For many teachers, this is the time to order new, boring school books, but why are they so boring? The answer lies in a vegetable: PARSNIP. “PARSNIP is the acronym used by educational publishers to remind [EFL] authors of topics to be avoided in textbooks. It stands for politics, alcohol, religion, sex, narcotics, isms and pork” (Alison Flood, The Guardian, Jan 14)
WebEnglish.se does not abide by these principles. In WebEnglish.se you can find ideas, texts and themes on issues that are as close to the human everyday life as possible. Some examples, so far, are Human Rights, Love and Romance, Racism and Malala Yousafzai. “Forget anodyne* lessons from the coursebook – learning language through human experience is much more valuable” (Luke Meddings)
Links: Embrace the parsnip
Pigs won’t fly in textbooks
*anodyne: not likely to offend or upset anyone
For English (ELL) Teachers
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@Outifrisk For the first time, I think I should not order any boring books.
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