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A course book can be a very useful tool when it comes to teaching a class. You of course want one that will interest the students and fits their level of learning. I have had books for classes in the past that I found completely confusing to use for the material that was being covered, and I would not want that for my own students.
When selecting a book there are a number of things to consider. Price and availability are definitely at the top of the list, since you want there to be enough books available for each of your students, but you want them to be able to afford it so they do not choose to avoid it due to cost. There were books in college that I would wait and ask just how important they were going to be before I purchased them, and if possible share with a fellow student to cut the cost down. A useful course book is one that is not only helpful during the class, but one that a student can hang onto and refer back to in the future for helpful refreshing of information and skills.
Not everything in a standard book will be helpful for the class during their time with you, but it is possible they might find it useful later. Supplementing sections with adapted lessons is a great way to go, inserting fun activities and making the lesson more personal will help the students grasp the material easier, and make it more memorable down the line. When picking a course book out a teacher needs to be on the look out for this style of learning as well. Will the book hold their interest throughout the course? Will they be glad they bought it and have it for help with their learning? The book needs to answer these while being at their skill level, with a balance to cover all areas of their learning.
The method the book uses needs to remain balanced and allow for the style of lessons needed to learn a new language. The syllabus will be key to helping determine just how useful the book would be for your class. Any book would hopefully have topics of interest for the students, but those can be adapted to be more relevant if needed, however the whole book should not need to be modified in such a way, or it would require more work that it should.
Not all lessons should be based around the book though. While useful, the course book should be a guide for the course, not the only source of material. The teachers I enjoyed learning from would refer to the book, and at times have us work from it, but it was there to back up what they were teaching us, not the other way around. A good teacher should use this method in my opinion, so that the students are learning from you and not you verbalizing what the book has to say on the subject.
