My mother, June Ridge, who has died aged 94, was one of the UK’s earliest specialists in English for speakers of other languages (Esol), focusing on teaching English to children of immigrants.
She became a lecturer in teaching English as a second language at Leeds University from 1963 to 1965, then became senior research fellow at the university’s Institute of Education.
In 1966, under her maiden name, June Derrick, she wrote a textbook, Teaching English to Immigrants, as part of the Longmans Education Today series. From 1966 to 1971, based at the university, she led a national Schools Council project, known as Scope, to produce Esol teaching materials for secondary schools.
In 1972, after completing that project, she was appointed senior lecturer at York University, where she launched a research unit in its Language Teaching Centre to explore new ways of teaching English to immigrant children and how to train teachers for that purpose. In 1974 she joined the National Foundation for Educational Research in Slough as principal research officer.
Around that time she was also a member of an independent committee, chaired by Alan Bullock, that looked into the teaching of English in the national curriculum. Her input informed the subsequent Bullock Report (titled A Language for Life) that was published in 1975.
Born in Landaff in Cardiff to George Derrick and his wife, Mercia, June went to Howell’s school in the city and then to University College London, where she gained an English degree, followed by an MA and a postgraduate teacher’s certificate.
Her early experiences teaching Cypriot children in inner London sparked her interest in teaching English to speakers of other languages. Following a period teaching abroad, including in Sweden, Thailand and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), she began lecturing at Leeds.
After a brief relationship, June gave birth to me in 1963 and had to balance being a single mother – relatively unusual for the time – with a demanding academic career.
In 1975 she married Jeff Ridge, a businessman and old friend with whom she had recently reunited. This began a long period of living abroad, first in Hong Kong, then in Kenya and Australia, and back to Hong Kong. She largely gave up her academic career, although she briefly did some teaching at Hong Kong University and in Singapore up to 1980.
Eventually June and Jeff returned to the UK and settled in Lancaster in 1990, where they could enjoy the countryside and indulge their love of fishing.
Jeff died in 2011. She is survived by me.
