Dear HLT Readers,

Welcome to the April issue of HLT. This is a sad issue of the magazine in which are saying good-bye to Mario Rinvolucri – one of the founding fathers of Pilgrims, the founder and first editor of Humanising Language Teaching magazine, an ELT author, a visionary and charismatic teacher, teacher trainer, conference speaker, and a dear colleague.

On 19th February we lost a great and unique mind and a wonderfully creative, open and outgoing person. It seems that it was not so long ago that we celebrated Mario’s 70th birthday. On one hand we could say how the time flies, on the other hand how some things don’t change and how the thoughts and sentiments expressed by the contributors 15 years ago have not changed. They hold true and will do so forever. Mario has been inspiring us all for over 50 years and will continue to do so for years to come. The books he has written or co-written have studded our bookshelves.

Here you will find two different versions of Mario’s biodata: in his own words and in the words of his colleagues.

In this issue of HLT we remember Mario from various angles. His image presented in this issue of HLT is like a mosaic – a portrait of a person produced by arranging and putting together shorter or longer differently shaped bits of texts like pieces of stones, tiles, glass, and other materials in a mosaic. 

In Remembering Mario Rinvolucri: A Collection of Voices  his friends and colleagues remember Mario through poems, anecdotes and factual, nostalgic, lyrical or chatty texts. 

Then there is An Interview with Mario Rinvolucri  from 2018, in which he talks about his teaching and teacher training career. (More interviews and podcasts featuring Mario can be found here) 

To enjoy more glimpses of his teaching ideas, writing and teacher training read We All Know Stories by  Gerry Kenny, Mario Rinvolucri’s Six Ways of Improving Relationship by Lindsay Clandfield, and Mario, the Teacher Trainer, reconstructed from notes by Hania Kryszewska. 

You can also read about Mario’s work as the editor of  HLTmag and his vast contribution through his numerous articles to the mag  (Mario and HLT by Hania Kryszewska), and about his last ELT initiative and passion (Mario’s Last Project by Klaudia Bednárová). The author of the latter cooperated with Mario in the years 2017-2020 on what we jokingly called ‘Mario’s boxes’.

Few of you may know that Mario wrote poems. To enjoy one sample Mario left in my hands to publish one day, read Mario, the Poet where you will find a poem dated 2016 and which, sadly, is called: The future is, of course, behind me. 

Even fewer of you may know that Mario served as an inspiration for a mosaic-like  story - I Promise I Will Never Change.

Mario holds a unique position in our memories, in our  hearts, on our bookshelves,  and in the EFL world; no doubt his legacy will endure for years  and decades to come.

Good-bye Mario. We will always remember you the way we knew you - spontaneous, sometimes rough, yet always caring, genuine and humble.

"Our dead are never dead to us until we have forgotten them." 

 George Eliot

 

I am sure Mario would want Pilgrims to soldier on and to continue our Pilgrims mission. In his article, Pilgrims Forges Ahead, Till Gins, Lead Officer, Pilgrims, maps out our plans for the future.  

Recently we have attended conferences including TESOL Athens, IATEFL Slovenia, TESOL Spain about which we will write in the June issue. We have made a lot of friends and new professional contacts which promise a new interesting future for our community and our publications in the HLT mag and the TTJ.

There is a lot in the pipeline including getting ready for the Pilgrims summer and Learn&Lead courses in Segovia as well as conferences: T&T Conference,  HEAd'25: 11th International Conference on Higher Education Advances, and IATEFL Poland, APPI not to mention IATEFL UK. If you are going to attend the latter, do not miss vising our Pilgrims stand at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre for a chat. We will also have a Tribute Session on 9th April in which we will remember Mario and a Mario wall like the one at TESOL Spain in Burgos.

As for the articles in this issue, there is a number of topics -  AI - Artificial Intelligence with How A.I. Will change the Entire Structure of Civilisation: The Need for a New Design of Education by  Roy J. Andersen, and The Effect of ChatGPT in Testing and Assessment at Tan Hiep Secondary School by Tran Thi Thanh Mai and Võ Hồng Ngọc; tertiary education with Quicklistens as Listening Fluency Practice in the EFL Classroom: Student Perceptions and Theoretical Considerations by Heather Austin, and Designing Effective English for Specific Purposes (ESP) Courses for Health Sciences: Process-Oriented Approach by  Bahar Kızıltunalı, and, finally, what we now call critical language pedagogy with (21st century skills) - Building Empathy in Pluricultural Language Education: A New Model for Intercultural Awareness by Julia Aliverti, and (No Project) - Addressing the Crime of Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery in ELT Education - How and Why by Judy Boyle. I hope that from now on the No Project will feature in HLT on a more regular basis with an own column.

Our other regular columns are doing really fine: Eco Issues offer More Green, Less Screen! by Lucy Crichton, and Review of Harry Waters (2024): Activities for a Greener Mindset: Integrating sustainable learning in the ELT classroom by Alan Maley, while the Creativity Group offers Sky and Water: Creativity and Artful Visuals with Very Young Learners by Chrysa Papalazarou.

In this issue there is also information about new publications and reviews: Developing Intercultural Language Materials by Freda Mishan and Tamas Kiss  reviewed by Simona Mačėnaitė, Short Book Reviews, by Hanna Kryszewska, Using Wisdom Stories in Language Teacher Education: How ancient wisdom, anecdotes and aphorisms can enhance teacher training and development by Alan Maley from Pavilion ELT, New  Titles from DELTA, and New from Pavilion ELT.

Enjoy the April issue of HLT and the memories of Mario.

Take care and see you soon.

 

Hanna (Hania) Kryszewska

HLT Editor

Email: hania.kryszewska@pilgrimsteachertraining.eu