Treetops 4 – Textbook Analisys Materials Design

2014

Alejandra Alonso

I.E.S. en Lenguas Vivas “Juan Ramón Fernández” 22/10/2014

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TEXTBOOK ANALYSIS

General Analysis

1) Title: Treetops - Class Book 4 2) Publisher: Oxford 3) Type of textbook: general English 4) Intended audience: primary school, higher forms (5th or 6th form), 11 years old children 5) Content: -multiROM -puppets -flashcards -posters -photocopy masterbook -The Treetops Legend map of Britain 6) Total estimated time: annual course 7) Subdivision of the material The classbook is divided into 2 main sections: the class section and the practice section, each of them into 6 units related to different topics. At the end of each unit there is a round up section, self evaluation and portfolio. After each unit there is a story based on a legend. After 2 units there is a cultural section called “cuture scrapbook” in which the children that appear in the book give cultural information about different topics, such as London, Wales and King Arthur in Britain. At the end of the book there is a section referred to festivals. 8) Design:

Four colour paper for the classbook section Two colour paper for the practice section

Visual elements: The whole book is full of illustrations, colourful ones in the case of

the class section and black and white in the practice section. Most of the images are drawings but there are also some photographs, especially in the cultural section.

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In depth Analysis

Unit 2: “At School”

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Task 1: "Listen and read."

What is the learner expected to do?

Not required (students have to listen and read from the book)

Focus on the meaning of language (recognition of sentences)

Mental operation (they have to decode semantically)

Who with?

Individually, simultaneously: students will do the task all at the same time but each one individually with their own book.

With what content?

Input to learners: o Form: intended /extended discourse written and graphic (the images aid

the discourse) o Source: content supplied by the materials o Nature: real (a text with supposedly real information about a girl)

Output from learners: They have to listen and read, no output is expected

Task 2: "Answer."

What is the learner expected to do?

Scripted response (students have to repeat what they hear)

Focus on form (repetition of vocabulary - isolated words)

Mental operation (They are supposed to select information and decode semantic meaning)

Who with?

Individually, simultaneously: students will do the task all at the same time but each one individually with their own book.

With what content?

Input to learners: o Form: Written sentences and graphics o Source: content supplied by the materials o Nature: linguistic items (sentences that focus on meaning)

Output from learners: o Form: Written sentences (the students are expected to answer the

questions with the information provided) o Source: content supplied by the materials o Nature: linguistic items (sentences)

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Lesson: School subjects

Task 3: "Listen and point."

What is the learner expected to do?

Scripted response (students have to point at what is on the book)

Focus on the meaning of language (recognition of vocabulary - isolated words)

Mental operation (they have to identify the sounds of a word and match it with the picture)

Who with?

Individually, simultaneously: students will do the task all at the same time but each one individually with their own book.

With what content?

Input to learners: o Form: Spoken words (vocabulary of subjects) and graphics (illustrations

related to the same vocabulary on subjects) o Source: content supplied by the materials o Nature: linguistic items (a vocabulary list)

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Output from learners: o Form: recognition of words (the students are expected to point at the

vocabulary they listen to) o Source: content supplied by the materials o Nature: linguistic items (students have to point at objects)

Task 4: "Repeat."

What is the learner expected to do?

Scripted response (students have to repeat what they hear)

Focus on form (repetition of vocabulary - isolated words)

Mental operation (they have to identify the sounds of a word and repeat them)

Who with?

Individually, simultaneously: students will do the task all at the same time but each one individually with their own book.

With what content?

Input to learners: o Form: Spoken words (vocabulary of subjects) o Source: content supplied by the materials o Nature: linguistic items (a vocabulary list)

Output from learners: o Form: spoken words (the students are expected to repeat the list of

vocabulary) o Source: content supplied by the materials o Nature: linguistic items (students have to repeat what they hear)

Task 5: "Choose and write."

What is the learner expected to do?

Scripted response (they have to complete the gaps below the images with words that are provided by the book)

Focus on form (isolated words)

Mental operation (they have to identify the words)

Who with?

Individually, simultaneously: students will do the task all at the same time but each one individually with their own book.

With what content?

