In 1997, the world woke up to the shocking news of the tragic death of Lady Diana, the Princess of Wales in Paris, France.
Her favourite singer, Elton John, eloquently puts it in his song Goodbye England’s Rose (Candle in the Wind) which is a heart-rending song to honour the memory of the “most photographed woman”. The world is still searching for the answers to the “conspiracies” behind her death. In fact, the pain of losing a loved one takes a long time to heal.
To become aware of the reality, not being able to see their face every morning or hear their voice is an unbearable part of life. Twenty years after the death of Lady Diana, I lost two very crucial people in my life. One who brought me up and another who gave my postgraduate studies the direction it needed.
I pay tribute to the latter in this article. Associate Professor Clifford Benson or better known as Cliff Benson, the author of Target Books, gave Fiji the English language in its primary and secondary education curriculum. He authored the Target Book series (Year 7 to 13), Realities (a comprehension book for senior secondary students), Pacific Folk Tales (a book of Pacific legends for junior secondary level), Wake Five, Leaves, and Rainbow (poems for Year 9-10 students in the Pacific).
He also co-edited a few publications which include Our World: Poems by Young Pacific Poets (1991), Tree of Opportunity: Re-thinking Pacific Education (2002), and Directions: Journal Educational Studies, Institute of Education, USP, Vol 18 (1996).
I became acquainted with “Professor” (as we fondly called him) when I approached him to pursue postgraduate studies in teaching English as a second language (TESL) in 2011 at the University of Fiji where he was the director of foundation studies, head of language and literature department and associate professor.
I was new to the campus and did not know my way around so the security took me to his office. Professor was rushing for his class at 12 midday but he was able to make time to discuss the postgraduate diploma in TESL program with me. Much to my delight, he was able to enrol me in the program and I was asked to attend the in-service classes from the following Saturday. He was a man of simplicity with a polite tone, a humble human being who valued individuals and not positions or their status.
It was a joy to eagerly await his classes on Saturday. He ensured that everyone in the postgraduate class participated in the discussion. He did not practise nepotism therefore if he gave a reading passage to be discussed; he allocated a paragraph each to group. Benson particularly enjoyed teaching the in-service classes; probably because we were more mature, not just in appearance but in our thinking ability as well. Out of curiosity, I once asked him in class why he chose to come to Fiji when he had other options.
He explained that while his other colleagues were continuing with their master’s degree, he thought of doing something different and more meaningful; by travelling to Fiji as a volunteer with the New Zealand Peace Corps. He came to Fiji almost five decades ago and liked the place. In his own words “and the rest is history”.
Benson used a unique style of teaching; his methodologies differed from other tertiary educators. His class did not encompass a dull moment. His nature was a peaceful one which was indicated by the colour of his lining and check shirts that he wore every day to the university. He could befriend just about anyone; young or old, academics or canteen staff or cleaners. One of the teaching methodologies that he employed in his class was to have a personal reflective journal.
After each lesson, he asked the students to write a reflection of what they acquired in the class. As he taught postgraduate classes, the students were expected to write the concepts that they learnt and compare it with their own teaching.
It was surely a rewarding task since we did not have classes during the week and only on Saturdays so the reflective journals served as a way of communicating with the teacher. When we would attend the session the following Saturday, he would have marked our journals with constructive comments noted in red and a score awarded out of ten. One could easily feel that he was truly an organised personality.
Travelling from Nadi to attend his Saturday classes at Saweni Lautoka, I would arrive much earlier than the other students only to find him in the classroom preparing folders with notes for the day’s coverage.
His meticulousness to being punctual is what I admired the most. The class would begin at 9am and break off at 10.30am for 15 minutes recess, during this time he would be in his office reading The Fiji Times newspaper and having milk arrowroot biscuits with a cup of coffee. Professor loved to read which is not a surprise considering the numerous books that he published.
He had greater interest in research and utilised every opportunity that was worth investigating issues in the South Pacific. The course folder would have his research papers as well as a small anecdote that he would narrate to us when he delivered it to us. Along with Minakshi Maharaj, Benson designed the Master of Arts TESL degree at The University of Fiji to ensure that those of us who completed the postgraduate diploma would have something to continue with.
Every student was important to him and so he would drive his golden Hyundai Tucson to visit the in-service students at their workplaces, delivering marked assignments and collecting filled application forms and fees for the new semester.
Even when there was no electricity supply after the 2012 massive floods in the Western Division, he arranged for a class to be conducted in the university staff boardroom so that they we were not left behind in our studies.
Benson was, I should lucidly say an “open book”. He would not shy away from answering personal questions or discussing family matters. He was a devoted father, a family man which was clearly evident from the family photos that he decorated the walls of his office with.
One morning when he and I were talking about a recent surgery that he had, one of his daughters called on his mobile. At the end of the conservation, he very affectionately said “love you too”. Once he hang up, he narrated to me about his children and what they were doing and how one of them set up a popular Hindi song as his mobile phone ringtone.
It is rather difficult to assess the total number of students in Fiji’s primary and secondary schools that have used his textbooks over the decades. What is easier to say is that every student and teacher has without a doubt come across one of his many books.
Thousands will remember doing the exercises from Target books. His simple advice to teachers as noted in the introduction of Target Five (1993) is “Teachers are encouraged to adapt the content of the book to suit their own classes and to suit students’ interests, as well as their own. It is probably not advisable to work through the whole book, page by page, but to be more selective in covering the material”.
It clearly demonstrates that he did not wish to “push” the book or material on to anyone. He only wrote these as a guide in teaching and learning.
Some have read Cliff Benson’s books for teaching and learning while some of us or “the more fortunate ones” were able to walk and talk with him, breathe the same air as him and it is “us” who are aware of the impact that his departure has had on us individually and also for the intellectual community of Fiji.
He used to have a famous quote for us in the tutorial classes. In a reinforcing tone, he would smilingly say “teachers are like actors on stage”, empowering each one of us to become better at teaching English by our professional development. His former students would agree with me, when I say, I was truly blessed to have been educated and trained by him.
I personally feel that the departure of someone is like a soul taking a break from everything and one day we will be united. I shall wait to meet Cliff Benson again and I am sure Elton John would have sung “Ni sa moce Fiji’s sunshine” at his farewell ceremony.
* Acknowledgment
The writer would like to acknowledge the Benson family especially Mr Benson’s daughter, Pauline, for permitting the writer to publish this article.
* Prashneel Goundar is the author of In Simple Words (2017) and has published more than 30 scholarly articles, book reviews, critical essays, book chapters in Fiji, Australia, Croatia and Tunisia. Views expressed are his and not of this newspaper. For comments or suggestions please email prgoundar@gmail.com.
