Getting published
In the final part of our series on creating your own materials, Eoin Higgins writes about sharing ideas and getting your work published. By happy coincidence, this spring several members of the iT's team have new books being published so it felt like a unique opportunity for the authors to talk about their own books and the experience of writing.
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iT’s for Teachers editor, Robert Campbell (left) with Lindsay Clandfield (middle) and Rob Metcalf (right) shortly before the launch of Global at Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum in February. Photo© Macmillan Education/Matt Kay, 2010 |
First up is Lindsay Clandfield. Lindsay joined the iT's team many years ago and has been a regular contributor ever since. His "Surviving Teaching" articles, which he co-wrote with Duncan Foord, were always popular and went on to be published as The Language Teacher's Survival Handbook. Lindsay wrote part of Macmillan's Straightforward course before becoming the lead author on Macmillan's new Global course, which is being launched this month.
"A major coursebook takes years to plan and write. The original idea for Global was born around 2006. I had just finished writing books for the Straightforward series and knew the ropes a bit. When the publisher asked me what I wanted to do next, I told him I was interested in doing my own course. We batted around some ideas, I came up with a sample, and Global began.
"Global was, from the very beginning, intended to be a course that was more educational in terms of content than what already existed, including what I had written before. The idea was that the added value of a lesson would be that students and teacher learnt something new apart from the language, and that we would steer away from the light and superficial treatment of currently common topics. I also wanted to include literature in an overt way.
"One
idea we had from the beginning was to include English 'with an accent'-
recordings of people from around the world speaking English naturally.
In fact, to test this idea out I wrote a series of lessons for Onestopenglish
called "Live from London". These were recorded naturally -
on the street with no script and no prompts - and I wrote material around
what I got. The success of these lessons led to Global Voices,
an important thread in the course.
"An important course is made up of lots of people: There's the main author, as well as other key authors who work on the core material; then there's a team of editors and designers. Global was different in that we also hired a photographer for the course to avoid the use of so many stock photos of models. The design of Global has also been extremely important.
"One of the most exciting moments in the development of Global was when we decided to approach David Crystal to write several texts on the English language that we could include in the coursebook. As I'm sure you know, David Crystal is one of the world's experts on English, so you can imagine how happy I was when he agreed to contribute. Working with his material has been a great experience for me as a writer and English teacher.
"Another landmark moment in the development of the course was when we were given access to the BBC's documentary archive to choose clips to go on the student e-workbook. And to top it all off, I was able to convince the editor of this magazine and a longtime mentor, Robert Campbell, to participate in the writing of video material.
"I know several coursebook authors who have been jaded by their experience. I guess I'm very fortunate so far with Global to have ended up with very much what I wanted from the beginning - a new adult course which offers some real differences in terms of content and design."
Next up is Rob Metcalf. Rob started writing for iT's in the early 1990s. He was one of the authors of the advanced student's book of the Framework course for adults (Richmond) and of the workbooks for three other levels. Now he is one of the three authors of English in Motion (Richmond), a four-level secondary course.
"When
I became involved in English in Motion, or E24 as it was
originally called, I'd already had a fair amount of writing experience.
I'd been contributing to iT's for some years, I'd co-authored
a student's book and three workbooks, and I'd been writing for Net Languages'
online English courses since the company's inception. But nothing had
really prepared me for what I was about to experience in terms of the
sheer amount of work involved in writing a four-level course. Looking
back, though, it was worth it.
"The initial phase, in which we spent a lot of time talking to secondary teachers and observing classes was invaluable. There was a lot to learn, and some real puzzles to solve. How do you pitch a secondary coursebook so that it will work in classes where some students are also going to language academies, while some recent arrivals are working as hard as they can to learn the local language? How much technology can you refer to when some schools are well-equipped and others less so, when some teachers are comfortable using computers and the Internet with their students, and others aren't?
