"Welcome to a rich tapestry of insights from passionate language teachers! In this guest blog series, we amplify the voices of dedicated colleagues, sharing their innovative approaches, impactful strategies, and valuable experiences. Join us on a journey of collaborative learning and excellence in language education."
If you would like to share your expertise, language teaching hacks, strategies and tips and become a contributor to the Guest Blog platform, please get in touch via the contact form below.
Meet The Contributors
Isabelle has been teaching languages in secondary schools in England for over 30 years. She was Head of Modern Languages in 2 different schools for 18 years, taught both French and Spanish from KS2 to A Level as well as some German and EAL. She is currently an Associate Assistant Headteacher in charge of ITT, educational visits, EAL and external CPD. She is a Fellow of the Chartered College of Teaching, a proud member of ALL National Council, a qualified translator and interpreter, an author and reviewer for a range of online platforms and publishers, a Spanish A Level marker and a regular speaker at educational events. She spoke at the researchEd National event in London in September 2023 and she is the organiser for researchEd Cheshire 2023 and 2024. She also enjoys sharing good language practice and educational research on X.
Jérôme has taught for over 20 years in London and in Shropshire, in state and independent schools. He is an EPI enthusiast, previously Head of Languages and Digital Learning in a small prep school near Shrewsbury. He has a passion for education technology and its use in and out of the classroom to enhance teaching and learning. He regularly leads CPD sessions for fellow teachers to develop their IT skills face to face or online. He is the creator of Poésíæ, the global MFL poem recitation and art competitions. He has been involved in co-writing, editing and adapting a number of books for the Language Gym. He also enjoys publishing videos on his YouTube channel as well as creating resources for various language educational providers. YT Channel: http://bit.ly/3Hi6ZRe
Lucy is a former Head of German and Curriculum lead at secondary school and sixth form level. Having worked previously in the performing arts, she is devoted to empowering the teaching profession and developing languages curriculum through authentic materials and a variety of cultural resources. She regularly presents at language teaching events and conferences and gained her NPQ in Lead Teaching in 2023. She is currently working as a consultant for the National Consortium of Languages Education (NCLE) at University College London.
Klaudia a graduate of the University of Duisburg-Essen with a Masters in German, English Literature and Political Sciences, trained for her teaching qualification at King Edward's Consortium in Birmingham. Initially with a background in publishing and bookselling, she now has over ten years teaching experience (Primary and now Secondary again) and is Head of German at an International School in German. At the same time she continues teaching German as a First, Second and Foreign Language. She has a keen interest in Second Language Acquisition, the teaching of literature, the development of writing skills and most recently the use of AI in teaching. She has spoken at ResearchEd Deutschland in 2023. Her first encounter with E.P.I. 3 years ago had a profound effect on her approach to teaching German as a foreign and second language.
Jennifer is an Assistant Headteacher for Teaching and Learning, Expert Leader in Education (ELE) and Specialist Leader of Education (SLE) in Teaching & Learning (T&L) and Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) at The Hollins in Lancashire has a wide experience of teaching French from Key Stage 1 to Key Stage 4 (age 4 - 16). She also teaches Key Stage 3 (age 11-14) Spanish. Jennifer has a real passion for teaching languages and loves sharing ideas with others.
Marie Massé FCCT
With 15 years of experience as a teacher, Marie has previously
been Head of Faculty in Wiltshire, then Subject Leader for French
and Trust Leader for MFL for the Danes Educational Trust in
Hertfordshire. She’s an SLE for Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire and a Fellow member of the Chartered College of Teaching.
Passionate about mentoring and coaching, she is now a consultant for MFL in secondary schools and studying to become a Chartered Teacher Mentor.
My name is Esther Mercier, I am originally from Quebec. I have been teaching MFL in 3 different countries and at all levels, including adults and primary but mainly secondary for the last 34 years. I have taught French, German, and Spanish and done Mandarin clubs at lunchtime. I attended a fabulous 3-week course in Beijing for MFL teachers where we were shown how to teach Mandarin and a variety of activities done in class. I have worked as an MFL AST for years for Lancashire County Council and loved it. We organised lots of events, competitions, and CPD. For the last years, I have been second in department where I organised many trips, clubs, competitions, guest speakers and events in school as well as one day language taster such as Korean. I started my own website to teach MFL when I had to take on GCSE after school, so I needed my pupils to access more material since they had only one lesson a week – after school. This is how atantot.com grew and now it has a huge variety of activities online and worksheets to print. I enjoy sharing resources on different social networks such as Facebook and X. I have done GCSE marking, speaking, and writing to gain more experience. This is my final full-time year as an MFL teacher but who knows, I might miss the classroom and come back!
Stefanie has been a teacher of German, Spanish and French for the past 20 years. She is Head of German at Farlingaye High School in Suffolk and the Modern Languages Subject Lead for East SCITT.
Stefanie works as a SCITT mentor and supports and coaches teachers of German in her role as German Expert Mentor, a scheme run by the Goethe Institut London.
In 2016, Stefanie was awarded the German Teacher Award.