The FOIL method is
not really bad for teaching multiplication of two binomials as long as it is derived from applying the distributive law or more officially known as the Distributive Property
(over addition or subtraction).
The
FOIL method is a mnemonic for First term, Outer term, Inner Term, Last term. It
means multiply the first terms of the factors, then the outer terms, then the
inner terms and the last terms. I would suggest the following sequence of
examples before the teacher introduces product of two binomials:
Simplify the following expressions
1. 3(2x-1)
2. 3x(2x-1)
3. -3x(2x-1)
4. (x+3)(2x-1)
Play the video for complete description
of how to teach this with meaning.