"The course comes with a whole raft of extra materials to help the teacher deal with diversity in class. There's also a fully digital version of the course for use with interactive whiteboards. But even though the course has all these extras, we tried to keep things as simple, clear and self-evident as we could. Ease of use is a key factor in any successful secondary course. A busy teacher can't spend time pondering the purpose of material and how it should be used with their students. And we never lost sight of the need to create material with an intrinsic interest for adolescent and teenage students. We were invited to write the course on the strength of material we had all contributed to iT's, and looking at the finished product, I think we've managed to keep some of the iT's feel to our choice of themes and the way topics are approached.
"The structure of the units also allowed us to bring a magazine feel to the course in the shape of a "Culture" spread, which is partly based around a topical text that students would read for interest in their own language, and also focuses on a related area of English for use in practical, everyday situations.
"One of the most enjoyable parts of writing the course was choosing the songs. We decided to pick songs to represent different music genres, so there's a real of mix from soul music (Aretha Franklin) through to post-punk (The Cure) and singer-songwriters (Sufjan Stevens). You can even take a trip back in time and dance to "The Best Disco in Town".
"The official launch of English in Motion is about to take place. It's the end of a very long writing process that started back in 2005, but it's the beginning of the course's life in the classroom. Exciting times!"
Hall Houston is a regular contributor to the magazine even though we've never actually met him in person. We asked him to tell us about his second book, Provoking Thought, which has just been published.
"Provoking
Thought grew out of several topics (memory, creativity, critical
thinking) that I enjoyed reading about and that I felt had some relevance
for language learners. I aimed to create a set of activities that would
allow students to use their thoughts as a resource for language learning.
While my first book, The Creative Classroom, was about creativity
and brainstorming, I wanted to include a wider range of subjects and
activity types in the second one. Provoking Thought is a collection
of practical activities that can be used to add variety to a lesson
in a wide range of teaching contexts. It has elements of role play,
creative writing, discussion, brainstorming, kinaesthetic learning,
project work, pair work and group work.
"An introduction gives an overview of the book and lists some suggestions for working with thinking skills. The rest of the book consists of five chapters. The first chapter, "Thinking", includes a number of ways to make students aware of their own thinking patterns, as well as some short activities that can be used to start a lesson. Chapter two, "Memory", gives some suggestions for helping students consolidate more of what they learn in class, so there are a lot of exercises aimed at reviewing new language. In the third chapter, "Creativity", teachers get useful information about brainstorming and lots of activities to encourage development of creative skills. The fourth chapter, "Critical Thinking", presents many of the basic concepts taught in critical thinking courses, such as creating an argument, supporting an argument with evidence, identifying bias and detecting logical fallacies. The final chapter, "Organizing Ideas on Paper", is about expressing thought in writing.
"One extra feature worth mentioning is the inclusion of three interviews with experts in memory, creativity and critical thinking. These interviews provide more information for teachers who would like to learn more about teaching these subjects.
"I found the process of writing the book challenging, frustrating and ultimately highly enjoyable. While writing the book, I tried out the activities with my university students and took into account their reactions. I showed various drafts of the book to some of my colleagues in Hong Kong and Taiwan, and their feedback helped me revise the book even further. One highlight was working on the design of the book cover. Another was corresponding with two experts on teaching creativity and critical thinking - Alane J. Starko (author of Creativity in the Classroom) and Vincent Ryan Ruggiero (author of The Art of Thinking and Beyond Feelings).
"Now that the book is finally in print, I've been watching the endless mutations of the page for my book on Amazon.com. It's highly entertaining to keep up with the rise and fall of the book's sales rank (#299,308 as I write this).
"Putting together Provoking Thought has been an important step in my own professional development. Overall, writing this book helped me develop not only as an ELT materials writer, but also as a teacher."
For a two-year period Nicky Hockly was the editor of iT's for Teachers. She then went on to form The Consultants-E with Gavin Dudeney, her co-author on How to Teach English with Technology (Pearson). Her new book is called Teaching Online: Tools and Techniques (Delta Publishing).
"Why write a book about teaching online? I've been teaching online for what feels like a very long time (but is in fact only since 1997). Those were the early days of virtual learning environments (VLEs), and I cut my teeth writing materials for and tutoring on an online interuniversity MA programme based in Spain.
