Book critique

                                                                                                                                  Christy Kim                                                                                                                                  

Book Name: What Do You Think 1 – 30 Controversial Issues                      

Level: Very Advanced

Book Type: Topic Discussion Textbook

This book is a two-book series, both of which have 30 controversial issues ranging from Surrogate Mothers to Euthanasia. Many of the issues are classic debate issues such as Euthanasia and Gun Control. However, there are some that are not as popular such as Free Cigarettes for Soldiers which discusses how cigarette companies give free cigarettes to soldiers stationed in the Persian Gulf or The Rights of the Dead which discusses using cadavers as crash-test dummies.

The layout is fairly standard following this order:

1.     Issue - the article

2.     What Does it Mean? - vocabulary, idiom and expression check

3.     Comprehension Check-up – comprehension questions

4.     What Do You Think? – questions asking Ss opinions

5.     Opinion Samples – a few samples usually pro and con for the issue

6.     Humorous expression on the last page of each issue

The book has several good points. It has a diverse range of controversial topics that should appeal to a wide range of learners as well as allowing learners to express their opinions. Although the level is for very-advanced learners, having a vocabulary and comprehension check is very helpful to ensure that learners fully understand the material. The discussion questions are very handy since they allow the teacher to focus on other things for the lesson. The opinion samples are also very helpful since they give diverse points of views about a particular subject. Finally the humorous expression can provide a bit of laughter to the class after a serious discussion.

While this book is good for a discussion type class, there are several things that need to be improved to used for critical pedagogy. On the most basic level, the design and layout of the book is very dull and boring. The pages are a dull yellow color and the only color is the black of the font which is sometimes in bold to emphasize a statement. Although color or pictures are not needed to do critical pedagogy, interesting pictures might help students activate thought processes in there brain. Or at least, grab their interest or attention.

Gist questions or questions to active critical thinking in students would be nice before doing the reading. In this way, students could be engaged before the reading so they would be more interested in the reading. If not gist questions, then at least some type of warm-up activity to engage the students.

While pre-made discussion questions are very handy for discussion, they are not as useful for critical pedagogy. For example, an article titled Hunting: Sport or Atrocity debates the issue of animal rights and the right to hunt. One of the questions that is asked is, “What do you say to making all kinds of hunting illegal?” While this asks students their opinion about making hunting illegal it does not go into the deeper issues at work such as: How does the right to hunt hide the fact that firearms are used for criminal purposes? Why isn’t hunting illegal? Why aren’t weapons such as rifles and pistols illegal? Who or what prevents making ownership of firearms illegal? What would society be like without firearms owned by people? So, for these pre-made discussion questions need to be changed and supplemented to allow students to think deeply beyond the first level of reasoning. Students need to see the hidden agenda which can only be seen using critical pedagogy to look beyond the first level of reasoning.

In addition, there need to be some activity after the reading besides discussion for this to become truly critical pedagogy. For example, there could be debates, presentations, students could be allowed to create material to express their views or any number of things. The book should offer a variety of activities that could be used with any article at the end of each chapter or in the appendix. While activities are not necessary, they are very useful in ESL settings.

In conclusion, this book is good to use for a discussion based class. The topics are diverse enough and plenty are provided so students should be interested enough to want to participate. However for critical pedagogy, major changes need to be done as mentioned previously. Overall, the book could be used as a foundation for building critical pedagogical lessons.