Thanks for all the ideas! I knew many of you would have relevant experience.
I've already spent some time trying to look for coursebooks, and that is why I am not afraid to judge the whole sector as lacking in many ways.
Books for adults use all those boring irrelevant situations like talking to a colleague, looking for a job, and so on. Books for children and teens are usually too stupid, with the real knowledge watered down. At primary school, they focus on boring stuff like objects in the classroom, and similar hyper everyday stuff, absolutely not using the curiosity most of the kids have. There was no grammar in the stupid coursebooks my sister had been using a few years ago, so part of the frustration was coming from "why I am spending time on this, if I still cannot say anything I want". For teens, the books are trying to be something in between, but still the result is extremely narrow and superficial. And most teachers seem to avoid the books "for teens" anyways and go for those for "older teens and adults" immediately, as there really seems to be even less content in those specificaly for teens, and it may not be easy to switch to an adult series later.
All those are modern, expensive books published in the UK, the problem is not having outdated books in schools. Language coursebooks are the only books parents of kids under 15 have to pay for in the czech schools, and the most expensive of them. I think this is a part of the problem. The schools have to avoid very expensive choices. And they also cannot just buy supplementary books for their library in sufficient amount either.
My sister's school uses
https://elt.oup.com/catalogue/items/global/adult_courses/new_english_file/?cc=cz&selLanguage=cs the New English File, her class is "working with" the beginner or elementary level. The idea of the creators seems to be good, but the result is crap. Yes, there is a "grammar bank" and "vocabulary bank" and the content trying to be interesting. But as usual, there is not that much of the content, in my opinion. The grammar explanations are not sufficient (inviting you to buy a separate grammar book) and neither are the vocab lists.
The teacher, as is absolutely typical, uses the book to some extent but requires much more than that (because there is so little in the book). People on the internet tend to complain about teachers sticking to coursebooks too much and not really teaching on their own. I have yet to meet such a teacher, they are all trying to be creative and add a lot to the insufficient textbook they have chosen. So it is hard to tell what is my sister actually required to know, because opening the chapter they are at leads to "yeah, but this is not what's gonna be in the test". And they can't take their previous tests home.
I'll look at the Password Green series or something similar. That might be helpful, to get more examples in context. I am more and more convinced existence of such books with just such content, combined with books on grammar, and books on vocabulary, could easily push the "jack of all trades" courses aside. I'll have a look at that. My sister loves fantasy books, but she is also curious about various stuff, both from humanities and science. So, there is a lot to build upon, it just takes some research.
She is not as independent as I used to be. I wouldn't call it a lack of talent, she is just different. Different type of intelligence, different personality. So, I need to choose things super easy to use on her own, as she simply finds it harder to use self study workbooks and similar tools. But I think she'll get into it so, with more encouragement. I cannot be there every day. I love my family, but spending time with them is not easy for me, both as I need the time for my own studies, and it is also quite tiring to be there (a lot of people, noise, and so on).
She finds grammar and logical things harder the me, or sometimes it is just laziness to think (I am more and more convinced of that. It is simpler to say "I don't know" than to figure stuff out.). But she is good at understanding stuff in context, such as reading a book (she loves Harry Potter. And of course she needed the book 8 asap, without waiting for the translation
). The problem is, that a proper logical analysis could help her speed up her studies, and also improve her test results.
One of the problems is lack of confidence. She keeps refusing even to read aloud. She is not bad, even though not particularly good either. She needs practice. But she really seemed distressed when I insisted on her reading the answers out loud, and obeyed only partially. I don't understand. What is happening at school, making a girl, who is not introverted, who is good at communication with others, and who has no general problem with speaking publicly, is so nervous about reading a few sentences in English?
Ani, she is quite good, when it comes to reading comprehension. What are those books like? As there is an online version, and very affordable, they could be very useful, but I just couldn't find screetshots or a more detailed description.
I'll offer her a pen pal, that would be awesome! Thanks for this idea and offer. I'm afraid your son would be too brother-like (9 years, a coincidence)
But I think an idea of corresponding with a young teen girl from a different continent (who might surely have a lot in common with her, perhaps loving YA fantasy books and movies, to start from somewhere) could be exactly the kind of motivation we need!
