English for Academic Purposes Webinar # 5

Heather FerreyraBernard SealCaitlin Mara

Welcome: Sheryl Olinsky Borg

EAP / Skills Sales

On the rise!- 34% increase in last 3 years (’07-’10)- 19% increase YTD

- Best-selling titles- Continued new publishing - Dedicated to an EAP list meeting needs of

all levels/skills

The Making Connections Series

NEW! Low Intermediate Level

Making Connections:Low Intermediate

The Making Connections series

• Making Connections Low IntermediateLevel: Low intermediate to intermediate

• Making Connections IntermediateLevel: Intermediate to high intermediate

• Making Connections High IntermediateLevel: High intermediate to advanced

Four CUP Reading Series

• Academic EncountersA strong-version, academic prep, content-based approach

• Discovering FictionA fully integrated, literature-based approach

• Read This!A fluency-based approach

• Making ConnectionsA skills-based approach

A Skills-Based Approach

• Forefronts key reading skills: skimming, reading for main ideas, inferencing etc.

• Tends to downplay the content of what is being read in favor of the application of reading skills and strategies

• Develops vocabulary knowledge and vocabulary attack skills

• An archetypal skills-based reading series: Reading Power (Pearson)

Why Making Connections is a skills-based series

• Special skills and strategies sections that introduce and practice specific reading strategies

• Tasks to be done before, during, and after reading that apply the skills that are taught

• A strong emphasis on vocabulary building

New in MCLI

• 8 units with three readings per unit• Font size is slightly larger• 16 skills and strategies sections – 2 per unit• Skills and strategies are discrete – not broad• Vocabulary strategies recycled and built upon• Academic Word List (AWL) task at end of

each unit• AWL words indicated by an icon in Glossary

Unit topics in MCLI

1. Crossing Borders 2. Names3. Food4. Urban Transportation5. Sleep6. Music7. Natural Disasters8. Leisure

Unit Structure of MCLI

• Unit Opener (Unit TOC)• Skills and Strategies 1 (Vocabulary focus)• Reading 1• Reading 2• Skills and Strategies 2 (Reading skill focus)• Reading 3 (longer reading, 8-10

paragraphs)• Making Connections (Meaning across

sentences)

Unit opens with a piece of art and the unit table of contents

Skills and Strategies

This section opens with a presentation of the skill and examples of it – in this case word prefixes and suffixes

Skills and Strategies

The second and third pages contain:

language charts (where appropriate)

strategic advice

two skill practice exercises (i) recognition (ii) production

Prereading

A topic discussion task

A task that previews the reading’s content

The Readings

5-8 paragraphs (Readings 1 and 2) 8-10 paragraphs (Reading 3)

marginal tasks art with captions charts

Post-Reading Tasks

Main idea task

Detailed comprehension check task usually with some graphic organizer

First vocabulary task always “Definitions” of some key words in the text

Second Vocabulary task for Reading 1

Word families

Vocabulary tasks for Reading 2

Words in context

Same or different

The last vocabulary task in a unit is an AWL task

Unit ends with Making Connections tasks:

Exercise 1 Presents and practices a cohesive device

Exercise 2 Jumbled paragraph task containing cohesive devices

Appendix 1

Definitions of all target words in vocabulary exercises

Examples of target words in sentences

An icon to show which words in the reading are AWL words (new)

Key features of Making Connections Low

Intermediate• Skills and strategies sections that discretely

teach key vocabulary-building strategies and reading skills

• A variety of thematic content with concrete, easy-to-relate-to topics

Key features of Making Connections Low

Intermediate(cont’d)• Extensive pre-reading activities

• Marginal reading tasks to keep students focused on skills and strategies while reading

• A focus on main ideas in the post-reading activities• Many post-reading vocabulary-building tasks,

including a unit-culminating task featuring AWL words in the unit

• Beyond the reading tasks that can lead to research, discussion, and writing

• One longer reading per unit • A glossary of the target words with

definitions and examples, noting which words are AWL words

Key features of Making Connections Low

Intermediate(cont’d)

Selling Making Connections

Selling Making Connections

• Capitalize on the best-selling success of both levels of Making Connections

• Launching a new level always creates an opportunity to relaunch the series

• Series traditionally sell better

• We now have a new lower level…and lower-level EAP titles have traditionally sold better!

