Colleagues
Cathy Pomphrey
Co-Editor, Language Awareness journal
I am sad to hear of Eric Hawkins' death and feel privileged to have known him. I have always had great respect for his modesty and human sensitivity as well as his academic strength and innovative thinking. I first met Eric when I was teaching at North Westminster Community School in London in the early 1980s where we were developing a 'World Languages Project' in the languages department. Eric visited our school and showed an enthusiastic appreciation of the multilingual skill and knowledge of our students as well as our commitment to teaching languages in a way that reflected and made use of this diversity of linguistic and cultural knowledge. It was inspiring to meet a professor who was keen to learn new languages from school-age youngsters. Eric's development of the concept of language awareness inspired me to gain a broader conception of my role as a languages teacher, which has stayed with me throughout my career. His personal encouragement helped me to develop the confidence to write and research, first as a school teacher and later as a University-based teacher educator. Even in his nineties he continued to be a remarkably energetic source of encouragement and inspiration to explore language learning and teaching approaches which transcend traditional curriculum boundaries. The 'Language Awareness' movement has grown to a many-faceted international concern thanks to Eric's original vision. He will be sadly missed but appreciatively remembered by its members.