Near the end of 2023 and the start of this year I was working on a new project.
Luiz Otavio Barros was in need of an editor for his new book, English in the News, and he approached me for the role. We met when he was a plenary speaker at the LABCI Conference in Santiago in 2019, and we’ve been in contact since then. I was excited when he contacted me. As much as I love teaching, I have adjacent skills that I can put to use that I haven’t taken the initiative to explore.
Who is Luiz?
Luiz is a prolific teacher and author hailing from Brazil. I really enjoyed his plenary talk when I first met him, and he’s very down to earth and hardworking.
In addition to teaching, he uses Instagram to reach a global audience through mini lessons. He will show a headline and then pose a question about a missing word or phrase or the pronunciation of a word. Afterwards he shows the correct answer, and he invites people to contact him if they don’t understand. Here’s an example:
As an author, he writes book to help English learners in a variety of contexts. His first book was an academic phrasebook for students entering Masters and PhD programs, appropriately titled The Only Academic Phrasebook You’ll Ever Need. With 8 chapters and 600 examples of academic language, I’ve used it with students that are in or entering academia. His second book is titled 100 Phrasal Verbs to Learn for Life. As the name suggests, it’s a practical guide about the most common phrasal verbs.
One thing that I really like about his books is that he makes sure that he explains concepts thoroughly but in a way that is easier for learners to understand. He also provides multiple examples, short quizzes, and explanations of concepts that could be potential stumbling blocks.
What was it like being an editor?
I really enjoyed the process and helping polish what was already a great book.
The process included a lot of communication back and forth, the use of Google Docs, Microsoft Word, and PDFs, and deep consideration about vocabulary, word choice, and intelligibility for a global audience. One of my strengths is organization and attention to detail, which lends itself well to editing and proofreading.
Technology facilitated so much of the process. I think we’ve taken for granted how easy we have it with things like Google Docs and even WhatsApp. Being able to leave comments and have an ongoing conversation was really beneficial, and WhatsApp allowed us to check in with each other. Given that I was traveling during parts of the project, it helped us to be in contact.
As for the actual work, I had to read through everything in more detail than I normally would. This included not only reading through multiple times, but also considering why one word might be better over another word when giving an example or explaining a concept. My background with Spanish and German and explaining concepts to English learners came in handy, but this was on a completely different scale given that English In the News is for a global audience. There was also my own bias of American English expressions and not knowing particular British English phrases.
All in all, it was an excellent experience.
English In The News
As the name suggests, the book helps English learners understand newspapers and internet articles written in English. It focuses on 80 key words that appear in reporting, with clear definitions, multiple examples, and short quizzes. The book is even narrated using AI.
I didn’t realize how many details about news headlines and reporting that there are that English learners might not understand until I started reading through the book.
Here’s one of the chapters as well as one of the quizzes:
If you’re interested in ordering it or learning more about it, click on the picture below:
If you’d like to follow his Instagram to see what he’s up to as well as take the quizzes, you can do so by clicking here.
While I do have a professional relationship with Luiz, I’d like to clarify that I am not earning any type of commission or payment for this blog post or sharing these links.
In my next blog post I’ll share my experience preparing to present at TESOL International happening later this month.
