Way Ahead is an imaginative six-level course for priMary school children who are learning English as a first foreign Language.
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In Libya she taught literature to male students one of whom on being shown Sir Walter Raleigh s poem My Body In The Walls Captived came up to her and claimed We are all captived both in body and soul.
In Saudi Arabia she found herself lecturing to an audience of men and women separated by a screen around which only she could see both sides.
She was an enthusiastic and fearless traveller who promoted her books and gave seminars around the world.
She believed strongly that to be an effective communicator she had to meet her audience.
Printha was awarded an MA in linguistics at Birmingham in 1991.
No subsequent course-book in this field published in Britain has been unaffected by it.
With its magazine format and dedicated research into original stories it set new standards.
This was aimed at the young adult market.
Mark and Printha Ellis were then commissioned by an iconoclastic editor Peter Murphy to produce the Counterpoint series for Nelson s.
One of the titles Shades Of Meaning was especially popular in Jordan where on one occasion which Printha delighted in recalling a taxi-driver was so thrilled that he had his English teacher sitting in the back of his cab that he stopped to introduce her in every village through which they passed.
The Skill Of Reading was used worldwide but had its biggest impact in the Middle East where it gathered a great following.
After spells teaching together in Thailand and Libya they returned to England and became co-authors of two series that were to prove groundbreakers.
Printha took an MA in literature at Leeds University in 1970.
They were married in England in 1969.
On a trip to Nepal Printha met an Englishman Mark Ellis a teacher and novelist who shared her interest in linguistics.
On arrival her first task was to teach a lesson to the entire school of 600 children.
After graduation from the University of Idaho she went to Thailand as a teacher with the Peace Corps.
Printha Jane Ault was born in Pasadena California but her family subsequently moved to Idaho.
Way Ahead co-written with Mary Bowen first published by Macmillan for the Middle East in the mid-1990s but also now used in Russia and eastern Europe has been a major priMary school series.
In China alone her books are used by more than 6m children each year.
Her most recent work was with the New Standard English Series published by Macmillan and FLTRP in Beijing.
Her worldwide sales were so huge that her husband described them as telephone numbers .
But Printha who has died in a car crash aged 57 had lived in England for 30 years and her awareness of the subtle differences in English pronunciation and usage made a huge contribution to her success as a prolific author of educational English language textbooks.
She was as American as apple pie and was in 1967 chosen to represent Idaho in the United States College Queen competition.
About author Many people meeting Printha Ellis for the first time must have thought her quintessentially English but her accent was misleading.
In the upper-levels new language is presented through a series of motivating and informative topics and the course develops the skills the children need to pursue their studies to a higher level.
At the lower levels the books introduce a cast of interesting characters who contextualise the language and make it fun.
Imaginative and fun Way Ahead has been updated to reflect the key features of the old edition that pupils and teachers know and love and to include a fresh design with more photographs giving a more modern look to the course.
The structures and functions of English are taught through a variety of inviting child-centred activities which have been carefully graded and are suitable for classes in a variety of cultural backgrounds.
The best-selling international PriMary ELT course of all time Way Aheadhas helped children in over 40 countries to learn English.
The course is reading based with a strong communicative flavour.
Way Ahead is an imaginative six-level course for priMary school children who are learning English as a first foreign Language
