Loading...
G
Geoff Booth posted a condolence
Wednesday, November 9, 2016
I attended UTS in the early 1970's and greatly enjoyed my year of Spanish tuition with Mr. Stickland.
Having recently taken up work in Panama with a engineering team who English skills are rather limited, I find myself harkening back to his very methodical classes for vocabulary inspiration and on occasion those humorous anecdotes which he'd often share to lighten the class mood - to wit:
A Spaniard in Canada tells his friends that his pronunciation of English consonants is improving, but he's still having some trouble with his "bowels" (sic: vowels).
One could always sense Mr. Stickland being at one with his class and the language itself - a consummate professional and gentlemen he most assuredly was.
E
Eric Tatrallyay posted a condolence
Wednesday, June 15, 2016
I suppose it's very late to be submitting a tribute to Mr. William Stickland, who passed away last June, 2015. I just learned of his death yesterday, through ROOT, the magazine of the UTS alumni association.
I attended UTS in the 1970's and was privileged to have Mr. Stickland as my Spanish teacher for three years. From the very first day of class, I knew he was a disciplined teacher with high expectations of his students, and was in complete control of his curriculum and his class. I felt safe and certain that I would learn in Mr. Stickland's classroom, and learn I did. Through his capable instruction, at the end of three years I was able to carry on a conversation quite adequately in Spanish, as well as read and write with correct spelling and fairly decent grammar! I remember him as a super-organized teacher, with a variety of tools to ensure that we learned the language thoroughly and correctly. As a 15 to 17 year old who knew basically nothing but seemed to pick up modern languages fairly easily, I was thrilled to be under his tutelage, and thrived.
I went on to become a teacher of French myself, and recently retired after 32 years. I often thought of Mr. Stickland throughout my career. I like to think that in some small way, he inspired me. He certainly held up a high standard for me to reach as a teacher. May he be at rest.
