1From Siberia with Love Maxim Agahanov and Olga Kuznetsova Indemand,complete,flexible,varied,easytouse,personal,successful...Thisis notalistofadjectivestakenatrandomfromtheCambridgeInternational DictionaryofEnglish.Theyarethewordsthatcometomindwhenwethink aboutTheNewCambridgeEnglishCourse,oneofthemostsuccessfulEnglish courses used by teachers in Krasnoyarsk.In demandFormanyyearsRussiansusedtolearn EnglishaccordingtotheLENOR principle(LearningEnglishforNo ObviousReason).BecauseoftheIron Curtain any communication with English speakerswashardlypossiblesometen yearsago.Afteritsfall,allofasudden, werealisedthatweknewalotabout thelanguagebutwerenotpreparedto useitproperly.Studentsweremore accustomedtodoingalotofgrammar andtranslationexercises.Everybodycouldeasilyexplainhowtoformanduse tensesinEnglishratherthananswerasimplequestion:Whatdoyoudo? Peopleclearlystartedtofeelthenecessityofchangingourtraditional approachesinELT.Thenewpurposewastofocusonteachingcommunication, especiallyonlisteningandspeaking.Therearoseanotherproblem:thelackof communicativeELTmaterials.Thetextbookswehaddidn'tsatisfyourlearners requirements. We needed an authentic course incorporating interesting, true to lifeactivities,tapes,videos,socio-culturalmaterials.ThisiswhenTheNew Cambridge English Course appeared. In a very short period of time it gained an audience and became very popular.Complete ItisTheNewCambridgeEnglishCourse'scompletenessthatmanyteacherslike so much. As a rule it takes time for a teacher to get used to a course structure, just as it does for students. With The New Cambridge English Course you quickly get used to how material is presented, to the order of the tasks, and the general design.Thecourseiscompleteinitself,althougheachlevelmaybeused separately.Functions,Phonetics,GrammarandVocabularyarepresented graduallyineachunit,whichhelpsstudentsdeveloptheirskillsequallyunitby unit. And this makes work fruitful and effective. 2It is a great relief for a teacher to have a complete set of material ready to use. TheessentialsetofTeacher'sBook,CourseBook,PracticeBook,Testsand CassettesiscompletedbyReadersandVideoSetsforLevels1and2.Withall thesecomponentsatyourdisposalyoucanstartteachingEnglishwith elementary students and work with the course through all four levels right up to upper-intermediate.Flexible and varied These features are very important. Students are all different. So sometimes you workreallyfastdoingalltheexerciseseasilyandmoverapidlythroughthe course.Butsometimesyouarestucksomewhereandrealisethatyourstudents needmorepracticeonthisorthat.Thisiswheneithersupplementarymaterial or extra time is needed. With The New Cambridge English Course you need not worryaboutthat.Itisorganisedsothatyoumayalwayschoosetofollowthe coursewithoutchanginganything,oryoucanadaptittoyourlearners'needs. So you may be as creative as you want, and still stay within the syllabus. Such an approach is especially important when you are dealing with complete and false beginners. In the early stages, translation exercises may be of great use.Another reason why we prefer to start with The New Cambridge English Course is because Level 1 (elementary) is actually starter and elementary combined. (The supplementaryteacher'snotesTeachingRealBeginnersbyPeterBerezamake this even more obvious.)No doubt it is rare to be teaching a homogeneous group. Some students always knowabitmoreandlearnabitfasterthanothers.Itisveryimportantforthe studentstohavetopicswhichinterestthem,andthisiswhatTheNew Cambridge English Course offers. Teachers may choose the pace which is suitable for individuals within the group.Another reason is that it suits learners of various ages. The variety of topics and richness of content engage the interest of young adults of 14 as well as adults of 50orso.Sofromthepointofviewofstudentsageandabilitiesthecourseis universal.Easy to use IhaveneverheardsomuchpraiseaboutanyotherTeacher'sBookinmylife. Oneneedstobeateachertounderstandwhatteacherswantfromamanual, and The New Cambridge English Course Teacher's Book deserves all the praise it gets.WeappreciatethespiralbindingandthecombinationoftheStudent's Book with Teachers Notes. Sections like Possible Problems, Cultural Differences, TestAdministrationareofgreathelpespeciallyforyoungandinexperienced teachers. 3TheNewCambridgeEnglishCourseisalsoeasytouseforstudents.Thenew material is always presented gradually and in a variety of different situations so thestudentspickupthewordswithoutanyeffort.Theprincipleofnonew materialathomealsoworkswonderfullywithallsortsofstudents.Italso developsresponsibilityforstudying.Studentshaveaspecialhomeworkset, including: Students Book, Practice Book, Readers and Students Cassette.Personal IwouldcallTheNewCambridgeEnglishCourseapersonalcourse.Thisis anotherthingwhichmakesitsospecialandpopularamongtheteachershere. Theauthorspersonalitiesmaybetracedthroughthewholecourse.Youmay findtheminnearlyeverytask,oneverypage.Itmaybetheirsonsvoice recordedinalisteningtask,theirlikesanddislikesinareadingsection,andof coursethatparticularsenseofhumourtheyhave.Itmakesworkingwiththe coursefeelasifyouarecommunicatingwithrealpeopleratherthana featurelesstextbook.So,whileworkingwiththecourse,youaregettingto know its authors in their absence. I guess that was why I had a feeling I already knewMichaelSwan,wheninFebruaryoflastyear,thankstotheeffortof CambridgeUniversityPressandtheBritishCouncil,hegaveseminarsin Krasnoyarsk.IguessIwasnottheonlyonewhofeltthesame.Twohundred teachers attended the seminars which were a great success!Successful Ittakesjust4hourstogetfromKrasnoyarsktoMoscowbyplaneandthen another3hourstogettotheUK.TheNewCambridgeEnglishCoursecovered thisdistancewithin3years.ItwasthefirstcommunicativeEnglishcourseto arriveinSiberia.Ithappenedin1994.Sincethattime,ithasbeenused,loved and cared for by dozens of English teachers all over the region. On behalf of all KrasnoyarskteacherswhoworkwithTheNewCambridgeEnglishCoursewe wouldliketogivemanythankstoMichaelSwanandCatherineWalterforthe joy and satisfaction we have working with the course, which has become one of themostpreciousgemsinthecrownofCambridgeUniversityPress.Wehave been working with The New Cambridge English Course for five years. Within this time it has become a good old friend, and old friends are the best.MaximAgahanovandOlgaKuznetsova,KrasnoyarskTeacher'sTeaching University