From Pharaohs to Photons: Longman Announces New Social Studies and Science Worktexts
John Ade, K-12 Marketing Director

Pearson Longman has updated and revised its two acclaimed content-area series Longman Social Studies and Longman Science, which now provide greater emphasis on academic vocabulary acquisition to help ELLs develop better content-area knowledge and skills. (See program information.)

In addition to updating the content, such as the re-classification of Pluto as a dwarf planet, and the 2008 election of Barack Obama, the two series have also been re-designed to be more flexible, manageable, and to fit into a wider variety of classroom configurations. Whereas the original series were composed of single student texts and workbooks that offered a survey of science or social studies, the revised series split the content into logical (and more manageable) chunks that more closely correlate with mainstream courses. In addition, they combine the text and workbook into flexible worktexts.

For example, instead of a single text that covers all of human history, the Longman Social Studies series is now split into Ancient Civilizations, the Middle Ages and Early Modern Times, and U.S. History and the Modern Era. Similarly, the Longman Science series is now split into separate Life, Earth, and Physical Science worktexts.

Teachers heartily welcomed the changes when shown the new series. "I’ve always loved the Longman content-area books," says middle school ESL teacher Dana Pollero, "but the new edition is a much better fit for our curriculum because now our ELLs can focus on the same content that the mainstream kids are getting."

Some of the other improvements include:

• Built-in skills practice and review following presentation of new material
• Enhanced Academic Vocabulary instruction and practice
• Journaling activities
• Civics strand (Longman Social Studies)
• Reading passages from mainstream texts (Longman Science)

Both series still offer comprehensive Teacher's Manuals and provide the popular poster packs and audio programs. They also both still feature the learning strategies-based lesson format that helps English learners make the transition to mainstream coursework.

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