To some people, dictionaries and course books are the most important learning resources. However, choosing the best one can be difficult.

Learning Style Check!

When you are thinking of buying some new language teaching material, ask yourself these questions.

• What skills do you want to practise? If you want to practise your communicative skills, for example, make sure you don't buy a book which concentrates on reading and writing. If the course books you are considering are graded, are you sure you have assessed your ability accurately?
• Can you borrow video cassettes, tape cassettes or CD-Roms from anywhere?
• Does the course you intend to buy have lots of extras which you aren't going to use?

• If you are studying at school or college, use another book in addition to the one the teacher recommends. This will give you a feeling that you have control over your learning and that you are not dependent on the teacher.
• Choose a bilingual dictionary which will help build up your confidence. To help you choose, look up a word you know in the different dictionaries on offer and decide which definition and layout you like best. Ask other students in similar learning situations for advice. You can progress to an all-English dictionary when you need wider definitions and references.
• Before you buy a course book, try doing a sample chapter in the bookshop rather than just looking through quickly. To spread the cost, try sharing the book with a friend.