COMPANIONS

Thread view:

Enable EMail Alerts

Start New Thread

Thread rating:

credoquaabsurdum - 07 Mar 2005 19:58 GMT

I work in Greece, and I am planning on doing a presentation for my
local TESOL branch about Companions. Does the rest of the world have
them? I've never seen one other than here, but the phenomenon is pretty
recent and I've been here for quite some time.

Companions are glorified translation glossaries of coursebooks. Some
souped-up jobs have a few throwaway vocabulary exercises in them and
some grammar explanations in Greek, but they remain, well...glorified
translation glossaries.

Most teachers cordially dislike them, but their market penetration has
been so phenomenal that we are basically forced to use them in the
standard range of classes that we teach in private institutes here.
It's either that or explain, time and time again, why we feel that
students should not rely on them and hope that their parents actually
believe us.

Companions are, as a rule, poorly written, badly translated, and
cheaply printed and bound. They have become our reality because are a
moneymaking machine for publishers, and they are designed for
overworked, largely self-trained teachers without a lot of prep time,
which is pretty much the rule here (and in a million other places, come
to think of it).

So...do you have them? How do you use them, if at all?

Reply to this Message

Django Cat - 08 Mar 2005 23:46 GMT

>I work in Greece, and I am planning on doing a presentation for my
>local TESOL branch about Companions. Does the rest of the world have
[quoted text clipped - 21 lines]
>
>So...do you have them? How do you use them, if at all?

They weren't about when I worked in a Frontesterio in the early 80's,
but apart from that it sounds like nothing has changed in the world of
Greek ELT! Locally published coursebooks were bloody awful then, just
as you describe. One that was so bad I wish I still had a copy was
'Grivas Grammar' - known to Brit teachers as 'Grevious Bodily Grammar'
(for non-Brits 'Grevious Bodily Harm' or GBH is the legal form for
some types of assault charge. This Grivas certainly did serious harm
to the language...)

So when you say "glorified translation glossaries of coursebooks" -
that would be coursebooks published by someone else? So there's a
locally published 'companion' to, say, 'Headway' or 'Cutting Edge'? I
wonder what the orignal publishers think of that...

DC

Reply to this Message

credoquaabsurdum - 10 Mar 2005 00:54 GMT

> >I work in Greece, and I am planning on doing a presentation for my
> >local TESOL branch about Companions. Does the rest of the world have
[quoted text clipped - 37 lines]
>
> DC

OK...you're going to love this.

Grivas is still around, sad to say, and he now publishes a
comprehensive array of course materials. Some local teachers still
swear by Grivas Grammar. My personal favorite war story when it comes
to his fine work is his CPE Use of English series. Check this out: in
Proficiency 1, you learn advanced English words and expressions that
begin with the letter A all the way to those that begin with the letter
M. In Proficiency 2, you learn advanced English expressions from N-Z. I
can get you ISBNs if you find this hard to believe!

As if that weren't enough, I shared a taxicab from Glyfada to Athens
with a guy who used to work for Grivas, and he told me that Grivas is
so paranoid that he has now cameras everywhere in his offices, even in
the tea rooms, so no one will steal his stuff.

Apparently, Grivas actually caught people from one of Greece's newer
publishing houses, Express Publishing, going through the
trash...searching for materials.

--

The international publishers here actually sponsor companions.

_Cutting Edge_ and _Headway_ are, I believe, companion-free to date.
However, Longman Hellas sponsored companions for _Snapshot_, Oxford put
out a companion for _Masterclass Proficiency_ and CUP has one for
_First Certificate Direct_. In most cases, it's the actual
international publishers putting out the companions for their own
books, even though some of the sleazier publishing houses here do put
out companions for books other than the ones they write.

Absolutely no Greek publishing house will put out a textbook without a
companion, and precious few new books for children from the Big Four
(OUP, CUP, Macmillan, Longman) are marketed without one.

What is this, a shameful little Greek ELT secret?

Reply to this Message

Discussion Groups / ESL Teaching / March 2005

COMPANIONS