Success with English (Penguin English)

A completely new and fully integrated approach in three stages to the teaching of English as a foreign language to adult students or the upper forms of secondary schools. With this carefully planned scheme it has been possible to provide training in every kind of language skill - reading, writing and, above all, talking and listening in realistic situations. The emphasis throughout is on English as it is spoken today, the English people use and need, the English of shops and libraries, parties and the cinema, letters and telephones. The approach is entirely situational: language is taught and practised without recourse to descriptive or legislative grammar. The course is also exceptionally flexible. It can be used in both foreign and second language territories, with large or small classes, or by the self-help student. Similarly, the speed at which the course is worked is not critical.

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Self-Help. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.