Look at the pictures in your text and decide where you went, what the weather was like, what you bought and so on. The pictures showed sightseeing in The Louvre, cloudy weather, and shopping at Chanel. While not intrinsically unsuitable, this task does not draw on what the student already knows and feels comfortable with. Many Asian students have never been out of their own countries. Because pictures give only superficial information, students are limited to parroting the sparse accompanying text or to listening to the teacher's supplementary lecture.
Language classes all too often are teacher centered with the instructor doing most of the talking.
Information about Paris, London, or Rome is not readily available. Finally, the affective filter may be raised because students are dealing with materials that are literally and figuratively foreign to them. In using local, English-language materials, students are dealing with familiar subjects, albeit in a foreign language. Also, the readings are short, condensed, and deal with familiar subjects. The first class I used these materials in was composed of ten senior high school students whose knowledge of English was very basic.