ESL Publishing & Developmental Editing
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC LEARNING · DEVELOPMENT EDITOR
Grammar is complex. Explaining it clearly is an editorial challenge in itself. I’m especially proud of helping National Geographic Learning develop its two bestselling ESL grammar series. In a sense, I was building the reference works I would later rely on myself—work that both demanded and deepened the command of grammar, usage, and editorial judgment I’ve carried throughout my career.
Featured Projects
Grammar Explorer
For National Geographic Learning’s Grammar Explorer, I development-edited Levels 2 and 3 and production-edited all three levels using advanced Adobe Acrobat Professional tools, carrying complex ESL textbook content from manuscript through final pages. My work included refining grammar instruction, examples, exercises, answerability, sequencing, and instructional clarity.
I also checked copy, layouts, cross-references, art and photo elements, page references, punctuation, and production details. Before delivery of units to the printer, I frequently worked one-on-one with the Director of Production to mark final corrections. Working across manuscript and production stages required maintaining consistency among lessons, components, and levels while preserving the series’ pedagogical approach and ensuring that increasingly complex grammar remained clear, accurate, and accessible to English-language learners
Grammar in Context
For National Geographic Learning’s Grammar in Context, Level 1, 6th ed., I provided substantive developmental editing for a long-established ESL grammar series whose author had been shaping its pedagogical approach since the 1980s. I partnered closely with the author to resolve complicated questions of grammar and usage while respecting the series’ established methodology and voice.
I did significant hands-on development to expand and restructure reference charts, fill instructional gaps, supply or request missing examples, reconcile inconsistencies, and ensure students had the information needed for subsequent exercises. I also traced concepts through earlier lessons and incorporated previously taught material into later sections. Drawing on my linguistics and phonetics background, I proposed and created an original vowel and consonant reference chart to clarify grammar points affected by sound, which was published across the series.
ACROSS THE SERIES
The editorial work moved across formats and stages—from manuscript development and instructional architecture to reference charts, exercises, page proofs, production editing, and final corrections before publication.