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In My Opinion

Review by Kadhim Kraidi

Phil Keegan as an Author

I had the honour to be one of Phil students in 2009 in Homerton College in Cambridge. He is a talented and creative teacher and trainer. He never fails to take in a virtual journey in a new world where you feel free and happy to express your opinions and postions in regards to everything in life . It is matter of challenge, in other words loveable , exciting , far from being boring. Some might wonder "is this a review of the author character or his book?" the simple answer is that the succssful book is a geniune, faithful and craetive manifestation of the author character in effective methods of teaching (Posted on 30/09/2014)

Review by Alex Warren, Academic Director, British Study Centres, Bournemouth
As educators we're always looking to encourage students to speak as much as possible and so by that virtue always on the lookout for new, quality supplementary speaking and conversation material. With its roots firmly planted in the principles of communicative language teaching and supporting a natural approach, Phil Keegan's In My Opinion fits the bill admirably well.

Strengths A good range of topics Encourages plenty of speaking with student focussed activities Easy to pick up and go with minimal planning for the teacher Weaknesses Could do with more language input

Aimed at intermediate and above level students, In My Opinion provides discussion tasks on a wide-range of different topics - 50 in total. These vary from the more common topics such as sports (34), friendship (15), music (23) and work (19) to more abstract topics including discussions on privacy (48), religion (29) and politics (26). There are also more advanced, controversial topics such as drinking and drugs (32, 33) gays and lesbians (16), the death penalty (28) and conspiracy theories (49). Certainly there's not a lack of topics to discuss. This is a real strength of the book, as in having such breadth it covers the most common themes covered by the majority of course books, thus making it ideal as a supplementary resource.

© Copyright BEBC REVIEW PANEL 2014
These reviews are quoted with the permission of the authors and the Bournemouth English Book Centre, publisher of the British edition.

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