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:? I am starting a small school with farmstay. I would like any advice which would help me select one or more of the following course books. The books I am considering are: Cutting Edge (most popular in Australia), face2face (looks interesting), New Headway (they used to have an Australian edition), Total English (recommended by one Tutor) or Reward (for the resource pack[an old one]) I saw which was good.
Next question: Should I buy a placement test book or is something available elsewhere? Since I will only have a few students and they might apply from overseas it's important they are all at about the same level. Thanks in advance, Lucy or whoever answers this. :)

Dear Countreng,

I always prefer to have at least one lesson with students before choosing a course book. I like to find out what I can about students and get a feel for how they work before committing to any material that will be the main focus of future lessons.

I suggest you buy one copy of each book for your own reference; have one lesson with students or at the very least see their placement test before choosing the coursebook you will use with a class. If you choose to work this way, you'll need to find a reliable book supplier who can provide you with your chosen book at short notice.

Regarding the books you mention, I like Headway and Reward; I think both are easy to use. Cutting Edge is also excellent but not all students and teachers are used to the approach it uses (task-based learning). I'm not familiar with face2face and so can't make any comments.

Good luck with your school

Lucy