ESB News - Autumn-Winter 2021 v7

Thayalan Reddy

“Almost five decades ago on a visit to the University of Natal Library in Durban I fortuitously came across a journal entitled Spoken English. I was an English Lecturer at the Springfield College of Education and on B.A.; University Education Diploma (Natal), B.A. Hons (UNISA), MA General Linguistics, Cert. In TESOL (Pittsburgh), FESB (Int) UK, Gold Medal English Academy of SA.

Thaylan in Southport with Christabel, Jocelyn and officials

browsing through this publication found the articles stimulating as many of the ideas enunciated were in accord with my own views on spoken English. Subsequently my eyes caught an application form for membership. As the value of the rand was favourable vis a vis the British pound, I took the enlightened step of applying for life membership of ESB from 1973. This is tantamount to my being a member for almost half a century. “As a lecturer in English, I was invited to contribute to our Department of Education Bulletin in 1973. (This was the apartheid era with different education departments for different races. Our college fell within the ambit of Indian education.) My article drew generously from ESB publications Speech for Life (Burniston) and Into the life of things (Bell and Burniston) amongst other language texts. “In the mid seventies I was successful in an application for a Fulbright Scholarship to study for an MA in General Linguistics and TESOL at the University of Pittsburgh adding to my academic credentials in language education. But ESB activities were always in my ken. I was keen on attending the ESB Conference in Shropshire and was fortunate to secure part funding by the Anglo-American Company to attend this event which took place between 27 and 31 July, 1981. This enabled me to connect personally with the charismatic Christabel Burniston and Betty Mulcahy amongst a host of other eminent language practitioners. This led to a visit by Christabel Burniston accompanied by Denise King to South Africa in April 1982. (Vide extracts from Teachers Association of South Africa News April 1982 for comprehensive programme during the visit. A few eyebrows must have been raised because this was visiting apartheid South Africa but the educational focus ameliorated such concerns.) This visit which included pilot demonstration examining of candidates from primary and secondary schools eventually paved the way for ESB examinations being conducted in South Africa at primary, secondary and tertiary levels in KwaZulu Natal under the watchful eyes of Denise King and other experts. Unfortunately, this examination programme could not be sustained owing to logistical difficulties. But the benefits of the programme were appreciated for many years by language practitioners. “A further point of interest is that considering my interaction with ESB personnel and promotion of the values of the organisation I applied for the Fellowship of the ESB IN 1984 with the mandatory requirements. I was charmed to hear of acceptance and was able to attend the ESB Conference at St Andrews College in Glasgow where I was delighted to receive the award and in my acceptance speech able to reflect on interaction with ESB philosophy and promoters over the years. An interesting perk during this visit was attending the Mayoral reception and also my being able to attend the final day of the British Open Golf Tournament. “The last ESB conference I attended was at the University of Liverpool close to the iconic Penny Lane which I strolled along in sheer delight humming the Beatle’s ditty with dubious lyrical expertise. I also presented a paper on Multilingualism in South Africa and the need to eschew parochialism in a multi-lingual country. The conference organisers also arranged a trip to the Lake District and what a delight it was to be seated with Betty Mulcahy for the duration of the trip and to be regaled by reminiscences of a rich life in the artistic milieu. Many new friends were made during this delightful conference.

“Of anecdotal interest is the fact that on account of serving language education in the country in a variety of forums and being on the Executive of the English Academy of Southern Africa for almost two decades I was a recipient of The English Academy Gold Medal in 2010. It was indeed gratifying to have such recognition in one’s home country.”

ESB stalwarts, Glasgow

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Thaylan with Christabel, looking over Fellowship Award , Glasgow