This is the first term that TOP NOTCH (LONGMAN) is being taught in all the classes in Jahad. I was honored to be the first teacher to teach this book in Jahad once they were testing it. So I had to have a deeper study about the book before teaching it. I did some research about the book and the writers. Both of the authors (Allen Asher and Joan Saslow) are truly successful teachers and they have made plenty of good changes in writing the series. Their motto in composing the book is “let’s make English unforgettable”, and if you review the whole pack, which includes the book and additional material, you will see they have done their best to make English unforgettable. Other excellent features of TOP NOTCH series are:
1- UNIT GOALS and NOW I CAN…: on the first page in every unit, there is a small box on the right side titled UNIT GOALS. This is where we read WHY we are studying the unit and WHAT we can do after we have studied it. This will help the teacher and the student to realize what to teach and learn. At the end of the unit, in the page titled UNIT WRAP-UP, we see the same items being listed as the abilities of the person who has studied the unit. If a student wants to know whether he/ she has learned the unit completely or not, he/she only has to see if he/she is able to do what this part asks him/her to do.
2- MOVIES: TOP NOTCH comes with excellent movie sequences which no book has ever had with the same quality. What really amazes me is that the authors of the book try to tell us that in order to understand a sentence or a topic, we don’t have to understand all the words said. The sequences of the movie which are shot in parks or busy streets do not have good sound quality and they have deliberately tried to give it a sense of reality. I really don’t even know if those who take part in those sequences are aware that the movie is being produced for ESL learners of English. This really makes us forget we are in a class and therefore makes it look like a real-life situation. Each sequence has an ACTIVITY WORKSHEET in the movie book that is really fun to do.
3- WEBSITE: TOP NOTCH has two websites which provide educational and fun stuff related to the books:
The second website is a Pronunciator website which helps us with the right pronunciation of the words.
4- RESEARCH-BASED ACTIVITIES: As we move through the information era, TOP NOTCH tries to let the students enjoy the fun of EXPLORING and DISCOVERING facts. So once in a while the student is asked to have a research on something and present the results in the class.
5- COPY & GO: As it is stated clearly in the book, the COPY and GO book is for those busy teachers (like me) who do not have time to prepare extra activities for their classes. The book gives you various exercises instantly and you really can COPY and GO to the class with no fear of misspelled words or irrelevant questions.
I hope the teachers and the students have fun teaching and learning TOP NOTCH and as the authors hope, make English unforgettable!
Here is the link to other TOP NOTCH fun stuff:
- · TOP NOTCH FUNDAMENTAL (A&B) companion website (http://wps.pearsonlongman.com/topnotchfund/)
- · TOP NOTCH 1 (A&B) companion website (http://wps.pearsonlongman.com/topnotch1/)
- · TOP NOTCH 2 (A&B) companion website (http://wps.pearsonlongman.com/topnotch2/)
- · TOP NOTCH 3 (A&B) companion website (http://wps.pearsonlongman.com/topnotch3/)
- · TOP NOTCH presentation by authors (http://www.brainshark.com/brainshark/vu/view.asp?pi=299672654)
- · TOP NOTCH DIGITAL (Demo) (http://www.pearsonlongmansupport.com/Downloads/samples/TN_2_Demo/index.html)
- · TOP NOTCH SONGS (http://www.pearsonlongman.com/ae/topnotch/pophome.html)
- · TOP NOTCH standards and tests (http://www.pearsonlongman.com/ae/topnotch/correlations.html)
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