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Today I've written a short piece describing how I use discussions in the classroom. To get students talking I often use quotations with which they will either strongly agree or strongly disagree, and this helps to get a discussion rolling without risking to offend someone. At the same time this is a good reason to tell students more about some people and events from English-speaking countries and to provide background information in general. Hope you'll find these quotation useful. As a good source of quotations I use the Oxford Dictionary of Modern Quotations, which I heartily recommend: 1. Douglas Adams British writer: Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so. 2. Alfred Adler Austrian psychologist: It is always easier to fight for one's principles than live up to them. 3. Pamela Anderson Canadian actress: When you have nothing to live up to, you can't disappoint anybody... When you form a full sentence, you're a genius. 4. Eddie Arcaro US jockey: When a jockey retires he becomes just another little man. 5. Jacques Attali French economist: Machines are the new proletariat. The working class is being given its walking papers. 6. Margaret Atwood Canadian writer: To live without mirrors is to live without the self. 7. Alan Ball English footballer and member of the 1966 World Cup team: I shall tell you what made us what we were. We had this wonderful feeling that we were still part of the people. 8. Roland Barthes French writer: All domination begins by prohibiting language. 9. Buzzie Bavasi American baseball manager: We live by the Golden Rule. Those who have the gold make the rules. 10. Francis Biddle American lawyer: The American Constitution has never greatly bothered any wartime President. 11. Conrad Black Canadian-born British businessman: Since when was greed a criminal offence? 12. Tony Blair Former UK prime minister: I am a pretty straight sort of guy. 13. Boy George English pop singer: New York is so clean now you could eat your dinner off its streets. I'll do London next, but I'll charge this time. 14. Gordon Brown UK prime minister: It will not be a surprise to you to learn I'm more interested in the future of the Arctic Circle than the future of the Arctic Monkeys. 15. Warren Buffett US businessman: It's only when the tide goes out that you learn who's been swimming naked. 16. George W. Bush US president: Yo, Blair. How are you doing? 17. David Cameron British politician: He was the future once. (of Tony Blair) 18. Jimmy Carr Irish comedian: On your way out, be aware of women and children - they tend to slow you down. 19. Joan Collins British actress: Older men treat women like possessions, which is why I like younger men. 20. Billy Connolly Scottish comedian: If you want to lose weight, don't eat anything out of a bucket. 21. Robin Cook Former Foreign Secretary and Leader of the House of Commons: I may not have succeeded in halting the war in Iraq, but I did secure the right of Parliament to decide on war. 22. Quentin Crisp English writer: Euphemisms are unpleasant truths wearing diplomatic cologne. 23. The Dalai Lama Tibetan spiritual leader: We are a part of humanity, so we should take care of humanity. And if we can't do that, then we should at least do no harm. 24. Philip K. Dick US science fiction writer: Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. 25. George Eastman American businessman: The rich man never really gives anything, he only distributes part of the surplus. It is the person of moderate means who really gives. 26. Dawn French British actress: If I were alive in Rubens's time, I'd be celebrated as a model and Kate Moss would be used as a paint brush. 27. Bill Gates American businessman: The world has had a tendency to focus a disproportionate amount of attention on me. 28. John Paul Getty American businessman: The best form of charity I know is the art of meeting a payroll. 29. James Goldsmith British financier: When you marry your mistress you create a job vacancy. 30. Hubert Gregg English songwriter: I'm blessed with total recall, apart from where I left my umbrella. 31. Matt Groening American humorist: You tried your best, and you failed miserably. The lesson is, never try. (Homer Simpson) ...and: Kids are the best...You can teach them to hate the things you hate. And they practically raise themselves, what with the internet and all. (Homer Simpson) 32. Woody Guthrie American folksinger: I ain't a communist necessarily, but I been in the red all my life. 33. Robert Heinlein American novelist: More than three can't agree on when to have dinner, much less when to strike. More than six people cannot decide a thing. 34. David Hockney British artist: The reason you start painting yourself is that you are a model; a cheap model. I mean, you've always got yourself. 35. Peter Jay British journalist, economist and former diplomat: It makes one feel like the geography teacher who showed a map of the world to Genghis Khan. (claiming to have explained monetarism to Margaret Thatcher) 36. David Kay American weapons inspector: We have not yet found shiny, pointy things that I would call a weapon. 