What makes this collection unique
John Trim was closely associated with the work of the Council of Europe which actually began in the 1960s. In the mid 1970s he headed a project group that developed the fundamental guiding principles of language teaching and learning that still underpin our work today. The projects under John’s expert guidance were characterised by radical innovation in the 1970s and 1980s, with the development and dissemination of new ideas and what became widely known as ‘the Council of Europe approach’. Under John’s guidance the Council of Europe’s work became the single most influential factor in the reforms in course design, textbook authorship, testing and examinations, and teacher training that occurred throughout Europe. The impact of planning tools such ‘Threshold Level’, Waystage, Vantage was unique. Threshold level descriptions of communicative objectives were elaborated for over 30 national or regional languages. John’s untiring personal guidance to the authoring teams for these languages represents a unique contribution to the promotion of linguistic diversity and mutual understanding in Europe.