My friend Sylvia Honnor, who has died aged 85, made an outstanding contribution to the teaching of French, particularly as a co-author of the highly successful multimedia course Tricolore.
First published in 1980, the Tricolore course proved to be very popular, with the stage 1 students’ book being reprinted 16 times in its first edition. It has remained in use for nearly 40 years, with a fifth edition, published recently by the Oxford University Press.
Thousands of students and teachers of French around the world will be familiar with Tricolore, which focuses on the French town of La Rochelle. It features comic characters, such as the detective Louis Laloupe, as well as people from real life, such as Monsieur Dhomé, a baker from the town.
Sylvia had a flair for injecting humour into learning French and loved to bring in material about food and drink. One of her texts, Le Sandwich Surprise, about teenagers creating unusual sandwiches for a radio competition, was particularly popular and inspired similar competitions in schools.
She was born in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, to Edwin Payne, a printer, and Maggie (nee Crofts), a teacher. Sylvia went to St Albans girls’ grammar school and after completing a French degree at the University of Exeter, followed by a teaching qualification, she taught French and drama at various schools across the country, including at Newton Abbot grammar school in Devon, Harris girls’ school in Lowestoft, Suffolk, Mount Grace girls’ high school in Hinckley, Leicestershire, and Burleigh school in Hatfield.
She also served on two examining boards and for six years was a member of the innovative writing team at the Nuffield/Schools Council Modern Languages Project at York University, working on two French courses, En Avant and À Votre Avis.
Following her marriage in 1971 to Philip Honnor, a lecturer in music, and the birth of their daughter, Bethany, Sylvia worked as a freelance writer and was then commissioned by EJ Arnold to be a co-author of Tricolore.
She was a creative writer who made learning French manageable, fun and relevant, and her innovative and imaginative work, based on sound principles, has been a major influence on language teaching to this day. She worked conscientiously, often to almost impossible deadlines, and was inspiring, generous and supportive to her co-authors, including me.
Philip died in 2015. Sylvia is survived by Bethany.
