Topic Grammar points Comments Suggestions
Unit 1
A DAY IN THE LIFE OF…
- The present simple - Adverbs of frequency - The past simple
- The exercises in the textbook do not help much the Ss to revise the meaning, uses and form of present simple and past simples.
- There are no examples or guides for Ss to do the exercises.
- Exercise 1 and 3 seem to be out of topic as they are not about daily routines. It is about one‟s hobby and a story of some boys‟ camping holiday.
- There should be revision part to help Ss revise the form, meaning and use of present simple tense and how to use adverbs of frequency.
- Simple past tense should be cooperated to writing part, before Ss start writing their narrative.
Unit 2
SCHOOL TALK
- Wh-questions
- Gerund and to + infinitive
- Exercise 3 should be taught first so as to point to Ss some common cases of verb + infinitive and verb + to_infinitive
- Reordering the tasks in the lesson
Unit 3 PEOPLE‟S BACKGROUND
- The past perfect
- The past perfect vs. the past simple
- Exercise 4 tells a funny story. It would help Ss understand the story better if there were some pictures illustrating the story. and new words explanation such as parrot, burglar, the torch, … Picture matching maybe an useful tool to get Ss involved in the story and to understand it more.
Unit 4 SPECIAL EDUCATION
- The + adjective - Used to + infinitive - Which as connector
- Too many grammatical items in a lesson
Part 3 (exercise 3 should be placed to other lesson, when teaching about relative clauses, i.e.
Unit 5
- Ss should be given chance to speak about their changes in their life after attending special
Topic Grammar points Comments Suggestions
education classes. The use of „used to‟ to refer to their past.
Unit 5
TECHNOLOGY AND YOU
- The present perfect
- The present perfect passive - Who, which, that
- The contents of the exercises are not relevant to the topic of the unit.
- In exercise 1, there should be a number of pictures to help Ss imagine the setting when Tan arrived at Quang‟s house. Some related verbs should be introduced also.
- The sentences in the reading passage are about passive in the simple present while grammatical focus is about present perfect passive.
- The sentences in the exercises should be about the changes of technology.
- There should be more situations telling Ss why relative clauses are used. Maybe they should be integrated with writing skill.
- The present perfect tense is revised carefully in Unit 7. It is not reasonable when Ss are
introduced to present perfect passive (in Unit 5) before present perfect active (in Unit 7). This part should be moved to unit 7.
Unit 6
AN EXCURSION
- The present progressive (with a future meaning) - Be going to
The aim of the lesson is to introduce Ss to the uses of the present progressive with a future meaning and be going to. Is there any difference between the two ways of expressing future meanings?
There should be pictures to illustrate the situations for each sentence.
Unit 7
THE MASS MEDIA
- The present perfect
- Because of and in spite of
Present perfect passive in Unit 5 should be merged into Unit 7.
Unit 8
THE STORY OF
- Reported speech: statements The tasks are long. There maybe not enough time for the Ss to go through four grammatical points
Topic Grammar points Comments Suggestions
MY VILLAGE - Conditional sentence type 1 within one period.
- Conditional type 1 can be added after the reading lesson in the form of oral exchange Unit 9
UNDERSEA WORLD
- Should
- Conditional sentence type 2
- There should be pictures to illustrate the situation in exercise 1.
- There should be task for Ss to think of their own case when they have to use conditional sentence 2.
Unit 10
CONSERVATION
- The passive voice - The instruction for exercise 2 is not clear
enough. Ss should be asked to decide whether the verbs are in active or passive voice first, and then in what verb tenses are they in.
Unit 11 NATIONAL PARKS
- Conditional sentence type 3 - The sentences in exercise are too long.
- The grammar part should be incorporated with speaking lesson so as to give a more realistic situation for the use of conditional type 3.
Unit 12 MUSIC
- to + infinitive to talk about purposes
- Wh-questions
- Unit 2 and Unit 12 are similar in their objective while other
grammatical points are not.
„To-infinitive to talk about one‟s should be moved to unit 2 for a deeper understanding of its use.
- Unit 12 should be specifically set for practicing wh-question.. So move exercise 3 from Unit 2 to Unit 12.
- T can provide Ss a text and ask them to ask as many questions about the text as possible within their group that they are not clear about the content of their text using wh-questions. There should be one activity to ask the question for
Topic Grammar points Comments Suggestions
purpose to practice structure „to_infinitive‟ to indicate purpose.
Unit 13 FILMS AND CINEMA
- Attitudinal adjective
- It is/was not until … that … - a/ an and the
- There may be not enough time to introduce and practice the use of articles (a, an, the) in this grammar lesson.
Unit 14
THE WORLD CUP
- Will vs. going to
- will: making predictions - will: making offer
- In unit 6, Ss are asked to do an exercise in which they have to distinguish the use of will and be going to and present progressive with a future meaning. Maybe the author assumes that Ss have already known how to use will to indicate future meaning. However, again, in exercise 1 of unit 14, Ss are asked to make a difference in the use of will from being going to
- Exercise 1 in unit 6 should be merged into unit 14 for further practice.
- Ss could be asked to make prediction about their coming World Cup (World Cup 2010)
Unit 15 CITIES
- Non-defining vs. defining relative clauses
- Although as a contrasting connector
- Suitable - Perhaps it is necessary to help Ss to know how to change one sentence using although into ones using despite, in spite of.
Unit 16
HISTORICAL PLACES
- Comparative and superlatives
- Making comparisons
- Useful. Exercise 1 helps Ss to revise the form of comparative and superlative.
It may be better if T gives Ss two table about the facts and figures of two cities and ask Ss to compare them.
actual teaching and learning in classroom context. In general most teachers thought that the textbook is useful and suitable. However, there are some lessons which need to be adapted. For instance, they would like the textbook to present new grammar structures with pictures and real life situations. To make the lesson more interesting, more stimulating situations such as presenting new grammar points via cartoon, conversation, model texts, jokes, etc. should be introduced too. Some lessons contain too many grammatical points and thus stand the risk of lacking time for practice in class.
When being asked to make comments on the grammar presentation in the new English 10 textbook, 44.7% of the students did not think the language use in the textbook is authentic. 68
% say the textbook does not contain a variety of tasks and activities. 25 students (accounting for 65.8%) thought the tasks and activities are introduced in the textbook from simple to complicate and the rest 10 students out of 41 ones did not agree with the above opinion. Below is students‟
general judgment of the grammar part in the textbook
40,00%
2,5%
7,5%
35,0%
15,00%
Difficult Easy Suitable Boring Other opinion
Students' general judgment of gramamr part in the new English 10 textbook
Chart 3: Students’ general judgments of grammar part in the new English 10 textbook
Six students wrote on the questionnaire that they found the textbook informative with sufficient knowledge for them. However, there were some who thought that the textbook lacks many structures for everyday communication. Others said it was difficult for them to apply the newly learnt structures to the lesson. A few expressed that they could do the parts which they had already learnt at secondary school easily but those that they had forgotten or those that were strange to them were difficult since they do not have a theoretical basis to refer to.