The American Council of the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) wanted to create a standard so that all L2 learners were able to use resources that provided them with the best education possible.  They created the 5C’s which stands for communication, culture, connections, comparisons, and communities.  This ensures that ESL students are receiving the education they deserve.  From the 5C’s there were checklists that were made that align with these standards and many professionals use this determine the effectiveness of the textbook.  The 5C’s are commonly used as a point of reference for what a textbook should offer the students using it, I will be using these guidelines when evaluating this textbook.

The textbook that I chose “Four Corners-Level 3”, focuses on providing activities and lessons that will motivate the student using the book, to become a great English speaker.  When referencing the five C’s, I found this this textbook exceeded many of the expectations from these standards.  I found that this textbook especially focused on communication and connections.  It offers a very wide range of activities that involves the reader practicing their communication as well providing examples of situations the student may encounter.  There are chapters about education, the world, organizing time, personalities, relationships, etc. The different chapters are organized very well and provide activities with listening/pronunciation, reading/writing, and speaking.

 The textbook offers activities that are engaging for the readers because it includes topics that are fun and relevant for the age group that it is designed for.  In one of the chapters, Music, one of the activities involves a student saying or singing a song that they enjoy in English and having their partner try to guess the singer. Each chapter ranges on level of difficulty for example in the On Vacation chapter, the first activity is for the students to label pictures of someone engaging in an extreme sport. One of the pictures is of someone skydiving and the student should match that with the word.  The last activity, being the most challenging, the students will work in a group and explain the rules that someone who does an extreme sports may hear from an instructor. 

While I do think that this textbook has many areas of the book that provide a great foundation and explain topics very well.  I also think that just as any other textbook, there are areas that could use improvement.  One of the areas that teachers may have to supplement more during their lessons is incorporating the student’s individual culture.  The five C’s include culture and I found that this textbook lacks the referencing and comparisons to their own culture and while learning about a new language it’s important for teachers to include their original culture.  Another area that I would suggest a teacher focus on more outside of the textbook is creating a better balance between all of the regions of the language.  The book has activities for listening, speaking, reading, and writing however, the book provides a heavy emphasis on activities for speaking.  I wish the book provided more information and activities for listening, writing, and reading.  Since it doesn’t, this is when the teacher’s lessons outside of the book are very important for the student.

Overall, I think that this ESL textbook provides a lot of benefits if it were to be used in the right context and setting.  When referencing the five C’s, I found that it is up to those standards and proves to be a very useful resource for students learning English.  The areas that this book lacks, isn’t enough to make it an unproductive textbook.  As with every textbook, the lessons and the way that the teacher uses the textbook is monumental for how useful the book is for the reader.  I think that the information and activities that this book offers provides plenty of benefits for students and I would recommend it to any professional that is looking for an ESL textbook for this context and setting.