Season’s greetings from children whose English lessons Dr. Richards sponsors at a language institute in Antigua, Guatemala.
Curator for decorative arts collection
Ms. Jane Putnam has been appointed curator of the Jack C Richards decorative arts collection. In this capacity she will develop a data base for the several hundred items in the collection, monitor the condition of items, prepare documentation on pieces and liaise with galleries displaying items from the collection.
Jack’s new book published
Key Issues in Language Teaching – a major overview and discussion of the field of English language teaching, was published in September 2015, by Cambridge University Press. Jack has been working on this project for over 5 years. The final book is 826 pages and is available both as a print book and an e-book.
Joshua Han wins two prizes in Aarhus
Jack’s 12 year old piano protégé Joshua Han won his second international young pianist’s competition in less than a year, winning both the Category A 1st Prize as well as the Audience Prize at the prestigious Aarhus International Piano Competition for young pianists in Denmark in March 2015. In August 2014 Joshua won the first prize in the Ettlingen International Competition for Young Pianists, in Ettlingen, Germany.
Josh and his family were guests at Jack’s New Zealand summer house in January 2015, and Josh and his brother Oscar – a very talented violinist – performed at a charity concert in Gisborne.
Second performance of Farr piano concerto
The piano concerto commissioned by Jack from New Zealand composer Gareth Farr in 2014, had a repeat performance on April 1 2015.
Pianist Tony Lee returned to perform the concerto with the BBC Symphony Orchestra in London.
Gao Ping Trio Commission
Following the enthusiastic reception of the piece for bassoon and piano Jack commissioned from Chinese composer Gao Ping, Jack has commissioned a further piece – a trio for piano, flute and bassoon. You can hear the bassoon and piano piece played on Saturday Jan 10th 2015 during the Tiromoana Summer Concert Series here.
Korean Book Translation
Two of Dr. Richards books will be published in Korean Translations: Curriculum Development in Language Teaching, and Longman Dictionary of Applied Linguistics and Language Teaching.
Award for Patronage
Dr. Richards has been awarded the Award for Patronage 2014, by the Arts Foundation of New Zealand, acknowledging his support for music and the arts. Read more here.
Honorary Professor at the University of Auckland
Dr Richards has accepted an invitation to join the Faculty of Education at the University of Auckland as an honorary professor. In this role he will consult with research students and give guest lectures.
Part of Gisborne’s history
The book A Splendid Isolation, by Sheridan Gundry, about Gisborne from 1950 – 2012 contains this section on Professor Richards.
Joshua Han wins competition
Outstanding young 12-year-old Australian pianist – Joshua Han – who is sponsored by Jack Richards, was the first prize winner in the junior division at the Ettlingen International Piano Competition for young pianists, at Ettlingen, Germany in August 2014. Joshua received the highest mark ever awarded – 99.9%.
Previous prize winners at this prestigious competition have included Lang Lang and Yuja Wang.
See here to watch Joshua’s winning performance.
See here for more about the competition.
The new Jack C Richards Decorative Art Gallery, part of the Tairawhiti Museum in Gisborne, New Zealand, opened on 16th May, 2014.Kiri Te Kanawa’s birthday
Jack Richards and Kiri Te Kanawa at a function at the Royal Opera House, London, in March, to celebrate Dame Kiri’s birthday and long association with the Royal Opera House
Approaches & Methods in Language Teaching, Third Edition interview
Click here to see Professor Richards being interviewed by Hayo Reinders about his new book, Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching Third Edition, published in March 2014.
New Article
Towards a Pedagogy of Grammar Instruction by Jack C Richards and Randi Reppen, was published in RELC Journal 2014, 45, 5-25.
Gareth Farr Concerto
The first performance of Gareth Farr’s Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, commissioned by Jack Richards, was performed with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and pianist Tony Lee on March 28, 2014. The concerto has received rave reviews on its first performance. Read the reviews here, here and here.
New Publication
The third edition of Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching was published in March 2014 by Cambridge University Press..