The MELC department mourns the passing of Ayla Esen Algar, longtime Lecturer of Turkish.
After completing a master’s degree in Near Eastern Studies at UC Berkeley, Ayla began teaching as Mellon Lecturer in Turkish for the Department in fall 1992, a position that she held until her retirement in spring 2013. In the span of over 20 years, she made important contributions to the teaching of Turkish that highlighted communicative-based and learner-centered approaches. Her work included important collaborations with the nascent Berkeley Language Center throughout the 1990s.
In class, “Ayla Hanım” (as she was affectionately called) was known for her warmth, her humor, and the intimate rapport that she established with her students. Having grown up in diverse regions of Turkey, ranging from mountainous Eastern Anatolia to the northern Black Sea coast, Ayla loved to share vivid personal anecdotes from her homeland, bringing class readings to life in the process. Despite her often amusing demeanor, she took her work very seriously, and the success of her students even more so.
Apart from her talents as a teacher of language and culture, Ayla was an aspiring opera singer (in her youth, she was invited to study in Italy under one of Maria Callas’ teachers), an avid reader of Turkish literature, an accomplished chef, and the author of two celebrated Turkish cookbooks—Classical Turkish Cooking: Traditional Turkish Food for the American Kitchen (1991) and The Complete Book of Turkish Cooking (1995). Indeed, anyone who was fortunate enough to attend one of the lavish, multi-course dinners she hosted at her home over the years can attest to the fact that she brought just as much care to her culinary creations as she did to the classroom. And yet one of her proudest pedagogical accomplishments? “You know, I taught Alice Waters how to cook Indian!”
A unique playfulness, combined with a deep pride in her work and a sincere passion for Turkish pedagogy were hallmarks of Ayla’s approach; she was one of a kind, and her vibrant energy will be sorely missed.
An obituary published online by her family is available.