My Reasons for Choosing the New Headway Advanced

Laura Alvarez, Argentina

Laura Alvarez is a Teacher of English as a Foreign Language and a Teacher Trainer who works at the Teacher Training College in her home town, Resistencia, and also runs a private school of English, Casa de Inglés, the only centre in Argentina where the Trinity College London CertTESOL course is offered. Current professional interests are teaching literature, English grammar and methodology. E-mail: mrsderopp@hotmail.com

I cannot start saying anything about the New Headway without recalling the time I met the Headway Advanced for the first time. It was at the University of Kent, where I went with a group of colleagues to do a General English course in 1992. It really was “love at first sight”! And that was the beginning of an everlasting love affair, as I started working with it immediately after coming back from the UK, and did so for many years, until one day I decided it was time for a change. However, I went back to the book whenever I needed an inspiring reading/ listening text, a good grammar exercise, or a clear and comprehensive explanation of a grammar structure.

Going back to the time I worked with the book for the first time, I distinctly remember some of the listening exercises, which made an impact on me. One of them was the one in which Graham Greene, one of my favourite novelists, who had died a year before I did the course, said in his deep voice that he had always tried to “escape from boredom”, among other very interesting things that helped me better understand him and, in some way, human behaviour. Perhaps his creativity was pushed by his fear and the result was a good number of interesting novels and short stories.

Graham Greene – British writer

Another listening exercise that kept coming to my mind again and again is that in which George Burns, the American comedian, gives an amusing, light hearted, but thought- provoking recipe for a long and happy life. It is from that time that I always remember that “life begins every day, when we wake up”, and that in our hands lies the power to make it worth living.

George Burns- American comedian

Apart from providing very interesting reading and listening exercises, the book aims at developing the other skills, speaking and writing, together with the language systems (lexis, grammar and phonology), in a very clear and creative way. The contexts in which the structures are presented are very well chosen, making it easier to understand their use and meaning. Then, the grammar section at the end of the book is very useful, and has a good choice of examples to illustrate meanings.

Throughout my teaching career, I worked with a number different good books, but this year I needed to choose another one for my group of adults. Always faithful to my first love, I had a look at the New Headway Advanced, and the book trapped me again. So here I am, working with it again, and thoroughly enjoying every lesson I teach.

Immigrants arriving in Ellis Island – U.S.A

Unit 1, for example -Our land is your land- deals with the topic of immigration. The first reading activity is a jigsaw reading about immigrants arriving in the USA, and it illustrates the gloomiest side of the process. As the Argentine population is made up of immigrants from all over the world, this reading served as a springboard for the “What do you think?” part of the unit. Each student had something to say related to their own family lives.

Andrea Lew - paediatrician

Andrea Lew (paediatrician): “My father was a prisoner in Auschwitz. He managed to escape and after being in many countries, he settled in Argentina, married, started a family, and successfully developed in his profession. The reading texts were very touching for me because I immediately started thinking about the hardships my father went through before coming to Argentina”.

The listening and speaking sections show a different aspect of immigration. The listening exercise is about two Kenyan brothers who fled their country because of the miserable lives they had been leading there. They settled in the UK and worked hard, but were able to overcome some difficulties and became successful business men. Apart from learning about other experiences in life, the students are given the chance to listen to English with a different accent. The material also serves as the right context for vocabulary work and speaking activities.

Iris Murdoch and her husband

In unit 2, the reading and speaking activity, A Visit to Iris Murdoch, is a touching story that appeals to our feelings, especially because Alzheimer’s Disease has been devastating families so far (including mine), and everybody is concerned about it. My students enjoyed reading the text, and were moved by Iris’ husband’s protective and helpful attitude towards her, something people find hard to do when they are overwhelmed by the difficulties an ill person poses.

Marcelo Agüero- Doctor

Marcelo Agüero. (doctor): “What I like most of this book is that the people who made it had sensitivity to choose the topics, making it interesting to work with, and most importantly, we easily get involved in the lessons.”

Then, in the listening and speaking section, we are exposed to the witty remarks of Oscar Wilde and a part of his play “The importance of being earnest”. This amusing extract in which Wilde stingingly satirizes the upper class society of his time is used as the perfect context for language work, followed by a discussion.

Anita Roddick- The Body Shop

In Unit 3, what outshines the whole unit is the interview with Anita Roddick as she has a different, more humanitarian, attitude to business. So, after considering consumerism and globalization as the negative forces that destroy local businesses, we are shown how a different attitude can change our view on the issue, and success and wealth can turn into generosity. This way she becomes a symbol of hope for people in need.

Fernando Molina – Entrepeneur

Fernando Molina: “What I liked most of Anita’s interview is her strong ideas regarding locally produced products, and her determination to keep loyal to her principles, even when her business has grown internationally. I also admire her humanitarian views and her decision to help the poor people of Africa. I agree with her opinions on business schools, as I myself attended the business administration course of studies at the local university and left after three years’ study to become an entrepreneur. Something of what I learned there is useful to me, but creativity is my own contribution to my business. I think the interview was inspiring and thought provoking to me as the ideas presented changed my own views on globalization”.

In conclusion, I must say that after teaching for a long time I am sure that motivation is what makes learning happen. For that reason, finding a course book for a group of students is sometimes a difficult task for the teacher, as the book has to be interesting enough to motivate students’ interest. Thus, the selection of the topics, the material used to develop skills and to present and practise the language systems, is crucial in order to enhance learning. All this is present in the New Headway Advanced, and I am sure that the book is the result of a great deal of sensitivity, a deep understanding of human psychology, an in- depth knowledge of methodology, and a careful analysis of each component on the part of the authors and editors.

I strongly believe that teaching a language goes beyond skills, grammar, lexis, and phonology. Teaching is (and/or should be) a means to reflect upon reality, to develop values and attitudes of solidarity and empathy, and to understand that we, human beings, are the same, feel the same, love the same, regardless of where and how we live. What I most like of the three units I have analysed, and of the whole book, is that each presents the bleak aspect of an issue always followed by its positive counterpart. That is why we, my students and me, get the subliminal message that even when we sometimes are inclined to lose hope, we still have the chance to make our world a better place.

Laura Alvarez- Exeter College- Oxford- July 2016

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