About us
- Introduction
- The story of iT's
- Our titles and online resources
- Creative team
- Website design
- Audio production
- Testimonials
- Sponsors
Going global
In
the autumn of 2000 we took a big step and started printing the magazine
in full colour. Derek Zinger, who'd turned up at the office one day
saying he wanted to work on the magazine but had little experience,
learnt fast and took over the design and layout of the magazine, giving
it a new, fresh and distinctive look.
Derek was soon joined by Jan Fleischer, our sub-editor, and Lindsay Clandfield, who took on the job of editing biTs, our new student magazine for elementary levels. Apart from biTs, we also re-launched iT's for Teachers, which Nicky Hockly edited and helped develop.
Two
people who have been key in the development and growth of the magazines
are Kathy Kennedy and Carlos Coria. Kathy started handling marketing
while Carlos runs subscriptions and administration. The three of us
have spent many hours discussing the magazines, and taking them to conferences
and book fairs.
In the summer of 2001 the three of us spent some time in New York and prepared an entire issue dedicated to the city that never sleeps. A couple of days before the magazine was due to go to the printer's, the events of September 11 changed things.
In
spring 2002 we launched the American edition of the magazine. It wasn't
the best time to launch a new educational magazine in the United States,
but we certainly learnt a lot from the experience. We had a list of
guidelines detailing what was and was not acceptable to include in U.S.
educational material that we found baffling. The guidelines included
the following: "Baseball caps should be worn facing forward. There
should be no contact between wild animals and children. Animals in zoos
should not be seen behind bars in cages. Settings should not include
any religious buildings, symbols or individuals (rabbis, priests, etc.).
Story lines should avoid religious overtones or holidays. There should
be no references to the occult, magic, ghosts, witches, etc. Do not
depict or include in story lines card playing, dice, drinking alcohol,
smoking or weapons."
We
received the list as we were preparing our James Bond issue (No. 86).
As you can imagine, writing about James Bond without mentioning weapons
or alcohol was quite a challenge. We ended up with two Bond covers.
The first showed the Bond silhouette with his trademark gun. The American
issue had Bond without his gun.
iT's has always tried to provide teachers with topical activities and to tackle issues that course books often avoid. Suddenly faced with the job of censoring the content was difficult and often frustrating. The whole issue of what should and should not be included in teaching material is worth exploring in a future issue. I wonder what you think. Is it better to present material that is set in a non-alcoholic world where everyone wears their baseball caps the right way round and guns and violence don't exist? Or should these be themes that are explored and dealt with in the classroom? Post your thoughts in the teacher's forum at www.its-teachers.com.
As a result of our experience in the United States we created a magazine that could be used in almost any country of the world without risk of offending anyone. The American editions of iT's Magazine and biTs came to an end, but as one door closed, another opened, and we were asked to create a magazine for British Council students around the world. The first issue of Class out was distributed to British Council students in 26 countries. Working with the Council has been a very positive experience, as has finding and exploring themes that will interest students in countries as diverse as Russia, Mexico and Sudan.
That
brings the story of the magazines more or less up to date, but it wouldn't
be right to end the story without a final twist. Several years ago we
turned what had been a magazine for teachers (iT's for Teachers)
into a student magazine (iT's Magazine) that teachers could use
in class. The magazine was designed so that teachers could use it with
classes in which students had their own individual copies. However,
our feedback showed that the majority of teachers wanted a magazine
with a selection of activities from which they can choose and that they
can easily photocopy. So, in 2005 we decided to give teachers what they
wanted: a magazine with articles, news and interviews, and a good selection
of topical classroom activities presented in a format that was easy
to use and photocopy.
The first issue of the new-format iT's for Teachers was published in November 2005, a few months after we celebrated our 15th anniversary.
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