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 this new series of conversations which is attracting much interest in the UK and abroad.

In a wide-ranging conversation, Alan refers to his inauspicious start on language learning at school in South Yorkshire, his particular affection for Spanish, his subsequent progress to university and a year in Franco’s Spain. The conversation traces his professional career, notably as the years as HMI when the National Curriculum for MFL was evolving and the National Strategy for Language was emerging, and his international work, particularly with the Council of Europe and the European Centre for Modern Languages (ECML) which he chaired for three years.

You can watch Alan’s conversation below, and find the other videos (with transcripts) on YouTube.

You can read more about the project on the Cultnet website.