Mary Brebner (31 December 1858-6 May 1933) was a British teacher. She was one of the first women teaching German in Britain, and one of the first women lecturers at Aberystwyth University,[1] where she taught modern and ancient languages, and ran the languages department during the First World War.[2] She has been described as one of the "most influential women in the teaching of modern foreign languages in Britain."[2]
Mary Brebner | |
|---|---|
| Born | 31 December 1858 Aberdeen, Scotland |
| Died | 6 May 1933 (aged 74) Aberystwyth, Wales |
| Academic background | |
| Alma mater | |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Modern languages, classics |
| Sub-discipline | German language, Latin |
| Institutions | University College Wales |
Life and career
editMary Brebner was born in Aberdeen in December 1858 to William Brebner and Jane Brebner (née Rodger McSwein).[3] She read for her undergraduate degree at University College Wales, matriculating in 1881 at the Ladies College and passing her first set of exams with a first-class mark in 1883.[4] She received her BA in 1885, and read for two master's degrees at University College London in 1893 and 1895 in Classics and French and German.[4][5] She trained at the Cambridge Teachers Training College under Elizabeth Phillips Hughes and gained the Gilchrist Travelling Scholarship. Her report from the scholarship was published as a multi-edition volume on the teaching of modern language in Germany, which has been described as "very influential," and which has been reprinted multiple times.[1][6] Brebner was a "reformer" in language teaching, arguing for teaching through use of the language rather than teaching about the language.[7] She taught in high schools and lectured on modern languages to pupil teachers under the London School Board.[8]
In 1897 Brebner was awarded funds by the Soames Trust to encourage the use of phonetics in language teaching in English and Welsh schools.[9] In 1898 she was appointed assistant lecturer at Aberystwyth University, where she taught Modern Languages (primarily French and German) and was to assist in teaching Latin and English language.[4][10][11] In 1914 when the First World War broke out she was promoted to Lecturer in the absence of the previous professor of German at Aberystwyth, and she ran the department successfully during the course of the war.[2] She retired in 1919,[2] and died in 1933.[3]
Publications
edit- Brebner, M. (1899) The method of teaching modern languages in Germany: being the report presented to the trustees of the Gilchrist Educational Trust on a visit to Germany in 1897, as Gilchrist Travelling Scholar (London)
References
edit- ^ a b Aussant, Émilie; Fortis, Jean-Michel (15 May 2020). History of Linguistics 2017: Selected papers from the 14th International Conference on the History of the Language Sciences, (ICHoLS 14), Paris, 28 August – 1 September. John Benjamins Publishing Company. p. 199. ISBN 978-90-272-6127-4.
- ^ a b c d "WAW: Women and War". WAW: Women and War.
- ^ a b Brebner, John. "Brebner Genealogies" (PDF). Brebner Genealogies.
- ^ a b c Mitchell, Charlotte. "'Women students at UCL in the early 1880s'" (PDF).
- ^ Murray, Janet Horowitz; Stark, Myra (19 December 2016). The Englishwoman's Review of Social and Industrial Questions: 1899. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-315-39628-6.
- ^ Brebner, Mary (1899). The method of teaching modern languages in Germany: being the report presented to the trustees of the Gilchrist Educational Trust on a visit to Germany in 1897, as Gilchrist Travelling Scholar. Clay. OCLC 1141614086.
- ^ McLelland, Nicola; Coffey, Simon; Fisher, Lina. Language Teaching: Learning from the Past (PDF). p. 2.
- ^ Murray, Janet Horowitz; Stark, Myra (19 December 2016). The Englishwoman's Review of Social and Industrial Questions: 1899. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-315-39628-6.
- ^ "University College of Wales magazine | Vol. XX No. 6 March 1898 | 1898 | Welsh Journals - The National Library of Wales". journals.library.wales. March 1897.
- ^ Murray, Janet Horowitz; Stark, Myra (19 December 2016). The Englishwoman's Review of Social and Industrial Questions: 1899. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-315-39628-6.
- ^ "University College of Wales magazine | Vol. XXII No. 1 October 1899 | 1899 | Welsh Journals - The National Library of Wales". journals.library.wales. 1899.