One of the best series books that I have used, and that I reference in quite a few of my lesson plans, was the New Hotline series from the Oxford University Press. Sadly these books appear to be out of print.
I have my old original copies of both the books and the audio tapes (yes! tapes! that's how old they are.)
I found the dialogues to be well-recorded, well thought out and entertaining. The kids always loved the soap opera segments that started each chapter and all in all they were a joy to work with.
They still are. I obtained mine second hand about ten years ago and have been using them with teenagers ever since.
The only valid complaint I've heard levelled at them is that they are too euro-centric, that there is not enough diversity in them for mixed classes.
Some of the material is now rather dated. Articles about celebrities always age badly. (Though not as badly as the article about computers!)
I simply skip over that stuff. In general I have found nothing that engages the students so well.
All of which,of course, presents a problem here on this blog. I can refereence them as much as I like but if you can't get a copy, then the lesson plan becomes useless.
The solution that I will continue to adopt is to include the references for my own use (after all this blog is also my own library of lesson plans) and to write either detailed notes or a new script for you to use. (I can't just put transcripts of the originals - out of print isn't the same as out of copyright)
If you record copies of my scripts to use in the classroom, or if you write your own, it is a good idea to get another teacher to make the recording for you as this will give the students practice in listening to different voices.
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