The idea for STM Publishing started back in 2001 when I started working for Valencia Community College in Orlando, Florida as Director of the Center for Global Languages. I was constantly being asked for Spanish courses for corporate training, but there were no books on the market that would meet my expectations. Our instructors had to struggle with making a book work that really just did not, and I knew there had to be a better way. So, I started writing and creating Spanish language programs for these companies.
The name “STM Publishing” comes from the Steps to Mastery™ Teacher Training Program. This program was developed back when I owned my language school in San Juan, Puerto Rico. I found myself telling teachers the same thing over and over again after observing their classes, so I took that information and created a series of workshops that touched upon the most important things needed to facilitate an effective language class: use the Steps to Mastery when creating lesson plans, design your class using the communicative approach, teach grammar with a communicative approach, facilitate error correction, watch your teacher talk, find original and effective classroom materials, incorporate culture into the lesson, create effective reviews and assessments, and customize the curriculum as needed.
What is different about these textbooks is that they take several things into consideration. First, the content is appropriate for the language level. The textbooks do not introduce 40 hours of content in the first 10 pages which is the problem I see with many textbooks out there. Second, the textbooks “ease” students into the language using the Steps to Mastery™ instructional design system. Finally, the price is reasonable for continuing education and corporate training divisions. Since this was and has been my role at the college for almost ten years now, I know that schools are extremely price sensitive when it comes to book selection.
Back in 2007, STM Publishing was born with the intention of not only offering quality language textbooks for continuing education and corporate training, but also creating everything the teacher would need for the classroom. These programs have tons of support material so teachers do not have to spend hours outside of class to prepare their lessons.
Thank you for your interest in STM Publishing, and I look forward to adding many more titles to our current program offerings!
Jennifer R. Montes
