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mandragoraA few weeks ago one of my parents' closest friends, who was the next door neighbour when I was growing up, died unexpectedly. My parents were gutted.
Yesterday he was the subject of The Times
William Rowlinson
Teaching a generation of language teachers
WILLIAM ROWLINSON was among the foremost modern languages educationists of his time, and a prolific writer of memorable French and German reference and textbooks. In some fields sales of his textbooks account for half the market. As a young teacher in the 1950s he developed what was then a new style of language teaching. He emphasised listening and speaking, and used role-play to give a sense of fun to everyday experiences in other languages. The method was widely copied and adapted.
The first textbook to convey his zest was the beginners’ Sprich mal Deutsch! In 1965 he took the method to Sheffield University’s department of education, where he became a lecturer (and later acting head). This was the highpoint of the new wave of teaching teachers. Rowlinson also introduced audio tapes with native speakers (interviews that he had collected himself) — another method that is now standard.
Rowlinson made Sheffield one of the leading centres for graduates wanting to become teachers. One of the leading examiners of the time commented that Rowlinson had influenced an entire generation of British language teachers, and his gratified publishers agreed. As a teacher of teachers, Rowlinson knew what worked in the classroom, and insisted that teachers should not allow their pupils to become bored.
William Rowlinson grew up in his parents’ grocery shop in Denton and won a scholarship to Manchester Grammar School. After National Service in the RAF — in the education branch — he went up to Christ’s College, Cambridge. He shone in student cabaret as a scriptwriter and actor, and played in revue on the Edinburgh fringe and in London.
After graduation in 1954, he spent a year in the English for schools department of Radio Bremen, writing and acting in broadcast series. His first teaching post was at Watford Grammar School, from where he moved to Welwyn Garden City Grammar School, becoming head of modern languages at 30. During his time at Sheffield he had a year’s exchange at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, as visiting professor.
All the time his association with Oxford University Press was expanding. His editors still express admiration for the intellectual organisation he brought to the jigsaw of curriculum and classroom practicalities to produce his books. A companion beginners’ reader series Lies mal Deutsch! (with Günther Lehnigk) began in 1973.
The series’ ten-part “Pack 2c” broke new ground in 1976 as the first British textbook on the German Democratic Republic. Rowlinson, wanting his books to depict all German-speaking countries, managed to get himself on a tour of the GDR intended for communist sympathisers.
His non-political approach, acknowledging the help of the tour guide, was an accurate reflection of everyday life there. Much later it was discovered that the Stasi (secret police) had files on both him and the guide, because they naturally suspected a Westerner who spoke such good German and took such a keen interest.
In the late 1970s Rowlinson extended his list into French, with Tout Compris, a two-part course to GCE level. A German counterpart, Kapiert!, followed in 1983.
In 1984, in part because of the Thatcher Government’s education cuts, and an offer of pension benefits that could hardly be refused, Rowlinson took early retirement. This was Sheffield’s loss but Oxford University Press’s gain, for he devoted himself ever more intensely to textbook writing. Now A-level courses followed, with Nous les Français, and in 1993 Deutschland hier und jetzt, a brilliant documentary encapsulation of life in the reunited Germany.
Always Bill to his friends, Rowlinson was an hilarious raconteur. He loved the theatre, and translated plays by Bertolt Brecht and Gerhard Hauptman for performance at the Mermaid Theatre. He was also a serious amateur actor in later life, taking roles such as Falstaff in the 11 years he appeared at the Shakespeare festival at St Dogmael’s Abbey, Pembrokeshire.
He married Hilary Davies in 1959. She, a son and two daughters survive him.
William Rowlinson, teacher, was born on December 27, 1931. He died of a ruptured aorta on January 16, 2004, aged 72.
He was a lovely man (even if he was the cause of one of the most excrutiatingly embarrassing incidents of my youth).
Yesterday he was the subject of The Times
William Rowlinson
Teaching a generation of language teachers
WILLIAM ROWLINSON was among the foremost modern languages educationists of his time, and a prolific writer of memorable French and German reference and textbooks. In some fields sales of his textbooks account for half the market. As a young teacher in the 1950s he developed what was then a new style of language teaching. He emphasised listening and speaking, and used role-play to give a sense of fun to everyday experiences in other languages. The method was widely copied and adapted.
The first textbook to convey his zest was the beginners’ Sprich mal Deutsch! In 1965 he took the method to Sheffield University’s department of education, where he became a lecturer (and later acting head). This was the highpoint of the new wave of teaching teachers. Rowlinson also introduced audio tapes with native speakers (interviews that he had collected himself) — another method that is now standard.
Rowlinson made Sheffield one of the leading centres for graduates wanting to become teachers. One of the leading examiners of the time commented that Rowlinson had influenced an entire generation of British language teachers, and his gratified publishers agreed. As a teacher of teachers, Rowlinson knew what worked in the classroom, and insisted that teachers should not allow their pupils to become bored.
William Rowlinson grew up in his parents’ grocery shop in Denton and won a scholarship to Manchester Grammar School. After National Service in the RAF — in the education branch — he went up to Christ’s College, Cambridge. He shone in student cabaret as a scriptwriter and actor, and played in revue on the Edinburgh fringe and in London.
After graduation in 1954, he spent a year in the English for schools department of Radio Bremen, writing and acting in broadcast series. His first teaching post was at Watford Grammar School, from where he moved to Welwyn Garden City Grammar School, becoming head of modern languages at 30. During his time at Sheffield he had a year’s exchange at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, as visiting professor.
All the time his association with Oxford University Press was expanding. His editors still express admiration for the intellectual organisation he brought to the jigsaw of curriculum and classroom practicalities to produce his books. A companion beginners’ reader series Lies mal Deutsch! (with Günther Lehnigk) began in 1973.
The series’ ten-part “Pack 2c” broke new ground in 1976 as the first British textbook on the German Democratic Republic. Rowlinson, wanting his books to depict all German-speaking countries, managed to get himself on a tour of the GDR intended for communist sympathisers.
His non-political approach, acknowledging the help of the tour guide, was an accurate reflection of everyday life there. Much later it was discovered that the Stasi (secret police) had files on both him and the guide, because they naturally suspected a Westerner who spoke such good German and took such a keen interest.
In the late 1970s Rowlinson extended his list into French, with Tout Compris, a two-part course to GCE level. A German counterpart, Kapiert!, followed in 1983.
In 1984, in part because of the Thatcher Government’s education cuts, and an offer of pension benefits that could hardly be refused, Rowlinson took early retirement. This was Sheffield’s loss but Oxford University Press’s gain, for he devoted himself ever more intensely to textbook writing. Now A-level courses followed, with Nous les Français, and in 1993 Deutschland hier und jetzt, a brilliant documentary encapsulation of life in the reunited Germany.
Always Bill to his friends, Rowlinson was an hilarious raconteur. He loved the theatre, and translated plays by Bertolt Brecht and Gerhard Hauptman for performance at the Mermaid Theatre. He was also a serious amateur actor in later life, taking roles such as Falstaff in the 11 years he appeared at the Shakespeare festival at St Dogmael’s Abbey, Pembrokeshire.
He married Hilary Davies in 1959. She, a son and two daughters survive him.
William Rowlinson, teacher, was born on December 27, 1931. He died of a ruptured aorta on January 16, 2004, aged 72.
He was a lovely man (even if he was the cause of one of the most excrutiatingly embarrassing incidents of my youth).
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no subject
Date: 4 March 2004 23:09 (UTC)