Methodology:
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Online tools
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Games
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Songs
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Videos
Description of the course:
Philosophy and principles
Let’s Go Third Edition is a seven-level course designed for children learning English for the first time. The themes and situations throughout the books are universal to children everywhere.
Let’s Go emphasizes communication within a carefully controlled grammatical syllabus. Beginning with the first lesson, students are provided with a variety of activities that focus on interactive communication. The activities gradually increase in difficulty. Students are regularly presented with new vocabulary and structures so that they have adequate with which to communicate at each new level.
Experiences that are familiar to children are featured throughout the course in dialogues, songs, and exercise. This enables students to quickly begin speaking in English about situations to which they can easily relate.
The activities and exercises in each lesson are highly student-centered. Students are encouraged to communicate with one another, first in groups and then in pairs, after they have developed sufficient confidence and familiarity with the language. This pair work is crucial, since it is here that students are truly communicating with one another in situation most closely resembling life outside the classroom.
The lessons in Let’s Go incorporate techniques from several methods that have been repeatedly proven successful in teaching English to children. Among the numerous methods and techniques drawn upon for this course are the following:
- MAT (Model, Action, Talk) method, which emphasizes the use of actions and brief, intensive drills that enable students to learn a maximum of English skills in a minimum amount of time.
- Total Physical Response (TPR), which is based in part on the idea that linking physical action with language will aid retentions.
- The Functional Approach, which emphasizes the proper context in which to use certain language patterns and expressions.
- The Communicative Approach, which is based on the idea that language used in the classroom should be used to communicate thoughts and feelings that are meaningful o the students.
- The Audio-Lingual Approach, which focuses on the sounds and syntax of the language.
- The Grammatical/Structural approaches examine grammar, focusing on patterns and structure in language to aid comprehension and retention.
This new edition of Let’s Go has also incorporated more resent scholarship into its instruction. These include the educational theory of Multiple Intelligences, which includes the idea that students’ aptitudes for learning fall into a wide range of strategies. Additionally, Process-focused Learning emphasizes the importance of establishing proper models through repetition in order to set up the best neural pathways for the language process.
Description of the levels
Let’s Begin
This new level for Let’s Go Third Edition is the initial entry-point into Let’s Go. It follows the same unit structure as the other levels, but it is intended for students who have had no formal instruction in English. Structured around thematic topics and corresponding simple grammar patterns, this pre-reading level introduces students to some basic classroom phrases, useful vocabulary, and their sounds. Further instruction and support for phonics is available in the new Let’s Go Phonics books.
Level 1
This level is also an entry-point into Let’s Go. It is intended for students who already have some familiarity with the English alphabet. Level 1 focuses on the development of basic oral language through functional dialogues, questions-and-answer patterns, and vocabulary work.
This new edition includes more vocabulary in each unit to give students more varied opportunities to communicate with each other. Language patterns focus on first-person use of Be, Like, Can, along with both Wh- and Yes/No question forms. Whether or not your students are learning reading skills at this level, there are ample opportunities through dialogues, songs, and short conversation to practice reading skills. A review of the alphabet letters and their initial sounds at this level can also be supplemented by the new Let’s Go Phonics series.
Level 2
This part is for students who have completed level 1 and are familiar with basic question-and-answer patterns, grammatical structures, and vocabulary. Students begin to develop reading skills in Level 2 by focusing on sight words in simple sentences. New patterns and concept include further expansion of third-person plural forms and the present continuous tense.
Level 3
This part focuses on expanding the students’ ability to use the grammar patterns introduced in level 2. Students are gradually required to read these structures and sight words in short reading passages.
Level 4
This level expands on vocabulary and grammar from the previous levels and introduces more new structures. It also offers slightly longer reading passages that incorporate familiar structures and high-frequency sight words. At this stage and chants are balanced with additional reading and performances opportunities, such as poems, short dialogues, and reading passages.
Level 5
This level continues on recycle language from the previous levels while introducing new structures. Dialogues now appear in script form instead of “speech bubbles” for a more mature appearance. The reading sections in level 5 include passages that are three to four paragraphs long. These passages incorporate familiar grammar patterns from earlier levels.
Level 6
This level consolidates the language from the previous five levels and introduces new structures to use their language skills to talk about themselves, their opinions, and their feelings. As in Level 5, the reading passages are three to four paragraphs long.
