MAGDA MAIER

The series of Materials for Language Teaching at Steiner Waldorf Schools
owes its existence in large parts to the cooperation with my dear friend and
colleague Magda Maier.
Magda was born in 1929. Together with her mother and her brother she left Germany for England in August 1939 and attended the Wynstones Waldorf School in Stroud, Gloucestershire. After the war, she continued her schooling at Waldorfschule Uhlandshöhe where, after her time at University, she became an English teacher.  I first met Magda during a course for University students in Stuttgart in the early 1960es. When I started teaching English at Waldorfschule Kräherwald in 1967, I had the opportunity to observe her classes and also attend her sessions at the Waldorf Teacher Training College. We also spent quite some time together marking exam papers of our two schools. In 1973, we initiated the “English Fortnight”, a summer course at Hawkwood College, Stroud, which was attended by Waldorf English teachers from many European countries. The program consisted of lectures, seminars, singing in choir, Eurhythmy and excursions to Stratford-on-Avon. The courses at Hawkwood College were kept going until the summer of 1998. In 1975, we edited the first collections of teaching aids. Soon they became quite popular in Germany and elsewhere and were the basis for the series Materials for Language Teaching at Steiner Waldorf Schools. Magda’s contribution to this series cannot possibly be overestimated. Magda crossed the threshold on August 31st 2021, aged 92.