37. Peter Kay British comedian: Garlic bread - it's the future. I've tasted it. 38. John Kerry US politician: How do you ask a man to be the last man to die in Vietnam? How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake? 39. Ann Landers US advice columnist: At every party there are two kinds of people - those who want to go home and those who don't. The trouble is, they are usually married to each other. 40. Nigella Lawson British cookery writer: Diets are like boyfriends - it never really works to go back to them. 41. Jay Leno American comedian: The US finally came up with an exit strategy. Unfortunately it's for the World Cup. (after the US soccer team were knocked out in the early stages of the World Cup) 42. Gary Lineker English footballer: Football is a simple game; 22 men chase a ball for 90 minutes and, at the end, the Germans win. 43. Ken Livingstone British politician: This was not a terrorist attack against the mighty and the powerful... It was aimed at ordinary, working-class Londoners, black and white, Muslim and Christian, Hindu and Jew, young and old. (On the suicide bombings in London, 7 July 2005) 44. Linda McCartney American photographer and animal rights activist: I don't eat anything with a face. 45. Denis MacShane British politician: I liken the French/British relationship to a very old married couple who often think of killing each other but would never dream of divorce. 46. Bill Maher American comedian: Suicide is our way of saying to God: "You can't fire me. I quit." 47. Warren Mitchell British actor: You don't retire in this business. You just notice the phone hasn't rung for 10 years. 48. Nick Park Animator and creator of Wallace & Gromit: I never thought that playing with plasticine would lead to such a glamorous life. 49. Philip Pullman British writer: I thought physics could be done to the glory of God, till I saw there wasn't any God at all and that physics was more interesting anyway. 50. John Reid Labour MP and former Home Secretary: Our system is not fit for purpose. 51. Andy Roddick American tennis player: Maybe I'll just punch him or something. (On how he might beat Roger Federer) 52. Anita Roddick British businesswoman: I watch where the cosmetics industry is going and then walk in the opposite direction. 53. Nicholas Serota British art expert: This is a plea for patience. Your scepticism will gradually diminish and your fear will turn to love... All art was modern once. 54. Felipe Scolari Portuguese football coach: Now there is so much professionalism, we have to revert to urging players to like the game, love it, do it with joy. 55. O. J. Simpson American football player: Fame vaporises, money goes with the wind, and all that's left is character. 56. Upton Sinclair American novelist: It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it. 57. Linda Smith British comedian: I play all my country and western music backwards. Your lover returns, your dog comes back to life and you cease to be an alcoholic. 58. Lynne Truss British writer: Abuse is the currency of all reality shows. 59. Robin Williams US actor: There were a lot of doctors in rehab. It's rather like being in a fat farm with nutritionists. 60. Edward O. Wilson American sociobiologist: Wonderful theory, wrong species. (On Marxism, which he considered more suited to ants than to humans)

Every time I think of a good teacher (and I am lucky to have known such teachers personally), I cannot help noticing that although they are all very different, they have one thing in common: they all do research. The research I mean is not always formal, in fact, many of them have problems trying to formalise their research or to describe its results, but they keep doing it anyway. For some of them research means a constant search for new words and meanings, new ways of putting things in English. This helps them to keep up their proficiency in English, although very often this is not enough for any serious development as teachers. Other teachers, apart from brushing up their English, try to learn as much as possible about new things they read in new textbooks, like what is zorbing ("Enjoy English" 10) or who Squanto was ("Happy English.ru" 9) etc. This is also a kind of research because to do it you need to find some internet sites or books with the information, you need to compare the information you've got from different sources and put it together to be able to explain it to the pupils, so just using a dictionary will not be enough. Some teachers try to do formal research. There are teachers who do it because their methodological unit requires it, and there are those who do it because they are truly interested. Something tells me that the majority of our forum members belong to the latter group. A frequent problem that such researchers encounter is that they just read whatever they can find on a certain topic and then put the information together. This is what makes it difficult for them to formalise the results of their research. In fact, such an approach would make it difficult to achieve significant results as well. So how could a teacher work if she/he wants to do some true research, in the academic sence of the word, something that could be formalised, described and published or presented at