People

If you’ve been following the series of conversations with language education specialists which we’ve been highlighting, then you may be interested to watch the sixth conversation. Professor Do Coyle is interviewed by Mike Byram and Alan Dobson. Do Coyle has been based in Scotland since 2008, but teachers and advisers in the East Midlands in […]

You may have seen the series of conversations with language education specialists which we posted here a few weeks ago. One of the people conducting those interviews was our own Alan Dobson, former NALA President and former senior HMI for modern foreign languages. This time the tables are turned, and Alan is the interviewee in

Language lives is a project initiated by Mike Byram, John Daniels and Alan Dobson¹. The project comprises videoed conversations with language education specialists with backgrounds in teaching and academia who have been active on the national and/or international scene in recent decades as campaigners/advocates of policy, shapers of policy, researchers or other commentators on changes

A born linguist, Harmer Parr went to Churchill College, Cambridge as a Scholar in 1968 to read modern languages; he graduated in 1971. After his PGCE year, he taught in a range of schools in the South-West and in Suffolk. In 1987, he became an LEA languages adviser in Sunderland, a role in which his

It is with great sadness that we have to announce that Harmer Parr, a former President of NALA, passed away recently. Harmer served NALA in many different roles over the years and will be greatly missed. A tribute to Harmer will appear later on this website.

The legacy for language education of both Eric Hawkins and John Trim has now been recognised by their inclusion in the online Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (ODNB), in two articles* written by Alan Dobson, a former President of NALA. Alan is grateful to their families and to many former colleagues for their help. John and Eric