StartUp Level 2

Over the course of two years (2016–2018), I led the development of this 152-page textbook for Pearson English. Internally, I collaborated with a core team of ten people as well as the design, video, audio, and legal departments. I also trained and supervised external writers, editors, artists, designers, and actors.

Check it out here.

Special care went into choosing this cover image. It represents adventure and growth.

Organizing the themes and learning objectives requires both big picture and extremely detailed-oriented thinking.

Each unit begins with a preparatory discussion.

Many questions guide the creation of a page like this. They include: Which words will be most helpful in the students’ lives? How can the images best show the words? Are we representing diversity well? What activity will help? What activity will fit? What examples are necessary to understand the grammar?

Each unit has audio and video. (Here you see a listening.) Freelance writers wrote the scripts. I supervised the studio recording and commissioned the artwork.

Here’s a screenshot from a video.

The initial version of the image here kind of shouted “mansplaining”. (The female silhouette was in blue and the man was doing the talking.) Avoiding pitfalls like that is necessary and important work.