Macmillan English: A Masterclass in Primary English

An excellent series for kids who need more of a challenge and interest in their English courses.

Author: Mary Bowen et al
Publisher: Macmillan
Components: Textbooks, CDs, practice books, fluency books

More vocabulary and activity rich than the standard fare for children, try Macmillan English with children from around age 6 who have been learning English previously or come from a background where they’ve been previously exposed to English. Before tackling the course, the children need to be reading at least at sentence level. Basic phonics patterns are reviewed in language book 1 but, for countries whose writing systems are not based on the alphabet, a prior phonics course is essential. For those starting at a more basic level, it is possible to swap into Macmillan English after completing a beginning textbook or two from another series.

Macmillan English is a six level course that goes much further than most English courses for children. Book one starts with what will be a review for most children described above with family words and basic ”to be” grammar. However in the very same unit, ”to have” for possession is reviewed, second and third person verbs make an appearance and more natural sentence patterns are included: a great review for those who are speaking English a little already but do not have good grammatical control. By book six children are analyzing rejoinders, contrasting verb tenses, manipulating conditional sentences, using modals and finding out what those grammar items are called too!

A phonics component weaves through the course and while children at level one are look-ing at CVC words like ”cat” and “hen”, level 6 kids are learning how to make ”ous” adjectives like “furious”. Each unit ends with class writing which can be done as a group on the whiteboard or individually, and can be very simple or more complex as the individual child or class level dictates. The final page of each unit is ”enrichment reading” to be read for the simple pleasure of it, or exploited with suggestions from the Teacher’s books.

From book one the text includes authentic literature. “Starlight, star bright” makes an early appearance in book one and then poetry and story extracts and selections appear regularly throughout the course; an extract from ”Escape from the Castle of Doom” by John Little is in book six. The course graphics are neither very young or old, meaning that children could start book one at almost any age from six to even 13 or 14 (although the text states children’s ages as 6-9 for the first book and around 11 or 12 for the final book).

Each book is accompanied by a practice book (for homework or class work) and a fluency book and CD which can be used for more intensive listening practice and as the basis for more speaking and discussion in class. The fluency book is a firm favorite in my classes. Much more challenging in terms of length of passage and speed of speaking than usual children’s listening exercises, it’s also much more interesting- including a magazine pro-gram format, topics the children are interested in and exercises that involve the children relating to what they have heard, rather than just regurgitating it. My children are begging to do it! It’s a pity the CDs and fluency books are priced separately and donft come as a more reasonably priced package. Such a package would deter copying of the fluency CD especially, which is very tempting given the price. Come on Macmillan, meet us halfway here!

The only other problem, and quite a big one, is Macmillan English doesn’t seem to be widely available and some countries may have problems ordering it locally. The series was developed for the Middle East market but I believe it has world-wide appeal for non-native English preschool graduates, returnees and for courses that want to challenge and stretch their children. In addition, it seems several items are out of stock even in the UK, so Macmillan needs to get their act together a bit if they are really going to reap the benefits inter-nationally of this more forward looking course for children.

Overall my classes really like Macmillan English. Different groups have been using levels one, four and six and are enjoying the more ”serious fun” approach to learning English and the opportunities it gives us to work at slightly different levels and bring our own experiences and English vocabulary to the course. It’s certainly a breath of fresh air for those who want to challenge their children with more than the standard target structures and pre-taught meagre selection of vocabulary that many English courses for children provide. Give it a try!