"Teachers of English As A Second Language who haven't lived overseas, and teachers who have had mostly affluent students, will find this book very helpful. This book also serves as a good reminder for teachers who have been teaching for a long time, and need a refresher.
One of the main points that the authors make throughout the book, is that learning English can be extremely stressful, bewildering, and anxiety-causing for the learners, especially in a classroom setting. The authors further point out that some of the techniques which ESL teachers may think of as "boring", "routine", or "old-fashioned", are in fact activities that the students like. Some of these more traditional learning activities include: dictations, copying portions of text, memorizing text (e.g. poetry), and chorus-reading (e.g. reading a text out loud, together). The authors stress that taking part in these learning activities can help give the students a sense of security and accomplishment for several reasons. The activities themselves may be familiar to the students; they may have grown up with these teaching methods. Having a structured piece of text to copy or recite may give the learners a sense of accomplishment, because there are definite "right" or "wrong" answers, like answers in a mathematics test.
The authors also mention ways in which ESL teachers can help students from more traditional school systems become more independent in their learning habits. They suggest that students write down their language-learning goals at the beginning of a term or year. The authors also suggest that students can benefit from writing journals, listening to audio cassettes, or podcasts of lessons that have already been taught.
According to the authors, activities such as games, role plays, debates, interviews, and presentations (i.e. activities that involve oral expression by individual learners) can be a source of shame and embarrassment. Some learners may see these activities as childish, and therefore demeaning. The learners may see interactive activities like these, as having little educational value. The authors mention that if activities are explained beforehand, the learners from more traditional school systems are more likely to engage and participate.