Language Leader Pre-Intermediate

Components: Course book and CD-ROM, Class CD, Teacher’s Book and Test Master CD ROM, Workbook and Audio CD
Authors: Ian Lebeau and Gareth Rees.
Publisher: Pearson Longman
Summary: For learners who ‘only want to talk’ this is probably not the best textbook. But for students who ‘want to learn’, Language Leader is a very solid and inspiring series.

Review:
As this is my third review of this series, I’ll approach it from the perspective and impressions of my students.

The texts have generally been well-received by the students – the themes are universal and get the students thinking. Take the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, the Japanese novelist Junichiro Tanizaki, Mother Teresa and Stephen Hawking, for example.

The scenario section is where the students may really feel that they are using English for a purpose. This is where they have the opportunity to develop their fluency and to re-use vocabulary which they have learnt. I have alternated between including the language focus before and after the main task – this is because sometimes weaker groups get overloaded with the task input, language required and then, the new language presented before the task.

The CD-ROM is a big-hit with many of my younger students or those who tend to use a computer a lot at work or at home. Of course, there is still a percentage of learners who would prefer to plunge nine-inch nails into their eyes than go near a computer – however these are quite rare in my classes overall and once students see that the activities are somewhat ‘game-like’, they get quite enthusiastic about them.

The students have responded well to most of the communicative activities found in the teacher’s book when I have used them to support learning and give extra practice of language points. In fact these have been some of the most lively parts of the class. The communicative speaking activities at the end of some units have also been particularly successful.

As usual there are some learners who don’t mix well with an inductive approach to learning – thus the grammar presentations sometimes need to be approached with care, and more traditional presentations are sometimes required. Some learners also seem to want more ‘everyday English’ and conversation snippets, which the coursebook doesn’t explicitly seem to have so much of. However, where some texts give a lot of phrases and little material to stimulate the conversations, this text has plenty of opportunity to develop conversations on almost every page.

For learners who ‘only want to talk’ this is probably not the best textbook. But for students who ‘want to learn’, Language Leader is a very solid and inspiring series. It is a good choice for students wishing to learn general English but who think they may need English for academic or business in the future. As for teachers, I am sure most of you will enjoy using this book.