Recently Received

A list of texts and resource materials for language teachers is available for book reviews in TLT and JALT Journal. Publishers are invited to submit complete sets of materials to Julie Kimura at the Publishers’ Review Copies Liaison postal address listed on the Staff page on the inside cover of TLT.

Books for Students (reviews published in TLT)

Contact: Julie Kimura — jaltpubs.tlt.pub.review@jalt.org

• Penguin Readers—Penguin Books, 2019. [Penguin Readers is a series of classics, contemporary fiction, and non-fiction, written for learners of English.]
• A Christmas carol—Dickens, C. [Retold by K. Kovacs. Ebenezer Scrooge hates Christmas and is angry that people are not working. He meets the ghost of his former partner. Can Scrooge become a good person before it is too late? Level: 1, CEFR A1.]
• Private—Patterson, J., & Paetro, M. [Retold by N. Bullard. Jack Morgan has a company called Private. He helps people. Sometimes, he helps the police, too. Now, Jack’s friend is dead, and Jack has to find the killer. Level 2, CEFR A1+.]
• The Great Gatsby—Fitzgerald, F. S. [Retold by A. Collins. Everybody wants to know Jay Gatsby. He is handsome and very rich. He owns a big house and has wonderful parties there. But does anyone really know who he is? Level 3, CEFR A2.]
• Women who changed the world—Leather, S. [This graded reader consists of ten chapters on some of the women who have fought to be equal to men as well as their achievements in education, science, sports, and politics. Level: 4, CEFR A2+.]
• The spy who came in from the cold—le Carré, J. [Retold by F. MacKenzie. Alec Leamas, a British spy, is worn out and ready to stop working. But he has to do one last job. His boss wants him to spread false information about an important man in East Germany. Can Alec retire and finally come in from the cold? Level: 6, CEFR: B1+.]
• What’s that you say? Bright ideas for reading, writing, and discussing in the English classroom—David, J., Nan’un-do, 2023. [This book takes a student-centered approach and provides students with topics and activities designed to foster language learning and practical usage. There are 15 units in which students can engage in vocabulary and reading activities, as well as engaging follow-up activities including trivia questions and famous quotations.]
• * Critical thinking—Hadley, G., Boon, A., Routledge, 2022. [This resource book provides language teachers with a framework for fostering critical thinking skills in explicit and systematic ways. Critical Thinking can be used as a resource for teacher-directed classroom investigations as well as graduate school research projects.]
• * Life topics: Changing views—Berman, J., Nan’un-do, 2023. [This new addition to the Life Topics series provides advice on how Japanese EFL students can lead happy and meaningful lives. This coursebook contains 15 units and is adaptable for learners of various proficiencies but was written for lower proficiency students in mind. Additional resources include a teacher’s manual and audio download. TOEIC 250-450.]
• * What do you think? 15 topics for discussion and conversation—Bossaer, A., Nan’un-do, 2023. [This coursebook was written for intermediate EFL learners and students to discuss their opinions with their partners or groups. In-class assessments based on these discussions provide students with opportunities to both demonstrate their understanding of the topic and reinforce the idea that our opinions can change when we are presented with new information.]