We are very excited to announce our collaboration with National Geographic Learning (a part of Cengage Learning) for 2020. 

Having introduced Keynote as our B2+ book last year and continuing to utilise Our World for our young learners, we have now replaced our main coursebook with the Impact series.

We feel that NGL coursebooks offer a number of attractions for both our students and our teachers. Of course there is the stunning imagery, but more than that, familiar topics are approached from a unique perspective which are both engaging and thought – provoking.

Although we don’t get a huge number of young learners (10/11 years), we wanted to have a coursebook dedicated to their needs, and Our World is attractive to the younger age-group without being patronising or childish. It feels like a grown up book that has been adapted for kids. Horizons, themes and topics aren’t limited and we feel this is a coursebook that teachers can learn from just as much as students. 

Our World is packed with age-appropriate National Geographic Learning content that motivates and excites young learners of English and helps them use English as a tool to learn about and interact with the world.

In Impact, the units offer a global view of topics which are also highly relevant at a local or personal level, enabling plenty of opportunity for teachers to refer the content to students’ own lives, and for students to be able to see their world on a larger scale. There is a focus on the environment, which we feel is so important in education today and National Geographic Explorers—photographers, scientists, artists, and more—are featured as real-life role models who are making a difference in the world. 

The video content offers a window into other worlds and societies, opening students’ minds and encouraging them to examine their own more closely.

Each unit offers a number of project ideas that can be explored in our third lesson, dedicated to student-led project work. This empowers learners to become active participants in the classroom and gives them ownership of their work. 

Impact helps teenage learners to better understand themselves, each other, and the world they live in. By encouraging self-expression, global citizenship, and active participation, Impact motivates students to explore who they are and who they want to be. Through authentic, real-world content, big ideas, and inspiring stories from National Geographic Explorers, Impact challenges students to not only understand their world but also to engage with it—all while learning English.

For the teachers there is a teacher’s book with very clear guidance and ideas to minimise on planning. MP3 audio CD, teacher’s resource CD-ROM and DVD. NGL also provides a Classroom Presentation Tool, which allows you to show the page on screen, zoom into specific parts and play video/audio from the screen. This means students are looking up collectively and teachers can more easily gauge student engagement and comprehension. The class becomes more interactive and communicative automatically. This was trialled at one of our centres last year and the teachers really enjoyed using it. 

We have chosen Keynote for our older, higher level learners who are taking our ASL (Advanced Skills for Life) course. These students are looking beyond school, to the next stage of their lives, whether it be further education, gap year projects or entering the workplace. Keynote features TED Talks as it’s prime source of authentic listening, and has a strong focus on presentation skills. We think that being able to speak confidently, and express yourself in a clear and comprehensible way can really set you on the path to success. Not only that, but the unit topics we have selected give students a chance to see how they can engage in the wider world, be part of finding solutions and overcoming obstacles and find inspiration for their next, important years.

Through life-changing stories, respected thinkers and authentic presentations, Keynote promotes a deeper understanding of the world and gives students the courage and means to express themselves in English. Communication, collaboration and creative thinking drive students towards real 21st century outcomes and encourage them to respond to ideas and find their own voice. Both students and teachers will emerge with new confidence, new ideas and a new determination to communicate in this increasingly information-rich world of Global English.