New English Teaching Book for New Communication

Author: (USA) De Diaz
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-08-01
Features: The Teacher's Edition of UpClose and UpClose English maximally motivate students to enter the world of English learning, eliminate the fear of listening and speaking in English learning, and master English in an enjoyable way. The content of UpClose English is divided into four progressive levels, targeting learners from beginner to advanced English proficiency. The content is concise and refined, with a strong sense of purpose for each unit and stage. This textbook has developed a set of teaching curricula for different stages to help students learn English, covering aspects from English language usage, grammar to vocabulary. UpClose English integrates the four basic skills of English—listening, speaking, reading, and writing—as well as the practical application skills of grammar, enabling students to fully master various English skills through progressive learning.
Target Audience: UpClose English is primarily aimed at middle school students and adult learners.
Scope of Application: UpClose English is suitable for various forms of English language teaching. The rich and diverse layout fully meets the needs of teachers for different teaching scenarios and is suitable for large, medium, and small classroom settings. The unique teaching methods in the textbook are especially suitable for groups with comprehensive abilities.
Teaching Methodology: To maximize learners' English communicative competence, UpClose English adopts the "spiral progressive teaching method"—introducing new language points, followed by practical exercises, and providing students with opportunities for interactive practice, fully utilizing all aspects of language functions, grammar, and vocabulary. Finally, through the unique pair or group work "recycling," students consolidate the language knowledge they have learned. The beginning of each unit highlights the key points of the unit in the form of a target box. The clear layout and design of the target box make it easy for learners to grasp the key points, understand the relationship between each language point and the overall unit objectives, and encourage students to preview as much new content as possible. The textbook also uniquely introduces a feature section—"Channel Locking": guiding students to think about what to do next.
Characters in the Textbook: UpClose English organizes the storyline through character photos, making it vivid and realistic, allowing learners to immerse themselves and overcome the drawbacks of previous teaching methods that detached from real language scenarios.
International Communicative Significance: UpClose English portrays a multicultural group living in an apartment in Los Angeles, encapsulating the global social landscape and the diverse linguistic features reflected by the characters' multicultural backgrounds. The topics cover all aspects of society, such as health issues, food hygiene, sports, and entertainment. At the same time, through character dialogues and reading exercises, learners acquire many practical life skills in a relaxed environment, such as how to write a personal resume and how to choose a good movie.
Composition of the Textbook: Each level includes: Student Book, Workbook, Teacher's Edition, Audio Cassette, Assessment Tests, and Online Support. In addition, UpClose English levels 3 and 4 are also equipped with VCDs. Each level is rich in content, diverse in form, and fully equipped to meet various teaching needs.
Student Book:
The Student Book includes 12 units, with each unit consisting of 10 pages, covering a wide range of topics and presented in an engaging and easy-to-learn format. It uses vivid, real-life character scenes to create immersive language contexts and provides extensive practice in functional grammar and structures. Its unique "Practical Texts" serve as quick references, reviews, and introductions to important language points and expressions.
Workbook:
Each unit consists of 6 pages, closely coordinated with the Student Book to help learners fully master the knowledge they have learned. The Workbook can be used both in and outside the classroom, preferably at the end of each unit. The exercises are diverse, including supplementary reading materials, learning logs, etc.
Teacher's Edition:
The Teacher's Edition is the core of the entire set, integrating all parts of the textbook. It is bound in a flexible format with a unique layout—matching the original pages of the Student Book with corresponding teacher guidance on the left and right for easy use. The Teacher's Edition includes: detailed teaching guidance for each unit, reference materials for the Workbook, answer keys, audio transcripts, suggestions and designs for extension activities, notes on language points and culture, additional vocabulary lists, tips for skill training, basic knowledge for teaching planning, and guidance on conducting assessment tests.
Audio Program:
The Audio Program includes two audio cassettes with dialogues, pronunciation exercises, and listening exercises.
Assessment Package:
The assessment tests for UpClose English levels 3 and 4 are combined into one book, including unit tests, midterm tests, final tests, answer keys, and one audio cassette.
Website Support:
The UpClose English student website (http://upclose.heinle.com) provides two services: online self-tests and online searches. The website support facilitates students' self-study and assessment tests.
CNN Video:
To highlight the theme of each chapter, UpClose English levels 3 and 4 are equipped with CNN video clips. The selected video segments are authentic and combine listening and speaking exercises through vivid classroom discussions.