:: Giving it your Best Shots is Never Easy
by Andreas Baernthaler, Höhere Technische Bundeslehranstalt, Austria
:: Background to Book Project
I have been teaching at Austrian upper secondary technical and vocational colleges, so called HTLs, for about 15 years now. For about 10 years of my teaching career, I have heard teachers complain about the fact that there is no proper textbook available. I have also heard students complain about the hundreds of photocopies given to them by their teachers, who are struggling to create interesting lessons and support their students with up-to-date study materials.
Within the Austrian HTL framework there are a wide range of departments representing different fields of engineering from mechanical engineering, computer studies and business administration, food technology, and civil and construction engineering. There have always been textbooks on the market focussing on automotive engineering, electrical engineering, or computer studies for example. But it has never been, and will never be possible to cover all the different fields of interest of all these different departments within such a vast and varied learning and teaching environment like the Austrian HTLs.
About 7 years ago we, a team of two native speakers of English and two Austrian teachers of English at HTLs, decided to give it a try, to give it our best shots, and design a coursebook primarily aimed at technical and commercial colleges. The book had to cover topics like car technology, home automation, teleworking, genetic engineering, eco-tourism, e-commerce, elearning and cross-cultural communication for future professionals, and many others.
Our publishers, a Viennese family-run business since 1783, were enthusiastic about the idea and ready to take the risk of producing an uncommon textbook right from scratch. There is a widely used idiom in English “to give something your best shot”, meaning to put all your effort into a project, to try as hard as possible to succeed, using all the resources at your disposal. This seems to us, the authors, to represent the main idea behind our book: the activities serve as a vehicle or springboard for the students to propel themselves forward in their English language learning . Notice that we speak of the students doing this themselves. Language learning does not happen to you; you have to participate actively in the process.
The activities suggested in our coursebook, called Best Shots, are designed to involve the students in all stages of this process. This learner-centred approach means that they are active all the time, completing a range of tasks which give them practice in all aspects of language use: speaking, reading, listening (to others), writing, as well as communication skills such as presenting, negotiating, and debating. The emphasis is clearly placed on using language, and less on treating it as a subject of study. This means, in real terms, that students are encouraged to give it their best shot by worrying less about the grammatical accuracy of their next sentence, and instead concentrating all of their energy on successfully getting their idea across or fulfilling the communicative task that has been set.
Our approach to language learning is influenced by Susanna Buttaroni´s book on Foreign Language Growth (Buttaroni, S. 1997. Fremdsprachenwachstum. Munich: Hueber), a concept many (Austrian) teachers are not yet familiar with.
:: The Book
The book is divided into 22 modules and each is a separate, individual unit, which could cover between one and three lessons with one class. The modules are not intended to be completed in any kind of order. The teachers and their students can pick and choose which one they would like to do, depending on the interests of the teachers and their students, on the resources available, and on the time available.
Flexibility is a key feature of Best Shots; not only can the users select the modules according to their situation, the modules themselves are - in the main - flexible in structure, too. We understand that each classroom is different – heterogeneity is what makes our world interesting – and, therefore, the timing of each step is given in the form of a possible range of time it could take, from the quickest time we can imagine, to the most generous timing that can still be considered effective.
The modules have been tried and tested in HTLs and other school types throughout Austria, and it is on the basis of our experience that we have made these estimations. They are to be seen as guidelines only – and every user should feel free to break the rules!
:: Feedback
When it comes to selling, however, the obstacles can be manifold. In Austria every coursebook on the official schoolbooks list has to be approved by special approval commissions, one for each school type. Low budgets are available for books which have not gone through the approval procedure. So, if you want to sell you have to obtain approval from these committees, anonymous groups of experts deciding on whether a book meets all the standards and requirements of certain curricula, or not.
When the book was first published in 1998 all of these experts confirmed that the approach was unique and innovative, but on the other hand, we were heavily criticised by the Austrian schoolbook approval commissions and fellow teachers alike because:
:: there are no traditional grammar exercises, but analytic exercises only
:: there are no English-German words lists, which would certainly have boosted sales
:: the single modules might be too challenging, which, they said, could be frustrating for both students and teachers
:: there are no abridged, simplified texts, but only authentic texts as found in newspapers, magazines, leaflets, etc
:: the more technology-oriented modules would probably not appeal to female students
:: one of the modules includes a text by a Dutch student who is rather critical of the European Union, an attitude which, they said, should not necessarily be promoted in a schoolbook
:: the approach might be too demanding for the teachers preparing for the single modules – although we have put much effort into producing the Teacher´s Book, a rich resource of didactic tips and hints on how to use the coursebook most effectively.
In Conclusion, Best Shots is now out in its second edition, revised, updated and extended. From autumn 2003, registered users will be provided with online supplementary materials to keep their books up-to-date. Still, it is not a real bestseller. The book (and its approach) might simply be ahead of its time, and it may take some more years until a wider community of teachers is ready to give it their Best Shots. Believe me, it is definitely worth trying. Just ask your students; they will readily accept the challenge!
The book: Norris, S. et al. 2002. Best Shots. Projects for Presentation, Simulation, and Role-Play. Vienna: Braumueller.
Andreas Baernthaler teaches English, History and Civics Education at an upper secondary technical and vocational college for telecommunications and computer studies. He also works as a language coach for teachers of Social Studies, Science and Engineering. Currently, he is coordinating a Leonardo da Vinci Mobility Project on the use of English as a working language or language of instruction with partner colleges in the Netherlands, Sweden and Finland.