conferences? The first step would be to formulate a hypothesis. Of course, to be able to do that a researcher should already have substantial background knowledge of the field she/he is going to research, but since we are talking about professional teachers and research in methodology, this should not be a big problem. A hypothesis is usually formulated around a "what if" idea. That is, what happens if I use this method? Will my teaching become more effective if I use ICT? What will happen if I combine ICT and the process-oriented approach to teaching personal letter writing in grade 8? You may have noticed that with every sentence the idea becomes more concrete, more down-to-earth and manageable. In fact, if we turn the last question into a statement, we will already get a hypothesis, namely: "Teaching 8th-graders to write personal letters will be more effective if we use ICT and the process-oriented approach." This is a research that can be carried out during one academic year, and now it is time to further break it down into smaller, easily identifiable and manageable chunks. Breaking the work down is necessary because there are stages to go through, with an identifiable result for every stage. Now that you've got your hypothesis, you need to see what other people have done in this area. As likely as not, you will find that noone else has tackled this topic yet. This means that what you do will be very interesting for those who will follow in your footsteps. But if you do find that someone has already done something fairly similar (for example, used ICT and the process-oriented approach to teach essay-writing to 10th-graders), you will be able to see how that person's findings work in your particular classroom and what you can do to apply them to teaching personal letter writing to younger students. In fact, the result of this preparatory stage would be your knowledge of what has been done in this area and what other researchers think about this problem. If no research has been done in this area yet, you will have to find what other researchers mean by ICT, how the process-oriented approach to teaching writing is different from other approaches and how it can be used to teach personal letter writing. With this done, you are ready to plan practical action. Practical preparation for action. The main aim of every research is to see if your hypothesis works, if it is correct. In our example it would mean to make sure that the use of ICT and the process-oriented approach to teaching writing will enable you to effectively teach your 8th-graders to write personal letters. You will have learnt from your previous background information study that ICT here may mean anything from specially designed learning software to the use of e-mail and blogs. Also, you will have read about the stages of the process-oriented approach to teaching writing. Now it's your job to decide how and when the ICT will come into your teaching in your 8th grade. For example, you may choose to teach students the process-oriented approach first and then introduce ICT, or you may combine the two things and use them simultaneously. You may prefer to go along with the logic of the learning software, or you may decide for yourself on the stages in teaching. You will also see what your students already know about writing personal letters (you can always give them a task and see how well they do it - and in the end you'll give them a similar task and see what has changed during the year). In any case, this is your planning stage. After the plans are laid, the next stage is the practical testing of your hypothesis, that is, the teaching. Testing your hypothesis. Teaching is teaching. This is what teachers are for, this is what they are supposed to be good it. The only difference between your everyday teaching and teaching as part of your experiment is that here you pay a special attention to what makes your teaching more (or less, as the case may be) effective while using ICT and the process-oriented approach to teaching writing. And also you make notes, you describe what and how your students have learnt about writing personal letters. At the end of the year you should be able to see what progress your students have made and, based on your previous teaching experience you can tell what part of the progress can be attributed to new methods and approaches. So all you have to do now is describe your experiment. Describing the outcomes. should not be too hard to do. First, you already have your hypothesis. You have tested it in your classroom. You have been taking notes about how the teaching was going and writing down your observations. Now you have a large part of the job done, some of it is already in writing and some is in your head. All you need to do now is write it down on paper, attach examples of students' work from all stages of the experiment, and prepare areport on what and how you have done and what you think will be effective in any other classroom, and what you would not recommend other teachers to do because it is not effective. Hopefully, this will help some young teachers to begin to do research on a regular basis. By the way, what are you planning to study/research this year?

