| Focus on Grammar is one of the most popular series | | | | movie "It's a Wonderful Life" and how it uses the 3rd |
| of textbooks designed for students learning English. | | | | conditional. Throughout the text, examples of the third |
| The books are written by Irene E. Schoenberg, and | | | | conditional are written in bold for the students to clearly |
| published by Pearson Longman. The series is now in its | | | | see. The books come with a student audio CD, which |
| 3rd edition and has 5 levels ranging from beginner to | | | | is used for the listening tasks. As well, there is an |
| advanced. As the title suggests, the books focus on | | | | Interactive CD-Rom available for purchase at an extra |
| the grammar component of learning English. The units | | | | cost. These extra resources are an added benefit of |
| are divided into sections on various grammar topics. | | | | the series. |
| However, each section has reading, writing, speaking, | | | | The books are great for students learning English on |
| and listening exercises that support the main grammar | | | | their own. Yet, they are also very useful for teachers. |
| topic. This, of course, is in addition to the several | | | | They make a great resource for any English language |
| grammar exercises. | | | | school. The wealth of grammar lessons and exercises |
| The grammar exercises follow a similar format | | | | make them worth the price alone. They have excellent |
| throughout the series, which creates a continuity that | | | | explanations, examples, and exercises for all the major |
| students can rely on. The exercises begin with basic | | | | verb tenses, conditional sentences, prepositions, noun |
| structure questions achieved through fill in the blank | | | | usage, and many more important grammar topics. If I |
| style questions. As the unit progresses, the questions | | | | were choosing a text for an ESL course, these would |
| increase in difficulty and become more abstract. | | | | be on the top of my list. |
| Common activities include correcting grammar | | | | The only drawback to the Focus on Grammar series |
| mistakes in written work, or using time lines to | | | | is that they have a serious approach, which makes |
| compare grammar structures. | | | | them somewhat unsuitable for children. They are more |
| The beginning of the chapters display the grammar | | | | designed for adult English learners. Adults who are |
| topic in a reading selection. These selections are | | | | serious about improving their English skills will find this |
| modeled on real-world situations such as newspapers, | | | | series extremely helpful. In general, Focus on Grammar |
| email, memos, or movie reviews. This is especially | | | | is one of the best titles in the ESL textbook category. |
| useful for teachers as it provides a reading exercise | | | | Any ESL teacher or student will be pleased with these |
| that prominently features a specific grammar topic. To | | | | books. |
| give you an example, one such reading discusses the | | | | |