ALL President Elect
Association for Language Learning
ALL is looking for a new President Elect!
ALL's President is elected by ALL's members and serves as trustee on ALL's Management Board. You can find out more about the role on our website: ...
Anna Lise Gordon - ALL President
Anna Lise was ALL's President Elect in 2015-16, and is now serving as ALL's President from 2016-18. She has been a member of ALL since its inception. For the last 15 years, she has worked in initial teacher education as MFL PGCE tutor and latterly as Academic Director for the PGCE provision at St Mary’s University, Twickenham. She is a National Teaching Fellow and Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
What does the role of President involve?
How does the year serving as President Elect help to prepare you for this?
How has performing these roles influenced your life and work?
What does the role of President involve?
How does the year serving as President Elect help to prepare you for this?
How has performing these roles influenced your life and work?
René Koglbauer - former ALL President
René was ALL's President Elect in 2014, then ALL President from 2014-2016. He is now Chair of Trustees and an Invited Trustee on ALL's Management Board. Following ten years in secondary education in Oxfordshire, René Koglbauer is currently Executive Director of North Leadership Centre and Senior Lecturer at Newcastle University. René represents ALL on various national and international steering groups and is particularly interested in curriculum/language policy.
What does the role of President involve?
Each president can set their priorities. Yes, there are some core activities one has to fulfil; these include representations at national meetings, attending Management Board meetings and chairing ALL Council meetings, keeping abreast with national developments and contributing actively to language policy discussions; hosting two Language World conferences is another exciting and fulfilling duty – and there is a fantastically supportive conference team that will do lots of the ground work for you! My President Elect role allowed me to meet key stakeholders, get to know the team and have a look behind the scenes of Language World, which was essential for my first year as President.
How has performing these roles influenced your life and work?
I was very fortunate that my employer, Newcastle University, was particularly supportive of my presidency. This has allowed me to be proactively involved in policy work, which is now one of two key foci in my daily university work. Most importantly though, meeting so many fellow language professionals and other stakeholders has really made a difference. The language community is extremely supportive. Yes, there are some challenging conversations - to be honest, I have always liked to rise to such challenges. On reflection, what has been extremely helpful to me was the two-year presidency, particularly as it gives you the chance to develop relationships; these usually lead to a greater impact on shaping the future.
What does the role of President involve?
Each president can set their priorities. Yes, there are some core activities one has to fulfil; these include representations at national meetings, attending Management Board meetings and chairing ALL Council meetings, keeping abreast with national developments and contributing actively to language policy discussions; hosting two Language World conferences is another exciting and fulfilling duty – and there is a fantastically supportive conference team that will do lots of the ground work for you! My President Elect role allowed me to meet key stakeholders, get to know the team and have a look behind the scenes of Language World, which was essential for my first year as President.
How has performing these roles influenced your life and work?
I was very fortunate that my employer, Newcastle University, was particularly supportive of my presidency. This has allowed me to be proactively involved in policy work, which is now one of two key foci in my daily university work. Most importantly though, meeting so many fellow language professionals and other stakeholders has really made a difference. The language community is extremely supportive. Yes, there are some challenging conversations - to be honest, I have always liked to rise to such challenges. On reflection, what has been extremely helpful to me was the two-year presidency, particularly as it gives you the chance to develop relationships; these usually lead to a greater impact on shaping the future.