Mario and HLT
1
Mario will be remembered for the books he wrote, for the work he did with teachers, for how he shaped people, how he instilled thoughts and ideas in us, for how he wined and dined us, for the notes and messages he wrote to us, and last not least, and he will also be remembered for starting Humanising Language Teaching Magazine.
It all began in 1999. Mario had conceived of the idea on a train and asked a befriended IT expert to run the site. Little did he know what the bill at the end of the year would be, and it almost gave Jim a heart attack, and almost killed the whole project. Fortunately, Jim found ways of keeping the cost down and the project was saved. HLT stayed afloat.
The first issue of HLT looks modest and small compared to current issues, and yet it is so powerful and has impact. I still quote the ideas presented in the Fishbowl; Mario had Michael Rundell run the Corpora Ideas section. Then the contributing authors were John Morgan, Jane Arnold, Seth Lindstromberg, Robert Feather, Clem Laroy, Paloma Valera, Michael Rundell, Lou Spaventa and many other.
2
Mario was like fireworks… Unpredictable, unique, original, passionate, erratic, special …
And so, he was unpredictable, unique, original, passionate, erratic, special as the editor.
So…
Sometimes Mario was short of an article for a given column, so he would write it himself under a pen name.
Sometimes Mario got carried away, and HLT became Mario online.
Sometimes he was so busy travelling, that two issues appeared one after another, instead of appearing every two months.
Sometimes he would push and push the prospective author, until he got the article he wanted.
Sometimes he would help people grow beyond what they had thought they could do.
Sometimes he would mercilessly criticize.
Sometimes….
But he would never miss an opportunity to harvest an article.
But he was always a careful and sharp-eyed editor.
But he would give fair feedback.
But he made things happen.
3
He wrote 54 books, at least this is how many you can find in the list here.
But he also made over 123 contributions (or more) to HLT. Sometimes they were short but sometimes like the ones here Klett 1 , Klett 2 and Klett 3 contained around 20 activities each, all on how to jazz up your coursebook. This could count as another book that he wrote.
His contributions to HLT include (listed starting from the most recent):
These HLT contributions fall into 5 periods:
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first when Mario was the editor till November 2005,
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second 2006-2012 when he kept writing for HLT and supporting me in my role as the editor in many ways,
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third when he stopped publishing in HLT and withdrew from EFL suffering from what he called ‘falling out of love with EFL”,
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fourth 2017-2019 when he made a comeback and was very active not only in HLT,
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fifth after summer 2019 when again he gradually stopped engaging in HLT and also EFL for personal and health reasons.
You know the rest…
4
Mario always believed in non-native teachers as well as native teachers. He treated us all in the same way, often believing that non-native teachers can bring freshness and innovation to EFL. He supported the idea of, for example, Hungarian, Polish or Czech trainers working for Pilgrims as trainers, and he believed in inviting host editors to edit an issue of HLT. I think the first ‘foreign’ edition was edited by Małgosia Szwaj from English Unlimited, Poland. It was the December 1999 edition, so in the first year of HLT’s existence. I continued the tradition with issues from South America, Iran, Malaysia, South Korea, Czechia, Turkey, Indonesia and many other.
5
Mario’s idea of HLT was democratic - free for all and not peer reviewed. The idea has been to make sure the articles were humanistic and brought some fresh ideas and innovation, at the same time keeping the learners wellbeing in the centre, long before the word ‘wellbeing’ became a buzzword in ELT and not only.
It was not easy to follow in Mario’s footsteps, also because he had much larger shoes size than me. 😊 I was honoured he thought I was his soul sister and that he chose me. In fact, as I am writing these words I have been editing HLT for 20 years.
Mario, you have been a great HLT role model for me to follow and a very inspiring and encouraging editor helping the contributing authors to grow.
Your books you have written are one of the monuments of your great mind and heritage you have left for the next generations of ELT, the magazine, its archive and the community of like-minded teachers, is another monument.
We are all grateful to you for every idea you have shared with us.
Remembering Mario Rinvolucri: A Collection of Voices
joint tributeAn Interview with Mario Rinvolucri
Mario Rinvolucri, Pilgrims trainer;Bink Venery, UK/ItalyMario and HLT
Hania (Hanna) Kryszewska, HLT EditorWe All Know Stories
Gerry Kenny, FranceMario, the Teacher Trainer
Mario Rinvolucri, Pilgrims Trainer, reconstructed from notes by Hania Kryszewska, HLT EditorMario’s Last Project
Klaudia Bednárová, The BridgeMario Rinvolucri’s Six Ways of Improving Relationship
Lindsay Clandfield, UKMario, the Poet
Mario Rinvolucri with Hanna Kryszewska, Pilgrims TrainersI Promise I Will Never Change
Anon