306: Modern Foreign Languages with Joe Dale

Joe Dale is an independent languages consultant from the UK who works with a range of organisations such as Network for Languages, ALL, The British Council, the BBC, Skype, Microsoft and The Guardian. He was host of the TES MFL forum for six years, former SSAT Languages Lead Practitioner, a regular conference speaker and recognised expert on technology and language learning. He has spoken at conferences and run training courses in Europe, North America, South America, the Middle East, the Far East and Australasia. He was a member of the Ministerial Steering Group on languages for the UK coalition government and advised on the Linguanet Worldwide project for The Language Company. He created ICT activities for the new Institut Français, ALL and Network for Languages Primary French Project Niveau Bleu, Blanc and Rouge courses and was short-listed for a NAACE Impact Award in 2013 too. Joe supported the Erasmus Plus project Conflict to Cooperation with 5 European countries and the Erasmus Plus Project Learning to think and live outside the box. He recently organised and co-hosted a 10 part series of webinars Saturday Tech-Talk in collaboration with the British Council in Indonesia and iTELL and worked on the Nusantara Go project for the British Council in Indonesia and PearTree Languages in 2022. He also worked on the Supporting Schools Reform in Algeria project through the British Council 2019-2020. He was recently described in a Guardian article as an 'MFL guru' and 'the man behind the #mfltwitterati.'.

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Do you feel the education system is sucking the life out of you and the pupils you serve? I think many of us wish we could click our fingers and make it fit for purpose. A place of growth with shared learning that empowers pupils to be their best selves, so they can create a world they want to inhabit now and in the future. While a magic wand or a visionary politician might sound like the answer I believe change is already happening. Educators are changing futures one conversation at a time. New technology and the environments where we learn are beginning to look different both in and out of the classroom. I hope you are seeing this first hand and are excited about what you can share with your pupils. We are having conversations, sharing organisations and communities that are supporting education in a way that you may have not experienced. Educational change will come from us all working in way that supports the best interests of each of our pupils, personalised learning. Governments and policy makers will follow when they see fully how it can be different. So let us teach, coach, mentor and create an environment that fuels every child with feedback, inspiration, resilience and empowerment. The Education on Fire community is shining the torch, so no matter where you are in the world or how you are supporting children this podcast is here for you. ‘Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.’