Among the first things one notices about Carol Hill is the eloquence of her speech.

Perfect vowels, well-constructed sentences and mellow tones belie the fact that she is as Bermudian as those whose conversation is not similarly shaped.

While it could be argued that this is because she was a professionally trained speech and drama teacher, and therefore had non-standard Bermudian speech finessed from her conversation, this would not be correct.

Instead, Miss Hill attributes the way she speaks to having been raised in a home where people spoke similarly and corrected her mistakes. Indeed, her aunt Wenona Grace Robinson, owned The School of Expression, and taught elocution.

At the risk of sounding snobbish, which Miss Hill is not, she says that standard speech is a "must" for those wishing to progress in today's sophisticated world.

"We talk about Bermudians not being able to get jobs, but I feel if more emphasis was put on the spoken word right from primary school, students would learn to express themselves, and through expression gain confidence," she says.

"I find today that very few adults know how to communicate verbally. When they walk in and apply for a job they don't know how to carry themselves."

Miss Hill does not, however, see the broad Bermudian accent and speech patterns as beyond correction.

"I believe Bermudians on the whole have very few problems when it comes to speech, but the problems they do have hold them back. They use double negatives and certain vowel sounds, like 'dawg' for 'dog'. Basically, it is very easy to get Bermudians to speak well if you are able to point out to them what sounds they have, and I wish to goodness this would be realised in primary school," she says.

Certainly, Miss Hill knows whereof she speaks, for she devoted her entire teaching career to grooming young Bermudians, first at the Girls Institute for Arts and Crafts and then at its successor, the Prospect Secondary School for Girls, to take their rightful place among the best in the workplace.

"I am so proud of the students from those schools," she says. "They can be found in all walks of life today, and hold important positions - as lawyers, bank managers and more."

Miss Hill attended Berkeley Institute and Alma College in Canada before going on to study speech and drama at the Royal Conservatory of Toronto, an affiliate of the University of Toronto. Like many of her fellow graduates, some of whom did go on to thespian fame, the young Bermudian had visions of becoming a star some day, and to that end first set her sights on joining Canada's then newly-formed Stratford Theatre in Ontario. Today, she recalls her naivete with a smile.

"I walked into the office of Miss Baker, head of the speech and drama department, and she said, 'Just stand there and do something for me'. Afterwards I expected her to say, 'You were wonderful, you will be sent to Hollywood,' instead of which she said, 'Thank you. Have a seat. We have much to do'."

If acting was Miss Hill's dream, it certainly was not her mother's.

"I came from a family that was very conscious of giving back to the community, and as far as she was concerned her daughter was to come home and start her giving back," Miss Hill remembers.

"So when I returned to Bermuda Dr. Marjorie Bean, a former teacher who always seemed able to get me to do whatever she wanted, insisted that I go to the Girls Institute of Arts and Crafts to help out."

It proved to be the first step on a long and dedicated road as a teacher, despite a rocky financial start.

"The principal, Miss May Francis, had a way of having you do things for her without getting paid one red cent, so for almost a year I went without pay.

When she asked me to stay on as a permanent teacher of speech and drama I went to see the Department of Education whose response was that, since they had never had this type of teacher before, they didn't know what to pay me."

It was a very angry and persistent Miss Hill who finally won an "audience" with the Director of Education and insisted that not only was she going to get paid but also it would be retroactive. When the matter was settled, it was for a less than a stellar sum, but at least it was a beginning.

The Girls Institute became a thriving institution whose curriculum included not only sewing and upholstery, but also academic subjects to 'O' level, the latter of which Miss Hill was in charge.

Eventually, so many students wanted to attend that it was closed and replaced by the much bigger Prospect Secondary School for Girls with Dr. Dorothy Thompson as head.

In reflecting on her career, it is clear that Miss Hill remained steadfast to her goal of turning out confident students who not only spoke and wrote well, but had a real understanding of and appreciation for literature, poetry, and deportment. The method by which she achieved this was a five-year process.

"The whole of my first year I taught phonetics, the second year we did a lot of poetry but the students were never allowed to memorise anything until they had interpreted the poem in the classroom and thoroughly understood it.

In order to speak well they used the phonetics they had learned the previous year," she says. "Most of the third year was spent on public speaking, and that work included learning parliamentary procedure.

"It wasn't until the fourth year that we began to do drama. In the fifth year the students took part in productions, but only if they were willing to rehearse out of regular school hours. Many who wanted to participate could not because they had to work after school to help pay for their school fees."

She also took Dr. Thompson's advice never to put anyone on stage until they were ready.

"All through my teaching career I would say, 'I am not here to do a performance, but to teach students to have confidence in themselves'."

Miss Hill's speech classes also included English grammar, and even today she has no regard for the once-trendy contention that this need not be taught in school because it would "come naturally".

"That is fine for children who are fortunate enough to have people in their homes who use the proper language, but there are some who, through no fault of their own, do not know there is a difference," she says. "I always tried to make English as interesting as possible."

Yet when she first started at Prospect Sec. Miss Hill protested to Dr. Thompson about having to teach English when she was supposed to be teaching speech.

"Miss Hill," the principal said sternly, "you have been teaching English all along because speech is English."

The former teacher still defends the value of Shakespeare being included in the school curriculum, and is dismissive of those who contend the internationally revered playwright's work is now irrelevant.

"When people say nobody does Shakespeare today, they are missing a lot. If it is done in a way that brings it to life then students can relate. I found that doing Shakespeare with what we called our remedial studies was a very successful approach. In fact, the students would come running to class to do more of it."

Similarly, Miss Hill remains in favour of studying all aspects of poetry.

"That, too, was part of the speech programme. Today, in most schools I feel it looks good on the curriculum, but what concerns me is, how many of them actually do it? Every child at the Girls Institute and Prospect Sec. had speech and drama. It was not an elective."

She is equally concerned about how Bermudians present themselves for job interviews, and recalls the times when she helped to prepare the commercial class at Prospect for job hunting.

"We would do a lot of improvisation to give them more confidence when they applied for a job. I told them it was important to put themselves forward in a way that impressed their interviewer, and that it was possible for a person to succeed who was not as qualified as another but made a better impression."

Of the Spring into the Arts Programme, the former committee member says: "I think it is a wonderful concept, but I would like to feel that what is done comes out of a classroom where all children, and not just a few, are able to participate in one way or another, and also that they are not taught certain things in order to make a school look good."

In addition to this week's recognition by the Ministry of Education and Development, Miss Hill has twice been honoured by the Queen. In 1989 she received the Queen's Certificate and Badge of Honour, and in June, 2000 became a Member of the Order of the British Empire for her services to education and the arts in Bermuda.