The quest for "the perfect textbook" is an endless and futile undertaking. It is endless because there are numerous textbooks all over the world, some are better, some are worse, but every day more and more textbooks appear. It is futile because no matter how good a textbook is, the degree of its efficiency and ease of use will greatly vary in different classroom, with different types of learners and in different classroom settings. One thing that is important, however, is who the target learners of the textbook are. This is crucial because if the target learners are defined correctly, the number of hours, the methodology, and, most importantly, the content becomes self-evident. Throughout my teaching career of 13 years I have tried many different textbooks. And very gradually I've reached a conclusion which, I think, could be interesting for those who are only beginning to teach. A textbook can be a global one. This means that it targets learners everywhere, all over the world. Such textbooks are based on the assumption that people are more or less the same everywhere, notwithstanding their cultural differences, and that more or less the same things are likely to arouse their interest. Although the covers and the methodologies in such textbooks can vary, their content and topics are very similar. Indeed, every time students are supposed to talk about environmental issues, they discuss tropical rainforests and pollution from large cars. Every time they study adverbs of place, it is a British (or, more rarely, American) house that they describe, as well as a typical street in an English town. When they talk about history, it is mainly English history that is discussed (although here I've seen some very welcome variation). The problem I see with such textbooks is that the world is a much larger place than just Britain, or Europe, or the USA. And our students need not only to be able to receive information about the world, but also to share stories about their own country and about their own lives. And they need to get enough of comprehensible input, speaking in S. Krashen's terms, to be able to acquire enough language to do that. True communication happens not when one person adjusts his/her linguistic behaviour to that of his/her interlocutor, but when everyone in the conversation remains standing on the cultural position of his/her country and pays due respect to the cultural features of the interlocutor. From this point of view. learning only about one or two countries during the course of study is pointless. A more "culturally-aware" textbook would need to be localised, it needs to contain at least some information about the pupils' culture, history and country, otherwise instead of being representatives of their own country, they will fall into the trap of 'cultural imperialism" and will feel that there is only one 'correct" model of behaviour, that only certain interests and presumptions are correct or just interesting. when I was using global textbooks in my classroom, I always felt that my own country was dramatically underrepresented there. Indeed, what information about Russia will you normally find in a global textbook? The same trite stories about matryoshkas, the taiga and at best some mention of Russia's size. Is that the kind of information a pupil needs to develop his/her cultural awareness, to understand the differences and similarities between his/her own and the target language's country's culture? I doubt it. I firmly believe that to enable out students communicate freely, represent our country and assimilate foreign culture rather than replace their own with it, we need textbook that would provide basis for comparisons and lead to a better understanding of students' own culture through the target language country's one. How can it be achieved? If we take a look at the currently most popular Russian EFL textbooks, we shall see that there are different ways to do it. For example, "Happy English.ru" is based on a story, where the main characters are a Russian boy and his Scottish friend (as well as plenty of secondary British characters). The story takes place in Russia, in England and in the USA, thus enabling the students to compare the three countries, to see what communication problems can arise there unless we take the cultural features into consideration and how we shall be interesting interlocutors only when we remain ourselves. Another advantage of those textbooks is that they promote common values that Russian students hould be able to appreciate and share with their foreign peers: freedom, democracy, friendship, willingness to compromise and to help each other. I am sure that by teaching such values we as educators help to build a brighter future for us all. A slightly different approach is used in the "Enjoy English" textbooks, which constitute probably the most popular Russian EFL course there is. There the authors take us by the hand and let us read about British museums, sights, schools, public services etc. But every time we read, say, about London, we turn to our own hometowns and discuss what we could show to our foreign friends, what is good and interesting about the places we live in etc. Thus we elicit a lot of student-generated content, which they can use later on. I remember how I was teaching a class in which the pupils told me that they have no idea where they could take a foreign friends in our small town as "there is nothing interetsing or good about our place", they said. I changed the question slightly and asked the students what they like to do in the summer or on week-ends. And they told me immediately, that they like to go on walks in the shadowy alleys, that they love swimming in the river, that they play football at their school's sports ground, that we have one of the largest sugar plans in the country (a sight!), that they like to walk along an ancient fortification (another sight!) etc etc. After this discussion I once again asked them to make the programme of a three-day stay for a foreign friend, and this time they started to protest that three days are not enough to show a foreign friend all there is worth seeing inthe town. This change of attitude was made possible only by the leaner-centered approach and the exercises and stance of the "Enjoy English" textbooks. This has enabled me to develop a lot of self-respect and interest towards their own as well as the target language's culture in my students. Yet another popular course is "Millie-New Millennium English". This course tries to get across the idea that there is something interesting in every country and culture. When pupils learn to talk about houses in their first year of studying English, they learn about igloos as well as typical houses in other countries. When they learn to talk about toys, they learn about the customs connected with toys, taht exist in japan and are celebrated on father's day and Mother's day there. And every time students talk about such things, they keep discussing what good things they'd like to introduce in their own country and what good things they could share with their foreign friends. When children grow up a little, the focus shifts slightly. At this age critical thinking needs to be developed, by which I mean that students need to be able to distinguish between fact and fiction, between what is good for them and not so good, and decide what they can do to make their own lives and their world better. They read about heroes and role-models from their own country and from other countries too, they read about a successful project which helped to make the otherwise dull town a tourist attraction and immediately they try to design a project to improve their own hometown, they read about traditions of different countries, and those of their own take about 50 per cent of the texts. This helps us to ensurethat students do not take all good things for granted, that they realise that often hard work is needed to build on any country's rich cultural heritage, but that their own background allows them to improve their own lives and be their own masters with due respect to other countries and cultures. This is what I can say about the cultural and informational advantages of local textbooks as compared with the global ones. One could also talk about how a textbook should consider the students' first language and arrange grammar and vocabulary teaching accordingly. Localisation, or even better, creation of EFL books in and for specific countries help to design a better, more efficient textbook which makes the task of teaching English and educating students much easier for the teacher.

