Online Resource: Cutting Edge Companion Website

Via the Longman site, the Cutting Edge companion website allows teachers or students to select a level and find quizzes and other resources that fit with the theme in the book. You can find links romantic love letters on the web in Intermediate Module One, as well as links to time management tips on the web. I chose to have a look specifically at the Cutting Edge companion site specifically, but there are as many sites as series of Longman books – in fact, probably more. As far as I can tell, you don’t need to register to use many of the resources.

Also available for Cutting Edge are worksheets which provide further practice of the topics in the books. I have to say they are nothing earth-shattering, but if you have students who want more practice and papers (and I’m mostly serious here: some students see paper practice as what counts), this may be the key. Certainly you should check that it fits the needs of your learners, but instead of searching around the school’s library for something that practices specifically what you’ve dealt with in class, or writing something yourself – use these. I think they would be especially good for additional practice of the Wordspot portion of each unit.

The Longman site also features a teaching tips section – with articles on correction, making grammar more communicative, and teaching mixed ability classes – which I have mixed feeling about. It is worth a perusal, so you can decide for yourself if you agree with the tips and find them useful.

Longman also of course authors Market Leader, a business series, and you can find relevant links that accompany those units via the Longman site as well. For example, a unit on ethics has links to the websites of The Body Shop, Nike and The Gap.

Check out this site – or the Oxford University Press site – soon, especially if you use a Longman book, and see what is relevant for your students.