The importance of choosing the right book

In this session, we learnt how important it is for us, potential future teachers, to choose the right book to teach English.

Well, I must admit I agree with this point but I found this subject a bit boring and it is also rather subjective and personal.

Although it is good to know from the teacher’s point of view what the requirements are to take into account when choosing an English text book to the extent that if we choose the wrong text we risk having future problems teaching the subject and not comply with the law and the government’s requirements.

One of the students suggested not to use a textbook, which I also support in some way.

However, not using a textbook implies the following consequences:

It is time consuming as preparing and looking for all the material that is required can take a great amount of time. Moreover, if you decide to compile your own information for your class, it needs to be approved by “Conselleria”.

Conselleria is the autonomous organism in charge of education in the Valencian Community.

You will not be able to use it, in legal terms, if this learning material is not approved by Conselleria beforehand.

Having said this I think it is a creative and great idea but hard to implement.

I also think that choosing a textbook does not only depend on the quality of the book in itself but also on other intangible aspects like:

·        Customer care received from the book’s publishing company.

·        Commercial gestures obtained from the purchase of books, as once chosen the book we are likely to continue with the same publishing company for the next four years.

All in all, choosing a text is a tedious task and requires time to make the right choice but there is a strong subjective component when making the “right choice”.