"I learned the hard way. I'm a face-to-face language teacher and teacher trainer, not an IT geek. I knew next to nothing about technology. Apart from a technician in a grubby T-shirt and a piece of pizza in one hand telling me (far too fast) - not showing me or letting me try out - how the VLE worked, I had absolutely no training in online facilitation skills at all. Where to start? What to do? How to get my group to gel and work together on collective projects online? The students had never met in person, and never would. How to design interactive and meaningful tasks for them? How to keep them on board and motivated - for two whole years? I really didn't know. I had to make it up as I went along.
"Things have changed since 1997. VLEs are two a penny, and a large number of further education institutions offer online and blended learning across a range of degrees, diplomas and the like. There are many more e-moderators and online teachers around. Language teachers are increasingly expected to offer at least some parts of their courses online. Unfortunately, what hasn't changed is that face-to-face language teachers who are expected to offer their students online learning options are given very little training in online facilitation skills or online course and task design.
"This is what we try to do in the book. We provide language teachers with practical ideas and examples of tools, techniques and activities for teaching online. All the Web-based tools we describe in the book are free. The book consists of three parts. The first part covers why and how to put parts of your language course online. The second looks at specific online tools you can use to deliver the online part of a course as well as practical activities you can use with students to practise reading, listening, speaking, writing, language work and vocabulary, as well as activities for assessment and feedback - all online. And the third part examines how, as an online tutor, you can continue with your own professional development online.
"As to the actual writing of the book, this has been a fun one to write, as it includes a lot of practical activities that my co-writer and I have tried out with our various online groups. All three of my books to date have been written with a co-writer. For me this makes the writing process easier - it's great to have someone you can bounce ideas around with, and work together on drafts with. It also halves the workload. And it's a wonderful moment when the first copy of the actual book arrives, and you see all that work made real. I usually find I can't face actually reading the content in the book again, as I have seen it so many times before in drafts, but the complimentary copies the publisher sends make a great stand for my computer monitor."
Finally, a few words from our current editor, Robert Campbell, who’s had a busy few years as a co-author of English in Motion (see above) and video author and materials writer for Global (also see above). Apart from those projects, and editing the magazine, he also managed to fit in writing a graded reader, Next Door (Helbling).
“Writing
Next Door was one of the most enjoyable work experiences I’ve
had in recent years outside of editing this magazine. I wrote it while
I was still working on the secondary course, and it was a tremendous
release to be able to forget about making texts fit to a specific reduced
word count but instead to have the space to imagine a whole story and
enjoy the process of telling it.
“I think the key to a successful writing project is the relationship
between the editor and the author. With the magazine, I try to give
contributors the freedom they need to come up with original and interesting
ideas, and then help them adapt those ideas for the
magazine format. It’s a relationship that’s built on mutual
trust and respect, and it’s the same with books. I’d written
a reader before when I’d had to adhere quite strictly to a set
list of words. The thinking at Helbling is that rigid word lists are
contrary to the spirit of extensive reading and reading for pleasure
in general. That doesn’t mean you can write whatever you want.
It’s a matter of making sure that the vocabulary and grammar are
right for the chosen level while telling the story in your own words.
“Next Door is the story of a boy called Eoin. (Yes, I did borrow Eoin Higgins’ first name for the character, although that’s the only similarity between the two.) When a new family with a twin brother and sister move next door to Eoin, strange things start to happen. The kids at school make fun of the twins and say that they’re from another planet. So Eoin decides to find out where they really come from.
“I’ve always loved science fiction, so I was in my element writing the story, which is told through a series of blog entries. I can’t wait to receive my copies of the book, especially because I haven’t seen the artwork yet. It’s one thing to see the story in your mind as you’re writing it, but it’s going to be a strange feeling when I see how the illustrator has interpreted it. I have already seen the cover, though, and I’m pleased to say it looks good. Now I’m about to start work on the next one. Watch this space.
“It has been an interesting few years. Working on the secondary course with Rob and Gill Holley was a real education, while writing the video scripts and then filming them for Lindsay’s course has been a great adventure. Doing the reader has also been a positive experience. It’s good to know that iT's has played a part in the creation of all these projects. Now we’ll have to wait and see how teachers and students react to them.”