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Our University is holding a standardization process and, till now, it seems that the Common European Framwork (CEF) is the norm. As part of this process, we have been asked to compare Interchange Third Edition with the CEF to see which levels each book in the series fulfills. Could you please help to justify the use of Interchange Third Edition?

There seems to be growing interest in using the Common European Framework (CEF) as the basis of syllabus design or setting objectives in Europe and Latin America. For instance, countries like Chile, Colombia and Mexico are starting to use the CEF to inform syllabus and curriculum design.

Interchange was not originally designed with the CEF in mind. However, at the end of Interchange 2, students will have reached a competency level of roughly A2 of the CEF, and at the end of Interchange 3, students will have enough language to cover most of the can-do statements of B1. You can obtain further information on the CEF by purchasing a copy of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, compiled by the Council of Europe (2001: Cambridge University Press. http://www.cambridge.org/elt/elt_projectpage.asp?id=2500540) or by visiting the Council of Europe Web site at: www.coe.int.

The lab materials, as the name implies, were designed to be used in a language laboratory. However, some exercises can easily be done in class to help students with the mechanics of pronouncing English, or working their mouths around a certain structure. This can help them gain confidence in producing spoken English. So, using an exercise or two from the lab materials once every other class, or once a week, can be helpful to your learners.

Current research has shown that input-processing can facilitate acquisition of grammatical structures. This typically involves asking the learners to listen to or read texts that contain the target structure in either discourse or discrete sentences. Learners are exposed to the target grammar in context, but are not actually required to produce the structure. Rather, they react to the content by answering questions, agreeing or disagreeing with statements, or discussing the topic.

Perspectives exercises also contain lots of examples of realia, such as ads, brochures, fliers, surveys, quizzes, and magazine articles, which students will see in real life. Through Perspectives, students are being prepared for the real world. In addition, Perspectives provides students with the opportunity to respond to information by giving their opinions and discussing the situations, which helps them improve their fluency.

The amount of time spent on each unit depends on several factors, such as the number of students, the students' level, how homogeneous or heterogeneous the class is, and which components you are using. We suggest a minimum of five hours per unit. Some teachers like to spend up to eight hours or more, but again, it depends on the components you use alongside the course.

Since they are short quizzes, they are not cumulative. They aim to be a quick overview of the material covered in the preceding two units. For an overall test, we have the Interchange Placement and Evaluation Package, which contains review tests every eight units. Also, we are producing a Test Crafter CD-ROM that has a 2,000-item bank which can be added to or modified to create your own tests. This CD-ROM will be out in 2006.

Listening is one of the most challenging skills that students have to face, in part because, as you say, it can "cheat their ears." Ideally, students should always listen to the recording without looking at the text, because this reflects real-life listening. However, if your students want to listen and read the audio script at the end, it can help them significantly, for pronunciation and for building up their confidence.

Absolutely. Listening comprehension is one of the main sources of frustration for learners worldwide. The audio scripts have been provided in the Teacher's Edition so that teachers can use them to help their learners. One thing you can do is copy the audio script onto an overhead transparency and show it to students once they have completed the task in the Student's Book. If the listening text is a conversation, show the questions and ask students to guess the answers before they attempt the exercise.

The Workbook was designed to be used for homework. However, doing a Workbook exercise in class may help to change the pace of a lesson and quiet down students a bit after a task is done in groups. Some exercises lend themselves to a bit of discussion, so they can easily be done in pairs or small groups. For instance, the ranking exercise (Workbook 1, Unit 7, Task 11) can easily be done in pairs.

In addition, the back of the Teacher's Edition contains numerous games and activities to practice grammar, especially the Games Bank and the Photocopiable Bank.

If you are very short on time, it is better to omit some other activity, (e.g., Writing or Reading) and replace it with the Interchange activity. Alternatively, try to reduce the time spent on other activities, especially the time spent on controlled grammar. Instead of doing lots of mechanical exercises, encourage students to use the new grammar in a communicative context, by moving them on to the Interchange activity as soon as possible.