Ernie and Bert's Red Book provides high-intermediate level students of English with information and practice in skills necessary for them to succeed in their content area classes. Lessons feature social studies, science, math, and cultural topics. Students also learn about using prefixes, suffixes, homonyms, the dictionary, the encyclopedia, charts, and maps.
The focus is on all four language skills. Children will develop their reading, writing, listening, and speaking abilities in English through stories, conversations, songs, chants, and poems all based on illustrations and photographs in the book. By the end of the Red Book, children are reading detailed stories, writing reports, and working in groups to make judgments about situations.
As in the other stages of Open Sesame, the curriculum moves from topic to function to structure. As stated above, the topics relate to subjects students are studying in their regular classes. The functions and structures reviewed and introduced are ones that help children convey information on the particular topics.