Review
of Downtown 3, English for Work and Life
Stephen
M. Birk
Ohio
Dominican University
Review
of Downtown 3, English for Work and Life
Downtown 3 is
an ESL textbook for adult learners. This textbook contains written, reading,
listening, oral, pair, teamwork, and reflection activities throughout each
unit. A CD for listening, reading, and pronunciation activities is included
with the book and is intended to be used simultaneously with teaching. Downtown 3 balances a healthy variety of
skills in each lesson mainly focusing on writing, listening, reading
comprehension, and speaking. This textbook is intended for adult English
speakers with an intermediate-high level English skill.
Downtown 3 right
from the beginning has so much potential designed into this textbook. Using the
teacher’s edition gives you access to side notes with helpful activities that
fit into the lesson or suggestions to make for expansion of activities. In the
table of contents section there is a detailed list of different modules for
each chapter on; lessons, competences, grammar, SCANS, EFF, CASAS, LAUSD
Intermediate Low, Florida LCP-C, and Texas LCP-C. This particular textbook
suggests you use The Heinle Picture
Dictionary for additional vocabulary, practice, and reference in general.
This
textbook is made up into 10 chapters. One introduction section followed by 3
lesson sections and a review section is expected in every chapter. Each
introduction mainly consists of visual depictions alongside reading, listening
and critical thinking activities. The chapters are then broken down into three
different lessons. These lessons have a variety of reading, writing, listening,
speaking, interactive, and grammatical activities. Sprinkled throughout each of
these 3 lessons are cultural tips and sometimes games. Grammatical charts are
worked frequently into the lessons that precede relevant grammatical written
activities. Trailing each lesson are homework assignments that can be directly
correlated into everyone’s own life. In the review section of each chapter
there contains; listening, reading, writing, best answer, critical thinking, and
pronunciation activities. There is also a self-reflection assessment where one
rates how well they know the material covered in the chapter. Finally there are
always two news articles at the end of each chapter that require deeper
thinking skills for the students to reflect and sometimes act upon.
The
teacher’s edition of Downtown 3 is a
great resource for ideas on expanding activities and class discussion. In this
edition, the regular page (student version) is shrunk down to almost half the
regular size per page. The outer edges of each page are filled with guides to
the audio script, questions to ask students, and a basic guidance to teaching
the English activity at hand. There are also teaching tips that are just
generally useful in the teaching field. An audio CD comes with this book and is
designed to be incorporated into teaching the material in class. This textbook
also include an Index with category headings as; Academic Skills, Culture Tips,
Downtown Journal, Game Time, Life Skills, and Topics. Lastly, in the back of
the textbook there is a section for all of the grammar check charts with page
number associations.
I
believe there are many strengths to Downtown
3 as a textbook material. This textbook attunes to all of the senses
necessary for proper language development. Downtown
3 includes nice images to illustrate meaning in a visual way. There are
quite a few grammar checks and this is important for written skills. Frequent
conversation practice is included to build confidence in oral ability. The
audio part of the book allows the students to hear authentic English for
comprehension practice and allows students to practice pronunciation with some
audio exercises. Being relevant is important and Downtown 3 is fairly relevant to people learning English and about
American culture. This material takes you into the created lives of David and
Erika, who embark on daily activities one would expect to encounter in the
United States. This book engages the student with prompts and homework
assignments that ask about their own personal lives. This engagement could help
in retaining the material better because students connect better with topics
that interest them.
Something
Downtown 3 doesn’t have is enough
vocabulary work and review. There are virtually no vocabulary lists and no real
definitions of words. I believe it is important for students to know key vocab
and proper use of it. One other thing I noticed personally was that the space
where the students were allotted to write was a bit too small for most people’s
handwriting. My students at the Columbus Literacy Council are still learning to
write properly and it is easier for them to write bigger than smaller. This
textbook can sometimes be very specific in life and may not always apply to
everyone’s situation so there will sometimes be a need for supplemental
material to accommodate the student’s needs.
Downtown 3 would
serve as a good base for ESL learners. All things considering, the strengths
outweigh the weaknesses. The layout of the textbook is well organized and
colorfully represented. There is frequent practice with a variety of linguistic
skills that build a nice round understanding of the English language for all
types of learners. Supplemental materials would be a nice association alongside
Downtown 3 because there is plenty of
room for expansion of the lessons given in the textbook. This textbook allows
the students to monitor their progress with reflections over set goals.
Striving to meet these goals should motivate the students to explore different
ways to express their ideas. Downtown 3 would
be a good jumping off point for any teacher teaching adult English at the
intermediate-high skill level.
Reference
Mcbride, Edward J., Kisslinger, Ellen. (2006).
Downtown 3 English for Work and Life.
Boston, MA: Thomson Heinle.
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