English Books for 12 to 13-year-olds

[Aberforth's Goat]

Hi guys!

A friend of mine teaches English in a local middle school. Recently, two
children moved back to Switzerland after having grown up in New Zealand.
Apparently, their English-language skills are on par with children of their
age back in New Zealand - but they've ended up in a school for educationally
challenged kids. That makes sense in most of their other classes, but not in
English.

My friend (a good teacher but a native Swiss with passable English skills)
wants to do the best she can for the children in question, but she has to
concentrate most of her energy on her slow learners. She asked me if I could
recommend a fairly self-explanatory English curriculum that would allow the
children to make some sort of progress - or at least not lose ground! - with
a severely limited amount of supervision from her.

Do any of you fine teachers (or fine soon to be former teachers ... ) have a
recommendation?

I suppose it would be helpful if the curriculum uses some form of UK or
commonwealth English (which is more current here in CH and corresponds to
the kids' background). OTOH, I have an inkling that materials used in
home-schooling systems (more prevalent in the US, I believe) might be
designed for a didactically compatible scenario.

Baaaaaa!

Aberforth's Goat (a.k.a. Mike Gray)
_______________________

"Of course, I'm not entirely sure he can read, so that may not have been
bravery...."