A couple of years ago I reviewed the upcoming New Interchange Level 2 Third Edition and received a modest fee. This year it has finally been released. And they’ve sent me a letter of thanks and a copy of the new text; I’m listed as one of the reviewers in the preface. I’m not sure how many of my ideas, in particular, they incorporated, but it looks much better. I felt that some of the activities were too general before, but it looks like they’ve cleaned it up. I look forward to using it next year.
I was approached by McGraw-Hill Publishing to review material for an upcoming text that is in development there as well. I wasn’t as impressed with their output so far, although no textbook is perfect and I always feel the need to skip, add, and modify. One of these days I should develop my own Japan-specific text for use at universities with 15 week schedules. There’s nothing on the market for that specific demand (30 90 minutes self-contained lessons with two tests). One of these days...
You look forward to SUING it next year? Say what?
Posted by: Kraig | June 01, 2005 at 12:36 AM
New Interchange Books - specifically level 2 - were my most taught texts 10+ years ago when I was working for GEOS. Excellent books for small group exercises and the listening sections were well done.
BTW, Why the heck did they pick you as a reviewer when there are thousands of teachers who teach out of this daily? :)
Posted by: Arie | June 01, 2005 at 02:56 AM
Seeing as you're in the business of textbook reviews, is there a particular series you'd recommend to someone (namely me, in this case) wanting to learn the language at home (with the assistance of friendly japanese/american neighbors)?
Posted by: gnorb | June 01, 2005 at 06:31 AM
Kraig-this is why you should proof read even when you use spll check. Noted and corrected.
Arie-well I do feel qualified since I have been using it for four years now. I have about 400 students using New Interchange texts-Cambridge makes a significant portion of their profits from univeristies(most, but not all, of the reviewers were from univerisities) And lastly I have a friend who is the slaes rep for univeristies in Japan. :)
Gnob-I guess you're talking about a Japanese textbook and I would recommend the Mina Nihongo series for beginners. However, The Japan Times has a good series of texts that you also might want to take a look at. I'm not a big fan of Japanese For Busy People.
Posted by: MC | June 01, 2005 at 10:40 AM
*heh* Thanks. Complexity isn't an issue (though time sometimes is). Having some way to use it on a regular basis is. Mina Nihongo - I'll check it out. The Japan Times - where can I find these? I was also pointed to the Mangajin series someone. Any experiences good/bad with it? Again, thanks for your time.
Posted by: gnorb | June 01, 2005 at 09:37 PM
Here's a link to Minna Nihongo (great introduction to grammar):
http://www.3anet.co.jp/english/books/books_01.html
Here's a link to the JapanTimes Book Club:
http://bookclub.japantimes.co.jp/english/index.html
I also used Basic Kanji:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/4893580914/103-5254540-4779862?v=glance
Posted by: MC | June 01, 2005 at 10:57 PM