The seemingly easiest way to introduce ICT into the language classroom is to use specially-created learning software. The advantages of such software are obvious – the content and the tasks are already there, the teacher does not need to design any tasks of his/her own, the software can be used both in class and by individual students, and it is readily available in the market. But the situation is not really as brilliant as it seems to be, and sometimes disadvantages of such software may outweigh any potential advantages that it may have. Let’s look deeper into this issue. Types of software and their features First of all, there are different types of learning software. Among others, one can find skills-building software, which is aimed at building students’ vocabulary, or grammar, or listening, or reading skills. Usually such software includes only one type of skills, although more and more often one can find different skills sections on a single disc, e.g. such as grammar and pronunciation building program. Such programs are good for individual practice if they suit the student by the language and conceptual level. However, very often, as it would sometimes happen with a grammar-and-vocabulary course, the vocabulary is either too low-level or too high-level for the grammar exercises and thus creates problems rather than helps students to get rid of them. Besides, as these programmes are too focused on particular skills, they are not easy to apply in a classroom where students are expected to be equally making progress in all types of language skills. Another example of learning software is exam preparation or testing software. Usually it takes the form of a set of electronic tests, which provide immediate feedback to the user and explain the peculiarities of a particular type of task or an entire exam. Numerous TOEFL Preparation CDs belong to this type of software. These programmes are useful mainly for those who wish to prepare for a particular exam and are not very suitable for pupils studying English for General Purposes. Probably the most frequent type of learning software are ready study courses. Such programmes are, basically, courses of English which are supposed to be ready for studying. They are usually arranged around certain topics (like Travelling, Eating Out, Checking In a Hotel, Buying Tickets and so on), contain exercises for learning vocabulary, grammar, reading, writing and simulating speaking activities and are designed according specific language levels. Some courses include a variety of features, such as images, games, glossaries, voice record and playback option and short videos. Other courses include mainly dialogues together with their audio version, vocabulary, grammar and writing games and exercises, mock role plays when a programme pronounces certain phrases and the student has to insert suitable phrases in the gap, sometimes using a feature allows students to record their own speech and compare it to the bits recorded by native speakers. Again, very much like with skills training software, such courses are best for use by individual students, who can select and adjust their pace of work as they go along. Using these courses in the classroom frequently leads to problems, as often the content of these courses does not fit the federal standard and the federal programme, the topical vocabulary is different from what the students have in their textbooks, the order of learning grammar issues also differs from what there is in a textbook or from what is required by the federal standard and programmes. In short, such digital courses clash with the textbooks in vocabulary, grammar, level of difficulty and pace of study, and the teacher has to spend a lot of time and effort to select the contents which would suit the class and make studies more effective rather than leading to failures. A more suitable for a general audience type of software is multimedia, specially designed to go with a particular textbook. On the surface level the advantages of such multimedia supplements are obvious: they fit the lexis and grammar of the textbook, they suit the students’ language level, they do not confront the conceptual level of the textbook, and the exercises on CDs support and expand the exercises in the textbook by providing more practice on varying levels. On the other hand, though, there still is a number of aspects to consider while analyzing the supplement to decide how to use it most effectively. What makes multimedia supplement effective? Multimedia supplement is most effective when it: • Follows the topics of the textbook, thus helping students to expand their understanding of the material that they are studying; • Fits the vocabulary, grammar and language level of the book, providing extra practice in the subject matter; • Contains multi-level exercises so that both the more and the less-successful students would benefit from using the supplement; • Provides various features that can not be included into the textbook: videos, animated cartoons, sounds, interactive games, puzzles, tests, other exercises for interactive practice; • Provides instant feedback to students so that they know whether they have been successful in doing an exercise or a test. Some multimedia supplement rely on the teacher to give feedback to the students, which, instead of increasing learner autonomy, make the students even more dependent on the teacher, which is hardly effective from the point of view of applying ICT to teaching EFL; • Contains additional