|
Metro Plus
Salute to a scholar
A DEDICATED teacher, devoted friend, a humble and feeling person... Dr. V. Saraswathi, recently retired Professor of English, University of Madras, is often described thus. She has the rare distinction of having taken English language teaching (ELT) to teachers in numerous schools and colleges and conducting as many as 70 workshops for them. Her passion for scholarship has resulted in the publication of several books and scores of papers on ELT. She has been a guide to a number of M. Phil and PhD students. Indeed, she is considered a stalwart in the field of ELT.
Born in 1941 in a cultured middle class Mylapore family, Saraswathi had her early education in Lady Sivaswamy Iyer High School. She took a B.Sc. degree in Mathematics and went on to obtain an M.A. in English Language and Literature from Stella Maris College. She joined the English Department of Ethiraj College in 1963 and served there for 23 years. She got her PhD at the CIEFL and spent a year (1983-84) as a British Council Scholar at the University of Edinburgh, where she acquired an M.Sc in Applied Linguistics. With this solid academic background and years of teaching experience, she joined the Department of English, University of Madras, in 1986 and retired as Professor in 2001.
Good teachers are remembered for their scholarship and the impact they have made on the academic lives of not only their wards but others as well. And so, her students, former classmates and colleagues have come together to organise a felictation function on February 1, 2002 and to release a Festschrift Volume to honour her. The volume will carry essays by eminent scholars from all over the world on the theme "Teaching of English in Non-Native Contexts." They have instituted the "Dr. V. Saraswathi Felicitation Fund". Contributions may be sent to the treasurer, Dr. Hemalatha Jagannathan, No.8, `Sain Manor,' 77-A, Greenways Road Extension, R.A. Puram.
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Metro Plus
|
