The winner of the 2011 David Riley award was Open English.
David Riley Award Speech
Given by Julia Waldner the IATEFL BESIG Newsletter Editor
Good evening. Welcome to the fourth IATEFL BESIG David Riley Award 2011 for Innovation in Business English and ESP.
Now, you may not have met David in person, but it’s highly likely that you’ve used some of his excellent materials.
His first book was Business Listening and Speaking Pre-intermediate.
It was soon followed with the Check your Vocabulary Series:
-
Check your vocabulary for Medicine
Law,
- Business
Computing,
- Hotels
Tourism and
- Catering
Management.
I don’t know if you’re familiar with this series, but I can highly recommend them. They’re basically vocabulary exercises but in a fun way – word searches, crosswords etc. These books were the first of their kind, but they were so popular that many others have followed since.
David’s next project was The Reward Business Resource Pack Series. Again this was a first in the ELT world. These were practical, supplementary, photocopiable ideas for the classroom. Only after this did photocopiable materials became standard practice.
He went on to write the
- Market Leader Intermediate Teacher’s Book
- English for International Tourism
and Business Listening and
- Speaking Intermediate.
In 1998 David joined Macmillan, first as an Editor and then as a publisher. Publications included:
General English: Inside Out, Straightforward
Business English:
- In Company (on its 2nd edition)
- Business Grammar Builder
- Email English
ESP: Campaign (This deserves particular mention as it was awarded the Duke of Edinburgh English Language Award in 2004 and the British Council Innovations Award in 2005) This is going back a few years, but they had a website relating to the topics in the book, an e-lesson service and electronic tests. As one of the judges commented at the time, “This was ground-breaking”.
Exams: Ready for CAE, IELTS Foundation
And the list of books which David either wrote or published continues…
He was project manager for:
“Test Masters” CDs for ten major courses including
- Cutting Edge,
- Opportunities
- Technical English, and
- Success with BEC
As a writer, he worked on:
-
Success Matura Elementary Activator and CD, and
- Practical Grammar (Heinle / Cengage Learning).
The series was his idea and he wrote the elementary level with John Hughes.
I could continue, but instead I’d like to read what Mark Powell once said:
“I've been in and out of touch with David since the day I walked into International House in Spain back in 1989, fresh off the plane from England .... David was the first person I met in the Executive Centre. We joked a bit and he was so unassuming I didn't even realise he was my boss for the first half hour! But David's course on how to teach Business English was quite literally the turning point in my teaching career... When we met up again in 1997, ... he ended up being my publisher and was, without doubt, the most talented person I've ever worked with.”
In 2007, David passed away. He was 51 years old. Since that time IATEFL BESIG and Macmillan have honoured his memory with The David Riley Award for Innovation in Business English and ESP’.
The idea is to recognise new talent, creativity and innovation. Materials submitted should be aimed at business English learners or trainers and should contain an element of innovation.
The adjudication panel is always chosen from the existing IATEFL BESIG Committee and this year it included Duncan Baker, Andi White and myself, Julia Waldner. There were 8 entries and the winner this year is the one that we felt was the most visionary of them all.
Congratulations to: Open English