I need to reteach myself English. While I consider myself a pretty decent writer, there are so many things that I have forgotten throughout my education. I’m a little concerned that I’m not nearly flawless enough with punctuation placement, and general English terminology. Are there any books that any of you could recommend to me? I really need a refresher on these matters, so I don’t end up as a half-assed teacher.
If I have posted this on the wrong forum, please forgive me, and feel free to relocate it.
Michael Swan’s English for the grammar. Not sure what I could offer on mechanics and stylistics…depends on your flavor. I learned MLA, I think.
When I started teaching English, (edit: sorry, I meant “Eng-rish”) I had a similar concern. I never did find one book that seemed to meet the need. However, a book by the same author mentioned above, Michael Swan, “Practical English Usage”, was the best I found. It runs between $20-30 USD depending on where you buy it. PageOne in Taipei 101 might have it in paperback. When I asked, they said that they would be able to order the hardback if desired (about $60).
buy.com/retail/product.asp?s … caid=17379
Oh yeah, one other thing. Yes, competence and job-related knowledge are great. Everyone should strive to learn more and “be all you can be”, etc. I’ve found that in ESL, most of the finer detail is lost and so your ability to recall the finer points of grammar is seldom called for. The textbooks used in class often provide enough info for a reasonably educated native speaker to get refreshed on a point.
That’s the books I meant. Michael Swan’s Practical English Usage. I bought my copy at Cave’s for $880 a few years ago. I keep it handy in my classroom for my 5th graders and have gone to it several times for grammar questions when I wanted to be sure I was giving them the right reason for why some grammatical points are the way they are. I got it for my CELTA, but I still find it very useful for even explaining grammar more clearly than their books do (which are designed for native English speakers and therefore assume that the kids already know the reasons subconsciously).
Ty very much, I will make sure to check this book out.