resources, such as additional exercises, information, access to online resources (which is relevant only unless the textbook itself has a support website); • Can be easily built into the learning process both on technology (that is, be used with a single computer and a data projector plus a smartboard if required, used in a computer classroom or by the students individually as part of their homework) and on methodology level (contains clear and concise instructions for the students on what to do and how to do the exercises); • Helps the teachers to save time and better organize study process (that is, contains a detailed teacher’s guide which explains the overall uses and objectives of the supplement and contains instructions and recommendations for every single exercise, together with information on how they can be best fit into the lesson), contains a class management system; • Is easy to use due to an intuitively understandable interface and does not require installation of any additional software or access to the internet to do the exercises. The following checklist can help teachers to analyse learning software and easily decide if they want to use it in their classroom: Analysing for Focus on Questions to consider How to find out Target audience Age and level of students 1. What level of English is this software for? 2. What age of students is it meant for? 3. Are the instructions and tasks formulated clearly enough for your students to easily understand them? Check the annotation on the cover. Run a demo of the software to see if it suits your students. Educational objectives Type of software and its objectives 1. What type of software is it? Is it a skills trainer? Is it meant for exam practice? It is an independent course? Is it a multimedia supplement to a textbook? 2. What is it supposed to prepare students for? Check the annotation on the cover. Check the index (the contents) page of the main menu of the programme. Run a random lesson to see what its objectives are. Usability Equipment needed and technical difficulty/ease of the software 1. Does it need any extra software to be installed? 2. What equipment is needed can it be used only with a smartboard? Will it work if you have only a standalone computer and a data projector? Do you need a computer classroom to use it? Can it be used by individual students at home? 3. Does it require internet connection or special registration/activation key? 4. Can it run in a network, or does it have to be installed individually on each and every computer? 5. Do you need to obtain a license for using it on several computers? 6. Does the manufacturer provide technical support? 7. Is the interface (the layout of the screens and the elements on the screens like buttons etc) clear and understandable? Check the technical requirements information on the cover. Check the booklet/inlay to see if it contains an activation key or any information on licensing. Check the cover, the booklet/inlay for technical support contact information/website. Content and features Content of the programme and what it can do 1. What features of the programme make it different from a textbook? 2. What type of resources does it contain? Does it contain videos, sounds, interactive images? 3. What type of exercises does it contain? Does it contain multi-level exercises? Does it contain interactive texts, quizzes, tests? 4. What skills does it focus on? Does it contain reading, listening, writing and speaking exercises? 5. Does it contain information and tasks for project work/case studies etc? 6. Does it increase learner autonomy through exercises for independent work, exploration and instant feedback? Check the booklet/inlay for information. Run a random lesson to see what it includes. Management of the study process Information for teachers and students 1. Does the software include teacher’s guide in the booklet/inlay or on the disc? 2. Is the teacher’s guide written in clear, concise language? 3. Is there enough information in the guide on what stages of the lesson to use the software at? 4. Does the guide include pictures or video instructions that explain how to use the software? 5. Does the guide contain recommendations on how to use every single exercise? 6. Is the software fully compatible with your textbook and easy to build into your lessons? 7. Does the software include a Class Management System? Check the booklet/inlay for information. Run a random lesson to see what it includes. This checklist may help you to analyse learning software and foresee most of the potential problems that you can face as a teacher. However, the importance of each of these issues is more visible when applied to a concrete example. Let’s do a case study of some learning software. Learning software – a case study The software we are going to study is called “Enjoy Listening and Playing 2”. We are going to quickly go over all the questions in the checklist, answer them and then decide whether this software is suitable for your classroom. Target audience: 1. What level of English is this software for? – Beginner to elementary. 2. What age of students is it meant for? Grade 2 of Russian schools – 1-8 years old. 3. Are the instructions and tasks formulated clearly enough for your students to easily understand them? – The tasks are in Russian, written in simple language, formulated in the same words throughout the entire disc which makes them easy to understand for students. The instructions are written in white letters at the bottom of each screen. Besides, there is a button marked “?”, which makes more detailed instructions appear on the screen. Students should easily understand them. Educational objectives: 1. What type of software is it? Is it a skills trainer? Is it meant for exam practice? It is an independent course? Is it a multimedia supplement to a textbook? – The software is a multimedia supplement to the “Enjoy Englis” Grade 2 textbook, as it says on the cover. 