Teaching English: A magazine devoted to the teaching of the English language in India, volume 1 number 4

This January 1955 issue of a magazine published in New Delhi is a revealing window on English language teaching relationships the British Council had formed with post-Independence India.

The Editorial highlights work being done with the state governments of Madras and Bombay on structural syllabi, while subsequent articles illustrate some of the guiding principles that were being advocated by the British Council at the time. Among the topics addressed in FL Billows’ opening article are: the need for sympathetic encouragement of learners; discouragement of the use of the mother tongue and the translation method; development of pupils’ self-discipline and critical faculties; and the importance of the teacher being a linguistic and social role model. Subsequent articles deal with poetry and grammar, while Bhandari makes the case for going at the students’ pace, ‘one thing at a time’.

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