and useable for other units of work. The Student’s Book is a colourful and accessible magazine-style collage of material on the general theme of survival, ranging from non-fiction articles to classic literature.
The optional Resource CD-ROM provides PDFs of texts from the Student’s Book for whole class or individual use, as well as a time-saving image bank. It also contains PowerPoint presentations establishing various learning objectives and success criteria, and giving modelling examples.
This unit represents a considerable commitment for an English Department’s budget in today’s constrained climate. However, the theme is topical and varied both in its range of ideas and use of original sources, the lessons are well planned and impressive in detail, and the differentiation between the different level bands is particularly carefully done. In an English department looking for a unit of work that is at the same time comprehensive and well-structured for the less experienced or confident teacher to deliver, and yet challenging and inventive for more experienced English teachers, this is well worth considering."
This review is from Classroom, the magazine of the National Association for the Teaching of English (NATE)