2. What is it supposed to prepare students for? – The main objectives of this software is to practise students’ listening and reading skills, with the main focus on interactive listening. Another objective is to help students memorise and practise vocabulary and grammar. Usability: 1. Does it need any extra software to be installed? – No, no extra software is needed, the program will run “as is” on any computer, no installation is required. 2. What equipment is needed can it be used only with a smartboard? Will it work if you have only a standalone computer and a data projector? Do you need a computer classroom to use it? Can it be used by individual students at home? – This program can be used both with a standalone computer and a data projector, with a computer, data projector and a smartboard, in a computer class or individually by students on their PCs at home. Thus the programme is pretty universal in usability. 3. Does it require internet connection or special registration/activation key? – No, no internet connection or special activation key is necessary in this version. 4. Can it run in a network, or does it have to be installed individually on each and every computer? – One disc can be run in a class network without having to be installed on every single computer. 5. Do you need to obtain a license for using it on several computers? – Unless you use one disc for the class network, you need to have a separate disc for each computer. 6. Does the manufacturer provide technical support? – Two websites are listed on the cover as providing internet-support. 7. Is the interface (the layout of the screens and the elements on the screens like buttons etc) clear and understandable? – The interface is intuitively understandable. There are instructions on how to use the buttons on the inlay and in the teacher’s guide. Content and features: 1. What features of the programme make it different from a textbook? – Although the programme is built on the audio from the textbook, it consists of fully interactive exercises, animated cartoons and contains additional exercises for extra practice to add to those you can find in the textbook. 2. What type of resources does it contain? Does it contain videos, sounds, interactive images? – The programme contains animated cartoons, sounds, interactive images, interactive listening tests and exercises. 3. What type of exercises does it contain? Does it contain multi-level exercises? Does it contain interactive texts, quizzes, tests? – The programme contains interactive listening exercises and tests. 4. What skills does it focus on? Does it contain reading, listening, writing and speaking exercises? – The programme focuses mainly on listening exercises, but also contains a large number of reading and some writing exercises. With most of the exercises students need to repeat new words and phrases, thus practising their pronunciation and speaking skills. 5. Does it contain information and tasks for project work/case studies etc? – Although the programme contains extra exercises, there are no project tasks as enough of such tasks are used in the textbook. 6. Does it increase learner autonomy through exercises for independent work, exploration and instant feedback? – The exercises provide instant feedback and can be done independently by learners. The programme will repeat words, phrases and dialogues as many times as needed until the learners get them right. Every timea learner does an exercise correctly, he/she gets a visual bonus (a short animated cartoon) which motivates learners to do the exercises. Management of the study process: 1. Does the software include teacher’s guide in the booklet/inlay or on the disc? – The software contains a detailed teacher’s guide on the disc. The guide is in pdf format and can be viewed either on the screen or printed out for reference. 2. Is the teacher’s guide written in clear, concise language? – The guide is written in clear, concise language and is easy to understand. 3. Is there enough information in the guide on what stages of the lesson to use the software at? – The guide contains a description of the overall goals and objectives and use of the software as well as recommendations on what stages of the lessons the exercises can be best used. 4. Does the guide include pictures or video instructions that explain how to use the software? – The guide contains pictures and screenshots that make it very easy to understand. 5. Does the guide contain recommendations on how to use every single exercise? – The guide contains detailed recommendations for each and every exercise. 6. Is the software fully compatible with your textbook and easy to build into your lessons? – The software is fully compatible with “Enjoy English” Grade 2 textbook, the information in the Teacher’s Book and in the Teacher’s guide on the disc is enough to allow it to be easily built into the lessons or to be used by students for homework. 7. Does the software include a Class Management System? – No, this version of the software does not have a Class Management System. But it looks like ot does not need one either.