As part of our series of posts celebrating the 40th anniversary of Cambridge Handbooks for Language Teachers, we bring you an exclusive interview with Penny Ur.
Penny is a former series editor and the author of a number of bestselling Handbooks including Five-Minute Activities, Discussions and More, and the Pocket Edition Penny Ur’s 100 Teaching Tips. Read on to discover Penny’s perspectives on the series and the changing landscape of ELT over the past 40 years.
You were series editor from 1995 to 2005, overseeing the publication of more than 20 Handbooks. What were your highlights from this time?
I enjoyed editing a lot of lovely books, from which I learnt a lot! Three which I particularly remember working on were Martin Hewings’s Pronunciation practice activities, Vicki Holmes’ and Margaret Moulton’s Writing simple poems, and Tessa Woodward’s Planning lessons and courses.
The first because I think it provides something essential which is lacking in many coursebooks, a classic function of the Handbooks series; the second because it is simply brilliant – original and imaginative, and I think deserves a lot more attention and actual use than it is getting; and Tessa’s book because – apart from its quality – she was the only author who came back to me with frank and important feedback on my editing style, which I have never forgotten.
The series launched in 1979 – what do you think have been the main changes in English Language Teaching since then?
Three major changes come to mind. First, the move to a general acceptance of communicative language teaching, which was only just beginning at that time; second, the shift to the teaching of English as an international means of communication rather than as a means of communication with (native) English speaking communities; and third, in recent years, the growing emphasis on the teaching of vocabulary, as contrasted with previous emphasis on grammar.
What do you think has been the key to the series’ success over the last 40 years?
I think the very practical orientation. Most other series tend to focus on research and underlying theories or rationales for methods of teaching: this one goes straight to practice, and provides ideas teachers can use tomorrow in their classrooms, together with underlying rationales and explanations which will help them adapt, or create further activities of their own.
As well as acting as series editor, you’ve also written a number of leading Handbooks – what has been your inspiration for these books?
My own teaching. I’m basically a teacher, not a writer: someone who loves to get other people to learn something I know and can teach. So when, in my teaching, I felt I had cracked a problem and had some good ideas, I was dying to tell other teachers about them! I started by sharing with other teachers in my school, then wrote articles for teachers’ journals.
Finally, one article I wrote, but was unable to publish because it was too long, fell into the hands of Adrian du Plessis of Cambridge University Press (by a series of serendipitous happenings, too long to recount here). He wrote to me suggesting it could be developed into a book for the newly established Handbooks series, edited by Michael Swan. That was Discussions that Work.
You authored some of the earliest titles in the series, including Teaching Listening Comprehension and Five-Minute Activities (with Andrew Wright) both of which are still selling well today. Given the changes you outlined above, are you surprised that new generations of teachers are finding inspiration in these titles?
No. Basically, teaching is teaching is teaching… and the foundations of good language teaching remain stable, in spite of changes in priorities such as those I mentioned earlier. It will always be true that students will learn a language if they are engaged in using and learning different aspects of it through interesting, challenging and success-oriented activities. Teachers will always benefit from possessing a reservoir of such activities. And that’s what the Handbooks provide.
Browse the series and find out more about the books Penny talks about in her interview here.