Selling Making Connections

• The first MC title became the top-selling EAP title even though it *wasn’t* part of a series – and despite it being a low-advanced level which traditionally has not sold as well as the lower level EAP titles.

• Imagine the possibilities now that it’s a THREE-LEVEL series beginning at LOW-INTERMEDIATE…

• This will open doors in programs where they previously weren’t interested in individual titles

Selling Making Connections

• Pre-pub research in the US academic English markets indicated that many programs would welcome a more academic approach to reading, starting at lower level

• Where are we already selling MC?– Community Colleges– IEP Programs

• Seek out CCs with high-stakes academic reading tests that are gateway tests to further study in English

• Programs seeking a segregated / discrete skill approach– Examples of Kent State & Oakton CC

• Position MC with other Cambridge EAP titles

Selling Making Connections

Targeting the Competition

Active Skills for Reading, 2e (Neil J. Anderson, Heinle 2008)

• Heavy market presence• 5-level series• Less academic• More cursory treatment

of reading skills

Targeting the CompetitionReading Power (Pearson / Linda Jeffries, Beatrice S.

Mikulecky)

- 4-level series (different editions/covers)- Like MC, takes an archetypal skills-based approach- Main focus on skills rather than content - Too task-oriented, meaning of the text gets lost

Targeting the CompetitionRead Smart (Cheryl Pavlik, McGraw Hill, 2004)

- Readings derived from newspaper, magazines, Web sites & emails.- Not as academic in approach = “Lightly academic”- Needs additional vocabulary skill development - Readings too short for academic reading preparation

Resources for Selling Making ConnectionsIn your binders:1. List of current Making Connections customers for

rep-driven rollovers

2. PubTrack List of customers using the competition- Active Skills for Reading- Reading Power

- Read Smart

PubTrack MC Competition Report

• Rollover current users• Reintroduce MC now that it’s a 3-level series• Position MC with other Cambridge titles• Seek programs looking for discrete skills• Seek programs with academic reading tests /

gateway tests for further study in English• Target the competition

Takeaways for Selling MC

• ESL homepage & reading page feature• Updated series website• Email Campaign featuring the new level

Making Connections Spring Publicity

Read This! WebQuests

www.cambridge.org/readthis

Fall Sales Review:Read This! & Writers at Work

Fall Sales Review:

• Read This! Series: $20K (YTD)

“This series looks great. I’ve had good feedback on it, but I don't see the orders.”

“Successful in every way…very, very positive responses…a real winner"

Where are they selling? Who’s interested?Read This! Series

- Community College, IEP- (Credit) Adopted at Collin County College- (Non-Credit) San Diego CCD, Tarrant County College - Fresno Pacific University

- PLS- AdultEd

(Ventures 4, Transitions customers)- El Monte Adult School

- High Schools

* Academic & Non-Academic Track Students

Approaches to Selling Read This!• Lead with the WebQuests

“The WebQuests have created an easy way to quickly establish the "identity" of Read This! in the customers perception. They really like the idea of having a on-line research outcome at the end of each unit. 

• Work toward late Spring High School decision-making

Excellent feedback on artwork though we’ve also heard that the cover appears to have a “youthful” appearance

Tackle the Competition:

PubTrack Competition Report for Read This!

• Reading Explorer• Quest• True Stories from the News• Inside Reading• Reading for Today Series• Hot Topics

Fall Sales Review:Writers at Work

Series: $126K (YTD)From Sentence to Paragraph: $3,600 (YTD)

For comparison = The Paragraph: $47KShort Comp: $38KThe Essay: $35K

Writers at Work: From Sentence to Paragraph

“There’s interest…but no sales yet.”

“Well-received, but there are few orders and commitments so far. I sample and show in all market sectors on sales visits, at conferences, etc.”

Writers at Work: From Sentence to Paragraph• Remember the Making Connections approach:

– Target programs wanting discrete / separate skills – 4-levels is ideal!

• Target programs that…– Teach writing separate from reading– Lower level, less academic programs

• If you haven’t already, sample the Writers at Work users list

Tackle the Competition:

PubTrack Competition Report for Writers at Work

• Fundamentals of Academic Writing • Introduction to Academic Writing• Great Sentences for Great Paragraphs• Reason to Write• Great Essays