Who is Dale Pobega?

Dale on a rare day off
(presenting in St.Petersburg,
Russia, April, 2013)

Hello friends!

My first job was as a volunteer school teacher in Maharashtra, India. I lived overseas through the 1980s and have taught English as a Foreign Language in Turkey, Mexico, Nicaragua and Costa Rica.

In 1990 I returned to Australia and started teaching Adult Basic Education as well as English as a Second Language.

Between 1993 and 1995 I worked for the Victorian Adult Literacy and Basic Education Council (VALBEC) in publishing, editing and writing. I was editor of VALBEC's journal, Fine Print. 

In that period I also produced a simple English newspaper called The World Times. The newspaper was funded by the Australian International Development Assistance Bureau (Department of Trade and Foreign Affairs) with distribution throughout Australia and the Asia Pacific region.

From the mid to late 1990s I pioneered the use of new internet based applications to enhance learning and teaching in the Adult Basic Education and English Language field.

I was a representative at the 1998 Global Bangemann Challenge in Stockholm, Sweden and part of the team which was runner-up in the innovative community and education category.

From 2000 to 2005, I was manager of  the ACENET Flexible Learning Network made up of 10+ community education providers from metropolitan and rural Victoria. With my team I created and delivered a range of courses taught through the TAFE Virtual Campus. I also designed and taught the Online.ace Teachers Course, one of the first entirely online, e-learning courses established for community based teachers across Australia. The approaches and pedagogy explored were outlined in my book, Online.Ace (ACFE, 1999) which I co-authored with Mark Russell.

I have written other books, many articles for journals and continue to present at conferences locally, nationally and internationally.

I have been involved in Education Management and Coordination of English Language, Literacy, Numeracy and Technology programs for several years.  Nowadays I teach for part of the week at Wyndham Community Education Centre.  I also run my own consultancy and do project work for many other local community based organisations on a range of language and technology projects.

I've most recently participated in peer mentoring and teacher training (the Adult Literacy and Numeracy Professional Development Program - ALNPP), am currently developing a Digital Literacies course as well as assisting practitioners in adult community education migrate classes and programs online due to the COVID-19 health emergency.

I love travelling and am a keen student of French, Italian, Spanish and Japanese.

I also recently returned to my childhood sport, Fencing and compete on the Veterans circuit in foil.

I started this blog, Dale Pobega's Free ESL Club, in 2009.