Materials Writing news and views, January 2021

By Pete on January 14, 2021 • ( 0 )

Hi all.

Short one. Diversity features quite a bit.

New releases

Another offering from the George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley of ELT, this time via Waygooze Press.

Other than that, I’ve haven’t seen much released. I’ve been reading some of the John Catt publication books. All quite new and a pretty good range, lacking in criticality at times though. Reviewed one here if interested.

Groups and chats

(If you say ‘groups and chats’ fast enough you can get a good beat going)

There are lots of Facebook groups for ELT writers. These are the main ones I’m in:

ELT Writers Connected
ELT Publishing Professionals (members one)
ELT Freelancers Hub
MaWSIG

All share useful info and there are often interesting discussions.

On Twitter, the only materials writing things I dip into apart from the #MaWSIG posts now and then are the #SigTweetMeet chats with Fiona Mauchline. I can’t make the time these days, but the chat is worth following.

Diversity

Lots being mentioned about diversity in ELT resources. There was the introductory webinar from Penguin Random House/Ladybird on DI which offered these ways forward for promoting diversity:

There’s a new podcast by Billie Jago with the opening topics relating to diversity.

There’s this new Facebook group ‘Reflecting Realities in ELT’ started by Lottie Galpin.

Off the back of that (I’m guessing) there’s a new consultancy collective (made that term up, sounds like a thing) focused on making ELT materials more representative. It’s called IDEAL+ ELT.

If you want to learn more about racism, whiteness, native speakerism and other important topics in ELT right now, I’d recommend the following Tweeters.

@sulaimanjenkins

@JPBGerald

@sanchiadanielle

Perhaps @Vijay_Ramjattan

@MarekKiczkowiak

@ParisaMehran (tweets now protected)

Understanding heteronormativity in ELT teaching materials, via Ashley Moore. Click here.

Jobs

Worth following Atena Juszko for jobs now on LinkedIn. She uploads a summary of job spots every now and then.
I’m about to blog about a project that keeps the pension topped up. Will get around to it soon.
As usual, some job spots on the ELTpp site.

Other CPD

Hind Elyas’ summarising her work with Nat Geo Advisory Board. A quick insight into what that role involves.

Becoming a writer

Here is a link to a load of Author Stories from ELT Teacher 2 Writer. How did these famous writers get their big break?

Blogs

To be or not to be (tokenistic) – Popowski, MaWSIG
Understanding sources and permissions – Galpin, MaWSIG
From teacher to writer – Erasmus, ETPro
Most posts by PJ Fullagar.

I’ve put all my materials writing stuff into one section on this blog. Link here.

This month I’ve mostly been…

wondering if I still have to dress up for an online awards ceremony. And wondering how I inspire NQTs(?).

If you only read one ELT-related thing this month…

Miranda/Alice from Twinkl ESL is doing a really good job creating new resources. The channel is looking good too. Check out some of the 3 minute vids.