The Standby Book : Activities for the Language Classroom (Cambridge Handbooks for Language Teachers)

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Summary: Excellent anthology of 110 activities for the EFL classroom.
Review: 33 experienced and creative EFL teachers from around the world have contributed to this anthology that contains most valuable teaching ideas for many areas of EFL, e.g. warm-ups, vocabulary, communicative activities, working with a coursebook in a different way, using magazines/newspapers/literature. Most activities are intended for use in classes of intermediate or advanced learners of English, but some (such as the 'warm-ups') are suitable for lower levels as well. In general, the activities involve students in pairwork or group work and challenge them to be 'active' and 'creative'. Each activity is described briefly, but clearly; information about level of students, time required, focus, material needed and, above all, procedure is always given in a concise and helpful way. The activities are grouped under twelve different subject headings; moreover, an index at the end of the book makes it easy for you to find the activity you may need for tomorrow's lesson (or for developing a whole series of activities).This is a book full of ideas that can serve as inspirations to teachers who want to create(or maintain) a lively and 'interactive' EFL or ESL classroom.

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Summary: Another great title from Seth Lindstromberg!
Review: Seth Lindstromberg has edited several excellent books of ideas for language teaching. This one is filled with brilliant ideas for teaching writing, business English, and other areas, as well as some warm-up activities. One thing I really like about his books is that instead of merely putting together a random collection of activities, he shows you how the ideas can fit into your class, and be a part of one's own development as a teacher. As always, the author has done a great job in selecting some very original and interesting ideas.