Shared Knowledge - ESL Solutions on Teachers Pay Teachers
I have been posting products on my Teachers Pay Teacher's (TPT) online store ESL Solutions for a few years. I post some free products and some paid products. All of my products are for the ESOL classroom, and all of them involve the use of art to illustrate the grammar of speaking and writing! I have made a little bit of money over the years, but not enough to fund my older daughter's dream of going to Yale; in fact, she's been more successful through her own endeavors! That said, my sales are greatest during the months of August/September and then again in January because this is when new English-learning students most commonly start school.
My most successful product is a two-level series containing a set of books (student workbook, tutor manual) and flashcards for teaching survival English to newly-arrived elementary school kids, from grades 2-5. I developed this program when I was volunteering as an ESOL tutor at my local elementary school. I taught kids from Latin America, Germany, Kyrgyzstan, and Hungary, to name a few! Since these kids are often mainstreamed and since their overburdened teachers may not know where to start, I developed a program which provides 15-20 minute lessons that the teacher, a teacher's aide, or even a volunteer can give. The lessons employ simple, personalized drawings, and lots of speaking and listening. The goal is to teach kids English basics...a scaffold that they then build on as they interact throughout the day with other kids and teachers...in face-to-face lessons. My ultimate goal will be to add an online course to supplement the program, but I do not want to remove the human-to-human communication aspect of language learning. In my experience, it is an incredibly important aspect of language learning. There is something about looking directly at a person who is right in front of you that is missing even when using a tool like Skype.
I have a similar product for adults, and it is being used in a local food bank/education center to teach English to newly-arrived adults. I designed that for them as a donation to their program.
I also have a book that shows how to illustrate different aspects of English grammar. I presented this material at a regional TESOL conference, and I use it in every class I teach. I find that personalized, in-the-moment drawings are very effective in creating links to knowledge that make it possible for students to remember language more easily.
In terms of copyright and ownership, I bought ISBN numbers and have registered my books with those numbers. Since my products are all digital downloads, I post them as password-protected pdf's so that they can be printed but not altered. I have no control over how many times my work is copied or shared with others once someone buys it. That is a little frustrating, but I think that that is a common issue whether you sell digital materials or print books.
Any of the visuals which were not taken (photos) or drawn by me come from sources I paid to use. I bought a few collections of clip art, have paid for individual pictures on photo-sharing sites (fotosearch , for example), and have a paid membership to an online source of clip art ( Graphics Factory ). I give credit for all of the images as required by each source and give credit again where I put my own copyright information.
This week, I'm tracking interactions on the TPT site and have chosen a few marketing techniques:
My most successful product is a two-level series containing a set of books (student workbook, tutor manual) and flashcards for teaching survival English to newly-arrived elementary school kids, from grades 2-5. I developed this program when I was volunteering as an ESOL tutor at my local elementary school. I taught kids from Latin America, Germany, Kyrgyzstan, and Hungary, to name a few! Since these kids are often mainstreamed and since their overburdened teachers may not know where to start, I developed a program which provides 15-20 minute lessons that the teacher, a teacher's aide, or even a volunteer can give. The lessons employ simple, personalized drawings, and lots of speaking and listening. The goal is to teach kids English basics...a scaffold that they then build on as they interact throughout the day with other kids and teachers...in face-to-face lessons. My ultimate goal will be to add an online course to supplement the program, but I do not want to remove the human-to-human communication aspect of language learning. In my experience, it is an incredibly important aspect of language learning. There is something about looking directly at a person who is right in front of you that is missing even when using a tool like Skype.
I have a similar product for adults, and it is being used in a local food bank/education center to teach English to newly-arrived adults. I designed that for them as a donation to their program.
I also have a book that shows how to illustrate different aspects of English grammar. I presented this material at a regional TESOL conference, and I use it in every class I teach. I find that personalized, in-the-moment drawings are very effective in creating links to knowledge that make it possible for students to remember language more easily.
In terms of copyright and ownership, I bought ISBN numbers and have registered my books with those numbers. Since my products are all digital downloads, I post them as password-protected pdf's so that they can be printed but not altered. I have no control over how many times my work is copied or shared with others once someone buys it. That is a little frustrating, but I think that that is a common issue whether you sell digital materials or print books.
Any of the visuals which were not taken (photos) or drawn by me come from sources I paid to use. I bought a few collections of clip art, have paid for individual pictures on photo-sharing sites (fotosearch , for example), and have a paid membership to an online source of clip art ( Graphics Factory ). I give credit for all of the images as required by each source and give credit again where I put my own copyright information.
This week, I'm tracking interactions on the TPT site and have chosen a few marketing techniques:
- I added a board on Pinterest with links to my Youtube channel, some free resources, and some paid resources.
- I set up a sale on TPT for 15% off for 7/18-7/20.
- I sent out a tweet to check out my blog and the TPT site.
- I am writing this blog!
- I will post on Instagram as well.
I am using the hashtags #esolart and #teacherspayteachers and will add more as I find them.
Please download one of the free resources!!!
Thanks for sharing this! You have some really cool products, and I enjoyed learning more about how you protect your intellectual property on Teachers Pay Teachers, as well as how you've acquired other products in order to enhance your product. I didn't realize you could purchase ISBN numbers or anything like that for your own work. Very informative!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment! Here's the site I purchased my ISBNs from: http://www.bowker.com/products/ISBN-US.html
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