Santillana: Spotlight on English - Level 3 - Newcomer Class Kit - Book Report/Review Example

Critical Review- Santillana Spotlight on English Newcomer Handbook: Level 3 Handbook Santillana Spotlight on English Newcomer Handbook - Level 3 (2011) published by Santillana, a renowned USA publishing company, gets a plus for being one of the outstanding teacher guides when it comes to grammar lessons for 6th graders. The handbook is very influential in its simple and compound sentence structure formation hence passing the right information that the juniors can easily digest while at the same time providing an elaborate and detailed guide to the teacher creating an enabling platform that favors learning. The handbook has deployed the use of simple and complex sentence structures to be more effective to guide the teacher in English lessons. The ultimate aim of the simple sentence structure is to facilitate speedy understanding by the students by satisfying the following questions; is it clear? Is it relevant? Is it thorough? Is it well organized? Is it effective? Is it engaging? Does it include the use of examples and illustrations? Does it include practice exercises and application activities? Does it avoid cultural bias or stereo typing? The topic ‘sentence structure’ from the book by Santillana will provide a basis for a critical review on the handbook in this paper. Clarity Clarity is the ultimate aim of any grammatical material that is used in any English lesson or any other lesson for that matter (Eberhardt, Horst & Menasche 211). The workbook’s sentence structure has excellent clarity in communicating and conveying information. The editor gives an orientate nature so that it would be easy to understand as a guide and to pass information in the favorable design possible to facilitate easy learning and understanding by the students. The simple sentences used oozes simplicity in teaching and understanding as opposed to use of complex sentences that can be a menace to the young minds. For instance in page ten “Sam goes to school” is a simple sentence that is so easy to understand because it contains only one clause. Relevance Relevance is brought about by clarity the sentences are straight to the point in both making a statement in asking the relevant question or simply create the desired effect. The sentence are enabling in the sense that it will facilitate the teacher create the correct learning effect. Looking at the same example above “Sam goes to school” gives a sense that the student should be able to understand what school is (Santillana). Simple sentence usage gives the teacher relevance in conveying the desired information to the students. Thoroughness has been achieved by the use of simple sentence. Clarity and relevance add up to thoroughness in the long run hence ensuring an effective grammar lesson. The sentence structure well organization gives the thoroughness to the book. Organization The book ‘Santillana Spotlight on English’ contains various quizzes that handle various subject matters in the said context. The sentences in the book adopt the form of various structures. There is an elaborate and chronological flow of the sentences present in the book. In grammar, there are three types of sentence structures. We have simple sentences, compound sentences and complex sentences. There is a mix of the types of sentences used in the particular context. The organization flows depending on the types of examples given for the student to answer the relevant asked. The sentences accompanied by various adjective clauses enable it to have meaning. Given the fact that this is a children’s book, it is important that the book uses respective adjective clauses that complement the types of sentence structures adopted in the book for efficient understanding by the children (Eberhardt, Horst & Menasche 102). The components of the particular sentence structure are also important. The combination of various subject, verb and object clauses constitute o the organization of the various sentence structures. When teaching students using the particular book, it becomes important to strike the balance between these word formations to ensure that they grasp important concepts and understand the sentences. Effectiveness The sentence structures are effective. When a student is able to make out that a particular sentence is asking a question rather than being a simple flow of words means that it is effective. The ability to extract the meanings of particular sentences based on their structures goes a long way in ensuring that the concepts are understood. The particular book is based on various exercises that cover different subject areas. It becomes important for the author of the book to consider whether the objectives of the book are met in terms of understandability of content. It therefore stems down to the effect6iveness of the sentence structures with an aim to derive various meanings in the said context. Engagement The different forms of sentence structures that exist in the book are highly engaging. It encourages a student to think critically based on the Subject-Verb agreement organizations. Given the fact that the book consists of various quizzes and puzzles, it becomes important that the sentence structures formulated derive an effect that requires the student tow work out the solution. Various teachers have taught their students on how to handle various engaging sentence structures. The key is always to look at the organization of the subjects and the verbs. Through that analysis, one is able to derive an answer. The book adopts sentence structures, which are effective, engaging, and highly organized. Examples and illustration The book does not provide elaborate examples on the structure of the sentences. The illustrations given are not enough for the children to clearly understand the recommended sentence structures. Some of the examples are out of context making them really irrelevant and invaluable. It makes the children think that there is only one way of formulating sentences. It makes the children cram rather than understand the various order of adjectives nouns and verbs in a sentence. Even though it has few examples and illustrations it does a good job in setting foundation for setting foundation in sentence structures and order of words. Cultural bias or stereotyping The book avoids cultural bias and stereotyping. The book is fair and neutral in addressing the topic. Most teachers should be advised to use this book as unlike other workbooks it avoids cultural stereotyping. It treats all the learners equally as it embraces all the cultures equally without portraying others as more superior. Practice exercises and application activities The building up of sentence structure and vocabulary has always been the first and last difficulty for every language starter or learner. The majority of new learners of English sentence structure tend to find it challenging to learn the ever-expanding English vocabulary and sentence structure. Most of workbooks like the Santillana spotlight on English have tried but unfortunately failed to overcome the difficulty. By teaching the prefixes and suffixes, it will assist the learners to have better understanding of words as it tells how the words are combined and spelled, what they mean, and where they originate from. By teaching the vocabulary learners sentences structure, prefixes and suffixes; the new learners can integrate faster the meaning and concepts of the various sentences while they split combination of individual words. The book provides for the students to read on the basic sentence structures given meaning with combination of different words. On the contrary, they also can associate the sentence ideas or the meanings by reading through the entire sentences. Through following the same set learning pattern, the learners learn through analogy in order to bear the word order and structure in their minds for long. The successful application of the book with the right practice of exercises and right illustration will enable learners to learn step by step. Vocabulary teachers and English secondary language learners should choose the book as their teaching reference as it has application and exercise activities that are beneficial. Works Cited Read More