I’m Nigussie Negash. I live and work as an associate professor in a civil service college in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. I was born in the rural part of Ethiopia. From a very young age my parents were training me to tend the sheep and cattle or plough the field. However, I was dying to go to school. I begged my parents to take me to school but they never understood the value of education and they ignored my plea. One day without anybody’s knowledge I went to the town where I had heard a primary school was located. Thanks to an understanding school administrator, I got registered and came back at sun set to find my family exhausted and sad looking for me the whole day. So with this passion, I started learning the Amharic letters and numbers very fast. My family started seeing the benefits and encouraged me to continue. This encouragement and my teachers’ assistance enabled me to progress quickly through the primary school.

English was one of my favorite subjects in the primary and secondary school. My English language teacher had a lot of influence on me. I liked the way he dressed, the way he talked and walked. Without him knowing, I would sometimes walk behind him to listen to the English words he spoke. In his class, I was very active. To impress him and to be always ready I would usually do a lot of pages of exercises ahead of him. He liked my attentiveness in his lessons and he would address as me is the kid. Once this teacher got us to compete in reading aloud, I stood first in my class and from all sections, according to his evaluation. He would even tell his students in higher grades about me; so I became famous in the school for reading aloud in English. I would be stopped by senior students under trees to perform reading aloud. Although I didn’t understand what a journalist was, my teacher always told me that I would become a Journalist in the future. This worked as a reward for my investment in immediate lessons but I didn’t have a vision of being a Journalist an English language teacher. Plus we really were not given proper advice to understand and pursue our inclinations.

Although I had a talent for language learning, I lost interest when I had teachers who focused on formulaic teaching of grammar and vocabulary. Reading aloud stopped and I now started memorizing rules to compete with the students who were very good at learning the language structure through analysis and memorization. 

Late in high school, we started learning from our seniors that we should pursue the most prestigious science fields like medicine and engineering. The teaching profession had very low status in the society. It’s still one of the least paying jobs, for which the society has low value. I think I was one of the many who joined teaching because of failing to get their first choice like medicine, engineering or law.

As a language teacher, I started working in an agricultural university in Ethiopia. Although, I didn’t come in to teaching profession with a strong motivation, or career vision, working at university level and the students I met here changed my attitude towards teaching English. A very deep desire for ELT was deepened when I first went to the UK for a post graduate study MA. I had all resources I needed to succeed and the professors I met at the former CALS, in the University Reading hugely influenced my understanding and attitude towards ELT.

I have been teaching English at university level and have written course books in English for Academic Purposes (EAP and ESAP materials). I started work as an English language teacher in Alemaya University, in the eastern part of Ethiopia. After I left the university, I joined a public service college in the capital, where I am currently a director of a center for academic and professional development. This centre includes teams offering English language, mathematics/statistics and computer courses. My regular day is spent directing these teams, providing training to trainers and lecturers of other subjects on teaching, assessment, curriculum development and teaching materials preparation. I have also lot of duties as a member of business transformation committee in my College.

I have been involved in some interesting projects in Ethiopia and other African countries:

In 2006 and 2008, I was a tutor for two Hornby Summer Schools in Ethiopia, the outcome of this was the first theoretical and activity book for teaching English in Large classes and a manual for teacher development by radio.

In 2008 and 2009 I was a trainer for two Hornby Summer Schools organized by British Council, Senegal. The outcome of the School has been a methodology and training book for English teacher trainers, advisers and inspectors of West African Francophone countries.

Since 2007, I have been the main course-book developer for English for Lawyers teaching materials sponsored by the government.

I have also been working as a consultant for the British Council, Ethiopia, in writing and editing Diplomatic communication modules and adapting oral communication and report writing modules for Ethiopian context. These days I am busy giving training, speaking in conferences and writing English and communication materials. 

My publications so far include:  

1) Co-authored books

• With Prof. Fauzia Shamim (Pakistan) and others, ‘Maximizing learning in large classes: issues and options’ British Council, Ethiopia.
•  With Adrian Tennant (UK), ‘Language improvement for English teachers: a methodology and training book’ British Council, Senegal.

 2) Articles

• Resistance in English for Academic Purposes Classrooms at ECSC in H Coleman (ed. 2007)
• Language and Development: Africa and Beyond, British Council, Ethiopia.Ethnography of boundary relations between ESP and other specialist subject, A Professional and Academic English Journal of ESP SIG, Issue No. 32.
• English for Work in Ethiopia, ELT  Gazette (forthcoming)
  

I am a family man, fathering two children with my wife Genet Tesfaye, a very devoted woman, who has taken the responsibility of managing the family in my repeated absence. I love going to church; I am a deputy chair of my local church leadership. When I am not working, I usually enjoy reading news, watching spiritual programs, foot ball (esp. the premier league) and going to different places with my family.