Dr. Rob Waring is Emeritus Professor at Notre Dame Seishin University in Okayama. He has published over 60 articles and has given hundreds of lectures, plenaries and featured speaker presentations in 32 countries. He is an Executive Board member of the Extensive Reading Foundation. He is also author and series editor of six series of graded readers and has recently published Teaching Extensive Reading in Another Language with Paul Nation.

Abstract

This presentation will focus on the process of writing a graded reader from the perspectives of an author, editor, and online publisher. The first part of the presentation will focus on story formation, plot development,  key elements, and potential pitfalls. We will discuss character creation, plot development, and other aspects of effective story telling. The presenter will then overview the practical process of producing a graded reader from initial conception to published product. This will include the introduction of a free online graded text editor that can be used for appropriately leveling graded readers, and suggestions for obtaining artwork inexpensively. The participants will work in groups to critique several graded reader proposals and suggest ways to improve them. Participants will be encouraged to form their own synopses and story ideas, build characters and settings with an eye to future writing and publication.

Paul Goldberg has taught English for over 20 years, and is the founder of the online system, Xreading, which he developed to make extensive reading more accessible for students and easier for teachers to manage.

Ann Mayeda is a teacher educator at Konan Women’s University. Her research focuses on learner development and issues surrounding autonomy as it applies to young learners and young adult learners. In her free time, she writes and edits the Global Issues Narratives series while also continuing a long-term research project on extensive reading programs in Nepal.

Catriona Chalmers is a language instructor, teacher-trainer, and freelance writer/editor. She is a writer/editor for the Global Issues Narratives series published by Abax Japan. She is the editor of Xreading News, writing and editing graded news stories weekly for XReading. She has also written graded readers for Halico.

Talking Points

Trina and Ann will talk about the process of incorporating factually accurate real-world issues into original narratives, to create engaging content that learners will want to read whilst also giving broader perspectives of global topics. We will touch briefly on the writing and editing process, working with the authors and publisher, and some of the challenges in getting the readers into print.

Paul is currently an associate professor at Nara Institute of Science and Technology where he runs a number of specialized EFL courses and an extensive reading program. He is also the founder of Pomaka.com - a language learning website and, more recently, an independent graded reader publisher. Paul is the author of a number of graded readers including the Language Learning Tips series (HALICO) and the Breaking Free - University Diaries series (Pomaka).

Talking Points

The first half of this short talk will focus on my motivations for writing graded readers, how I became a published author and, more recently, an independent publisher. The second half of my talk will focus specifically on self-publishing graded readers on Amazon. This will include the advantages and disadvantages of Amazon publishing, and pointers on eBook and print book formatting, cover design, and marketing.

Heather is the co-founder and director of the award-winning publisher, I Talk You Talk Press. She has published 102 graded readers, of which she has written 40 and co-authored 15. She has been teaching for 23 years and translating for 19 years. She is based in Shimane Prefecture.

Talking Points

I will talk about my experience of writing and publishing graded readers while teaching English, and of growing I Talk You Talk Press from a side business into a full-time enterprise. I will talk about my reasons for writing graded readers, the writing and publishing process, and the day-to-day running of the business.

Paul is an associate professor at Nara Medical University, where he teaches EAP and CLIL courses for medical and nursing students. He is currently a PhD candidate at Kyoto University, where he is researching the effectiveness of using graded readers to support academic vocabulary learning. 

Talking Points

The main focus of this presentation will be on the conception and development of a 10-volume fictional graded reader series incorporating academic vocabulary from Averil Coxhead's (2000) Academic Word List ("My Mysterious Friend Sora", also known as "The AWL Readers"). After a brief explanation about my own background, I will outline some of the contextual/institutional factors that led to the creation of The AWL Readers series. However, the bulk of my presentation will cover the key elements (and hurdles) in the creative process for The AWL Readers series. This will include discussion about how I got started writing (and how I stayed motivated to keep writing), my reliance on others (particularly colleagues and students) during the story planning and writing process, and the difficulty of incorporating all 570 AWL vocabulary items into non-academic texts.   

The GRAPE is a face-to-face event on March 25, 2023. Participants should bring their own laptop computers, as some of the work will be done online. WiFi will not be available at the venue. Please be prepared to tether (hotspot) your computers to your phones. 

We will be utilizing a Google Classroom for the duration of our months-long workshop. Participation in the workshop requires that all participants join the Google Classroom using a Gmail address. The join code and specific workshop length will be provided on the day of the event. Our primary objective is to have all stories written before the start of the summer holidays and published by the end of autumn. 

In accordance with Temple University policy, masks will be optional in all on-campus settings at TUJ, both indoors and outdoors, without exception, effective March 13th.