Dr. James Neil Douglas McLaren has passed away today. My master and the master of so many!
I have just learned this piece of news that yesterday, Tuesday,17th January, he is no longer among us and I must admit it has been one of the saddest moments of my life. It is not easy to meet someone who is so unanimously admired as our great professor. Teacher of teachers (he stopped teaching and retired in 2009), of generations of teachers (the 'maclarenian' movement, in Spanish it would be something like 'movimiento maclariano'). Teacher who taught us how to teach setting his own classes as an example to follow. I have never known the case of any other teacher everyone agreed most in recognising how good he was in his job. I have never met a person who said a single bad word about him or the way he taught.
He was the director of both my minor thesis ("tesina") and my PhD, and it was such an honor to be working along with him all these years. For my teaching career he has always been the light in this world (heart) of darkness.
For several days, and even weeks, I have tried, in my humble way, to pay tribute to our master, who may not be so well-known to the world, but who was the light and reference to so many generations of teachers. I will always leave this post open to revisions and contributions from others.
Here are some articles for you to read about him and even the tweet by the University of Granada (UGR):
La Universidad de Granada despide al profesor Neil McLaren (Granada Hoy)
La Universidad de Granada despide al profesor Neil McLaren (WebGranada.com)
Post on Twitter
TESTIMONIOS SOBRE EL PROFESOR NEIL McLAREN: IN MEMORIAM by Daniel Madrid
Long live his idea of teaching and working!
TO BE CONTINUED....
Activities for my students:
1º ESO - Talking about routines. What do you think your English teacher does everyday? And what about you?
Example: My English teacher wakes up at a quarter to six and he gets up. I don't get up so early. I wake up at 7 o'clock and I get up at a quarter past seven.
4º ESO - What do you think a teacher should be like? And what about a teacher of English?
Example: I think teachers should work as much as they ask us to work. A teacher of English should prepare us to learn English to pass the school exams and any other exams, like the B1 or B2.