Input to learners: o Form: Written words (vocabulary of subjects) o Source: content supplied by the materials o Nature: linguistic items (a vocabulary list)

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Output from learners: o Form: written words (the students are expected to write the list of

vocabulary) o Source: content supplied by the materials o Nature: linguistic items (students have to copy what is written on the

book)

Task 6: "Listen and repeat."

What is the learner expected to do?

Scripted response (students have to repeat what they hear)

Focus on the meaning of language (a dialogue)

Mental operation (they have to repeat identically)

Who with?

Individually, simultaneously: students will do the task all at the same time but each one individually with their own book.

With what content?

Input to learners: o Form: intended /extended discourse written (it’s a dialogue) o Source: content supplied by the materials o Nature: real (it’s a text with a dialogue between two kids)

Output from learners: o Form: repetition of sentences (the students are expected to repeat the

dialogue) o Source: content supplied by the materials o Nature: real (it’s a text with a dialogue between two kids)

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Task 7: "Say."

What is the learner expected to do?

Scripted response (students have to act guided by the dialogue from the book)

Focus on form

Mental operation (they have to try to reproduce the dialogue but with their own responses)

Who with?

In pairs or learners to whole class: some students will act and the rest of the class will watch.

With what content?

Input to learners: o Form: intended /extended discourse written (it’s a dialogue) o Source: content supplied by the materials o Nature: real (a text with a dialogue between supposedly real characters)

Output from learners: o Form: spoken extended discourse o Source: content supplied by the materials o Nature: real (a text with a dialogue between two students)

Task 8: PORTFOLIO "Draw and label your school subjects."

What is the learner expected to do?

Initiate (they have to complete the portfolio with their own answers)

Focus on form (isolated words)

Mental operation (they are supposed to select information and decode semantic meaning)

Who with?

Individually, simultaneously: students will do the task all at the same time but each one individually with their own book.

With what content?

Input to learners: o Form: Written words and graphics (vocabulary of subjects) o Source: content supplied by the materials o Nature: linguistic items (a vocabulary list)

Output from learners: o Form: written words and graphics (vocabulary of subjects) o Source: content supplied by the learners themselves o Nature: personal information

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Visuals Analysis

There are colour drawings in every page.

There are also colour photographic images in many pages.

In many cases,

pictures are used

with decorative

purposes and to

help in

understanding the

context of the

text.

They are used to

set an example for

the students to

follow.

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They are also used

to give real

content.

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In Tasks 1 and 2, photographic images are used to support the text and help students

in understanding.

In Tasks 3, 4 and 5, pictures are used to illustrate the presented vocabulary.

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In Tasks 6 and 7, photographic images are used to set an example for the students to

follow.

Web companion analysis

Oxford University Press offers in its website links to each one of the Treetops series,

but many of the instructions are only available in Italian.

! Some of the

instructions are in

Italian.

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This is the website of Treetops 4. It offers puzzles, E-cards, frog games, stories and

additional material (photocopiable material) to all the units in the book.

Most of the activities are additional to the tasks available in the book to practice

further its content.

Labels are clear.

Instructions are

clear.

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Again, in the link to the E-cards (meaning: e-mail), all the instructions are in Italian. In

this section, students can write an e-mail to their friends.

! Again, all the

instructions are in

Italian.

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In the link to the stories, you can find the same ones that you find in the book, but

with the audio and in the shape of a book (whilst in the course book, they have the

design of a comic strip).

Taking all in consideration, I consider that this is a web companion because all the links

offer addition activities to the ones available in the coursebook. In the case of the stories,

even though they are the same as the ones in the book, they offer the audio and a

different format. The only drawback is the fact that some of the instructions are only

available in Italian.

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Working with a webtool: Photovisi

At the end of units 2 and 4, there is a section called “Culture Scrapbook”, in which information about London and Wales is given.

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After finishing both sections, the students can create their own scrapbook in the shape of

a poster as a whole class task. They can look for information and pictures about their city

(eg, Buenos Aires) and work cooperatively. Once they have selected what information to

use, they can use the web tool “Photovisi” to create the poster as they can easily upload

the images they have selected and also add text.

Here is an example of a poster they can create with Photovisi.