Workbook Editions

Chaucer's General Prologue to The Canterbury Tales

A Workbook Edition

ISBN 978-0-9756709-3-4

Teaching Copy : US$14.95

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Classroom Collection: 10 : US$48.95

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Classroom Collection: 20 : US$88.95

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'I think the workbook for Canterbury Tales is amazing and I'm so thankful that you've published it.'
                                                                                   From our Commendations section
 
 

Why buy 'book copies' of the General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales for your class when you can get so much more –

 

 

 

o A full, newly edited copy of the original text

o A modern translation

o A study guide in twelve different versions

o A student work file

o A lesson preparation source

o A computer-based research tool

o Help for students preparing for pre-university examinations (AP, IB and A Level)

o Study assistance with the most popular Tales

 

                   - by using the WordSmith Guides Workbook Edition of the poem?

 

This edition of the General Prologue has been designed to provide a flexible alternative to the poem as a standard printed and bound book, one that will be particularly helpful to students preparing the text for examination purposes.

Here are some of the ways in which it can be used.

By teachers... 
 
Either on-screen or in hard copy, as a lesson base and an exam preparation resource. The margin notes are very detailed, encourage perceptive dialogue about the text, and make endless suggestions for independent student work. Essay topics in the style of Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate Language A1 and GCE A Level questions are an integral part of the workbook. There are also practice textual analysis questions (sound preparation for the IB Unseen Commentary exam, and similar assessments in other examination systems). 
  
By students... 
 
On-screen, as a means of reading the text. The Comments feature can be switched off in the Word version of the study guide, allowing students to simply read the poem only for meaning, if that is what they wish to do (either as a preliminary activity before they begin studying it in detail, or as a final one when they have completed that process - or both). 
  
On-screen (with the Comments feature switched on), as a means of reading the poem with continuous prompts drawing their attention to significant details.  
  
On-screen, as a means of researching the poem. Both the text and the notes can be searched, separately. If, for instance, students wish to investigate a particular detail, they can use the Search option to locate all the relevant references in the text. Alternatively, they can search just the notes, which will allow them a quick overview (linked to the text) of important aspects of their research topic. 
  
In hard copy, as a classroom or independent study resource. When the book is printed out (on Letter or A4 paper) its wide-margin landscape format and the generous spacing of the text itself allow much room for handwritten comments. Students are able to respond on each page to most of the study tasks suggested in the notes, or use the reverse side of the page (if the single-sided printing option has been selected) to answer more fully. Any type of binding would be appropriate for the workbook, but schools find both plastic coil and ring binding very convenient.
  
Either on-screen or in hard copy, as a way of preparing for lessons.
 

                                              Purchase Options

Teachers are invited to buy the Teaching Copy, which can be downloaded as a pdf file, saved and printed. They can then use it as their working copy of the poem (or alongside their own edition if they already have one). It provides a full series of portrait-based lessons which can be delivered very effectively by the 'question and answer' method, and makes suggestions for follow-up discussion, written tasks and other teaching strategies.

Purchasers of the Teaching Copy who wish their students to have direct access to the resource will be able to go on to buy the full Classroom Collection, which will allow the saving, printing or photocopying of multiple copies and includes all of the following:

  
1. Pdf file (text of the poem in Middle English with no interline translation, but with explanatory notes plus study tasks without answers): Use this if you want to give students a copy of the original text (in a new edition) and allow them the excellent experience of exploring its meaning for themselves. The explanatory notes are designed to help only with background information and the most difficult words, phrases and lines. If you wish your students to use the Workbook as a means of preparing for lessons (by answering the questions and completing the tasks laid out in the margins), but want to deliver the answers yourself and/or develop student responses orally, in the classroom, then this version will work well for you. 
  
2. Pdf file (text of the poem in Middle English with no interline translation, but with explanatory notes plus study tasks and answers in faded font): As 1. above but with answers to the questions. If you would prefer to have students monitor their own responses as they go along, you may choose to give them this version. With a little practice students are able to read the text and answer the linked questions while postponing reading the 'faded font' answers (for comparison with their own) until they are ready to do so That can be a comparatively speedy way for students to work through the poem and come to an understanding of both its major features and its subtleties. 
  
3. Pdf file (text of the poem in Middle English with inter-line translation, and background notes plus study tasks without answers): As 1. above, but with a full (and new) interline Modern English text. This version is designed for students who will need more support with understanding the original, but who can go on to answer the questions independently.  
  
4. Pdf file (text of the poem in Middle English with inter-line translation, and background notes plus study tasks with answers in faded font): As 2. above, but with a full (and new) interline Modern English text. This version is designed for students who will need more support with understanding the original and who wish to evaluate their own responses to the questions as they work through them. 
  
5. Pdf file (text of the poem in Modern English with inter-line original text, and explanatory notes plus study tasks without answers): As 1. above but for students working wholly with the Modern English version (the original text is there only for interest and occasional reference). The study tasks have been modified to take into account the fact that the students' 'working text' will be in Modern English. The suggested answers to the study tasks and questions are not included. 
  
6. Pdf file (text of the poem in Modern English with inter-line original text, and explanatory notes plus study tasks with answers in faded font): As 2. above but for students working wholly with the Modern English version (the original text is there only for interest and occasional reference). The study tasks have been modified to take into account the fact that the students' 'working text' will be in Modern English. The suggested answers to the study tasks and questions are included, in faded font. 
  
7-12. As 1-6 above, but in Word rather than pdf. 
The Word versions offer more flexibility: you could if you wished reduce the line spacing or change the margins so that the guide could be printed out on fewer pages, or enlarge the font size to suit individual student needs. The Comments can also be switched off so that the students are working only with the text - which, however, retains its colour-coded underlining so that attention is drawn to its significant features, and students can then work out for themselves what the significance is (using the SCASI system). Having done that they can switch the Comments back on, for comparison with their own notes. 
 
Plus:
  • o A Copy Licence authorizing multiple hard copies (printer- or photocopier-generated) for use within the school
  • o A Site Licence to allow the workbook to be placed on the school's computer network
 
Using the master files to generate classroom copies will of course involve some work and some additional costs; but they can be off-set against the cost of (and delay in) buying the poem in book format. Students will benefit from having their own hard copy of the poem (which they can personalise) together with a very detailed study guide to support their exam preparation. 


                                               
                                                   Costs

o Teaching Copy of the Workbook: US$14.95 (pdf file, single copy)

o The Classroom Collection as specified above:

Up to 10 print copies and a computer site licence
US$48.95
Up to 20 print copies and a computer site licence
US$88.95
More than 20 print copies and a computer site licence
Please ask
 
Invoice: To assist schools in making the purchase, we can supply an invoice in advance of payment. Please go (from the Workbook's 'Purchase' page) to the 'Request Invoice Prior to Payment' page. 
 
Note: Full on-screen use of the Classroom Collection will require Word 2002 or later and Adobe 4.0 or above. 
 
We'd be pleased to answer any questions you may have. Please email us: litworks@live.com 
 
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