Hello, I am still a student teacher, and I was wondering to what extent do ESL teachers really have to stick to the textbooks provided by the “commission scolaire” or the MELS. Can we go at our own pace? Is it possible to skip chapters? I have to admit, I really like doing/creating activities that suits the students. Depending on the group (within a same level), activities might differ. I think it is important to take into consideration students’ interest and speed of learning.

I can’t tell you exactly if we really have to follow the textbooks that the school choose for English classes. I think that the MELS or the school we are teaching in might want us to follow a certain order when teaching ESL material. However, I also believe that we can organize our course plan as we wish. We can skip chapter or do certain parts before others, and teach the material the way we want. The only thing to keep in mind is that we have to achieve the goal that is required within the year no matter the order we choose to follow. On the other hand, I’m not sure if we can put away ESL textbooks but as we go through the book we can certainly create different activities that could be more appropriate for our students. For example, if a chapter in the textbook is poor in activities or the activities are inappropriate for the students, we could modify it by adding more relevant activities.