– by Hiba Shamsi

Note: I interviewed Dr Melanie Cooke because she teaches “Introduction to Sociolinguistics” in First year and that was the course I scored my highest in, so obviously she has a special place in my heart. She currently works as a lecturer and researcher for the Department of Education and Professional Studies/ Centre for Language Discourse and Communication.  

When and how did you get into teaching?

 Many many many years ago I was a student at Goldsmiths in 1984. I volunteered at an Asian woman’s centre which had many women from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh who were going to a community centre to learn English. I did a bit of volunteering there as I was kind of interested in ESL –English as a Second Language. I didn’t do it for very long but it gave me the first idea. After that, a few years after I finished university, I went to Spain; not with the idea of being an English teacher, it was more to just have some fun. In order to make some money I started to teach. In those days, it was very easy to get jobs in teaching- a lot of people wanted to learn. I started teaching with no qualifications at all. After about a year of that I realized that was a very stupid thing to do since it was completely nerve racking trying to do a job without training. Also, it was not very ethical or fair to the students who are paying money to learn from someone who is just giving it a go. So I went and did a qualification and well that’s how I started.

If you had picked an alternative career path, what would it have been?

 I never really knew what I wanted to do when I was in university (there’s hope guys!!!) I majored in English Literature and History. At university, I was not interested in my degree, instead I was doing a lot of activism and politics and a lot of messing around and going to loads of demos and things. I just did a few jobs that I got when I left university- I worked for a magazine, I worked in a shop. Now that I look back I feel like there were quite a few things I would have liked to do. My fantasy job would have been to be a documentary film maker or a journalist maybe. I’m quite happy with the job I went into though. It’s been quite vocational and I’ve done it for thirty years now and I quite like the fact that I’ve had a consistent career.

Why did you pick King’s?

 I didn’t pick King’s, King’s picked me. Prior to King’s, I was working in Furthers Education College where I was teaching ESL to adult migrants. I did this for about 7-8 years. King’s was looking for researchers for further education, so I just applied. I had a Masters degree by that time I did quite well on so she kind of knew about me. After the project finished, I started doing some teaching. I gradually got more work. And basically that’s how I ended up as working at King’s.

What’s your favourite word in the English language?

 I like words that begin with “u” like undulated and Ulla pool… oh god don’t put this in it makes me sound stupid.

 What’s your favourite book?

 I mainly like reading modern literature, I’m very fond of an American writer called Phillip Roth. I also enjoy the Canadian writer Alice Munro who writes short stories.

 What is one language you wish you could speak?

 Arabic! It’s got a completely different script to English and it would give me access to quite a lot of literature. It just looks so difficult; I’d love to learn it.

 What is one piece of advice you want to give the current year groups?

 I’ve been talking to a lot of third years who are graduating and they’ve all said that year two was the most difficult for them, they were all unhappy and it was a general dip for them. However, in the final year everything starts to fit together and that year three is really good. You really see the point of a lot of things you’ve done throughout the course and that it all starts to come into place. Another thing I would like to say is that don’t be too fixated on work and finding jobs- do what you’re passionate and motivated about, rather than run after employment.

What’s your favourite ice cream flavour?

 That’s a really difficult one because I love ice cream. Can I pick two? Chocolate and hazelnut!