An interview with Simon Greenall in February 2001
by Karin Elena Sanchez,
Macmillan Heinemann ELT Marketing Manager for Slovenia

Reward has been one of Macmillan Heinemann ELT great sucesses. The book is in use all over the world, in private language and secondary schools. As the key author of Reward why, in your opinion, is the series so popular?

Reward has been a success all over the world, in Thailand, Turkey, Russia, Romania, Italy, Argentina and many, many other countries. I feel so proud but so humble when people meet me in St Petersburg or Chiang Mai with old copies which they want me to sign. But why has it been successful?

In 1992 I started working with my publisher to discover how global coursebooks which are written not for a specific country, but for the whole world become successful. And the answer is ... I don't know!

I think ... I think it's to do with a carefully graded grammatical syllabus, a strong emphasis on vocabulary, a thorough development of the four skills and of pronunciation. But it's also to do with an interesting choice of topics, and most important, the international flavour of the course – what I call the cross-cultural syllabus. Last but not least, I worked with brilliant editors and a wonderful designer. We all wanted Reward to look good and it does!

How can teachers most benefit from it?

In recent years, textbooks which have been successful have not just been excellent courses but have contributed towards teacher training and development. They have proposed the practical realisation of communicative methodology as well as the clear presentation of complex issues of language. Reward reflects these principles.

What about students?

It's the international feel and the topics which appeal to students. Reward helps them understand that English is not just an academic subject but something which will allow them to be in contact with the whole world.

The Reward CD-ROM won first prize in the Serving Multilingual Europe Award at the Europrix 99 Awards for Multimedia in Europe, in Helsinki in 1999. What did the prize mean to you?

The CD-ROM’s have also been awarded the Comenius prize in Germany, so we're all very proud of this. As a classroom course, Reward is very extensive and complete with many supplementary materials. YDP, the CD-ROM developers, have managed to use all this material and, above all, create a user-friendly interface so that CD-ROM users can access it easily. It is YDP's concept for accessible teaching material by multi-media which has earned us all these prestigious prizes.

What is the difference between writing a book and preparing the materials for an interactive CD-ROM?

I have to say that my involvement with the CD-ROM was minimal. I was involved at every stage with its development, but I can take little credit for its final form.

What are the special characteristics of the CD-ROM?

The special characteristics of the CD-ROM is that it is state-of-the-art multi-media in its own right, and unique as language teaching material. It allows easy access to all parts of the course, a continuous record of a user's progress and achievement, an opportunity to allow users to create their own course, or review areas of particular difficulty and interest.

Reward develops all four language skills, enriches vocabulary, makes you more self-confident about the language, practises pronunciation, and is visually rich. To what extent do you think such an interactive course can replace traditional face to face teaching?

I don't think anyone can answer this question. But I do think teachers should be aware of the importance of computer assisted language teaching in the future. In the short term, it won't replace the teacher remember that a multi-media course is ultimately a self-study course to be done at home, and those students who wish to learn in the social environment of the classroom will probably continue to prefer this style of learning.

But I do think it has important implications for the configuration of language school classes, especially private language schools. Imagine a traditional language school offering evening classes twice a week. Then it notices its student numbers falling away, maybe because of the attraction of self-study learning, maybe for other reasons. So, how about offering a lesson in the *real* classroom once a week, and a lesson in the *virtual* classroom once a week, where everyone does their homework and meets in the forum to do pair-work activities or sends its written work to be corrected by the teacher?

The major drawback of multi-media, computer assisted teaching is the absence of subjective evaluation of a learner's performance. When schools can introduce this subjective aspect into computer assisted learning, they will retain their significance into the medium and long term future.

The course can be also used in the classroom where the role of the teacher has changed. Their role is no longer of a presenter, but more of an assistant. Do you think that distance language learning, by which I mean learning by the use of CD-ROMs, Internet, etc. will be the main and most popular method of learning or improving a foreign language in the future?

See my answer to the last question.

What are your experiences with learning a foreign language? You spent six years teaching in France. I presume you can speak French fluently. How did you learn it?

Mostly by living in France. We are, sadly, the one profession where our methodology is always second best. I think the best way to learn a language is always to spend time in a country where it is used as the first language. But present day methodology is remarkably efficient in simulating these circumstance, and possibly, with greater efficiency over less time. So perhaps I'm being too hard on our chances of success. And realistically, we cannot hope every school child will spend an extended period in Britain or the USA.

From my personal experiences the talent and natural ability for languages can help a lot but it's not enough when starting a new language. I always tell my students that there is a lot of hard work and that there is no shortcut to proficiency. You have to study, write, read, do exercises, talk... Do you agree?

Yes, I agree. The courses which offer fluent English/French/German etc in three and a half weeks are unbelievable. I suppose it depends what you mean by fluent!

If we go back into your life... When you were a child, what did you dream of becoming....

A writer. My two sons are 14 and 12 and spent their last holiday writing the same age as I was when I dreamed about my future.

And then you became a teacher. How come?

After leaving university, I went to France, mostly to write, but I became involved in ELT while I was there. I enjoyed teaching very much, and then, when I had a chance to write for ELT, it was a perfect opportunity. I've been an ELT writer for nearly 20 years now, and I've thoroughly enjoyed it. Of course, I go into classrooms whenever I can, to see my own material or other people's material being taught. I keep up with new methodology and new pedagogy. I meet teachers and students all over the world. But I am most useful, I believe, as a textbook writer.

In which year did you also become an author?

1982, (First book - On Course for First Certificate, published in 1983)

If you weren't a teacher and a writer/author what would you like to be?

An architectural historian.

What is the difference between teaching and writing books (for teachers and students)?

There are many brilliant classroom lessons but which don't work in textbook lessons, and I have to know how to transform the former into the best of the latter. Also, I need to absorb as much market information about teachers' circumstances and desires and students' interests and needs as possible. This is a fascinating challenge. My job is not to think about the success of one lesson, but of the success of literally thousands of lessons all over the world.

Writing a book involves a lot of team work which consequently means that all parts of the chain (from authors and editors to designers) should be somehow linked. How many people do you usually work with when writing a book?

One (or two authors), a publisher, an editor, a designer, a picture researcher and a recording producer.

What is it like to be a member of such a large team?

The team wasn't so large for Reward. The Student's book was done by the six people mentioned in the last question. The supplementary materials were prepared by a number of writers for whom we specified the principles of their components.

How many books have you written or co-authored?

About ten or twelve series of books, probably about thirty student’s books.

Is there one you like best?

Reward is my favourite. It was the happiest, most co-ordinated project to work on.

One of your latest works is Total Reward, Reward for teenagers. What are the special features of it?

It has all the features of Reward a grammar and vocabulary focus to each lesson, textbook lessons which correspond in time to classroom lessons of 45 to 60 minutes, good design, attractive photos, but with a teaching sequence which is more appropriate to teenagers.

What helps you putting yourself in the shoes of the young people you dedicate your books to?

Total Reward was adapted from Reward by specialists in teaching English to teenagers, but I have a 12 and a 14 year old son who are both learning French and Italian, and who always give me good advice on what interests in them in their schoolwork.

'English is the lingua franca'. What is your reaction and attitude to this statement?

For the moment, I'd agree. But it may change in fifty years.

What is your usual day like?

I start work when the children leave for school at about 8.30. I work on correspondence until 9.30 or 10. Then if I'm writing I'll work until midday, get some exercise, have some lunch. During his time I'm thinking, planning, researching. Then at 2pm I start to write, and it's usually finished by 4 or 5, if all goes well. Then I stop to help feed our children when they get back from school.

When you aren’t working, what do you enjoy doing most?

We spend a lot of time in France, where we have a home and lots of friends.

You have travelled a lot. What impresses you most when travelling – is it the landscape, the hospitality of the people, the food, the culture?

Very often the kind of travel I do is not very exciting, as I'm not in a country for long. But if I have more time to sample the culture, then I'm delighted. The best thing for me to do is to go to a beautiful old city and spend half a day wandering the streets.

Have you got any funny stories from your travels?

Two groups of dueling folk singers had been double-booked for a conference by the British Council in a small town in Lithuania. They were deadly rivals and insisted on doing their sets of music. When one group performed the other sat at the back and glared. The concert became twice as long, and people kept leaving very quietly though a door at the side. I was confused because I thought the door was a dead end I'd given a presentation on the same stage earlier in the day, and knew the layout of the hall, but I decided to leave too. I found myself in a blocked passage with about thirty teachers, trying not to laugh too loudly and not daring to go back into the main hall again.

You were the President of IATEFL. What kind of work does this involve?

I was President of IATEFL from 1997 to 1999, and I was on the Executive Committee from 1996 to 2000. It involves a great deal of everyday administration as well as some high profile business and travel. I gained an unparalleled overview of the whole profession.

What are you doing at the moment?

I'm working on a new course, I'm doing a series for Macmillan Poland, and a consultancy for China.

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