top of page


WELCOME
"Reflections of a language teacher.
Always learning."


Teaching grammar implicitly vs explicitly
The discussion about what is the best approach when teaching grammar in MFL is always a ‘hot seat’ topic and at times many of us will...
Silvia Bastow
Jul 3, 20225 min read


On the journey to fluency and spontaneity
Nobody could claim to have come up with an ideal method of teaching MFL. Many modern languages classrooms may believe in communicative...
Silvia Bastow
Jun 12, 20224 min read


Structured production and expansion phase (G. Conti E.P.I Methodology)
For the past two years, my colleagues and I have been applying the E.P.I. Methodology designed by Dr. Gianfranco Conti which provides a...
Silvia Bastow
May 15, 20223 min read


Challenge – the underpinning principle!
The underpinning principle of effective teaching is challenge! Students rise or fall according to the level of expectation that we set...
Silvia Bastow
Apr 18, 20224 min read


Show Calling
One of the six pedagogical principles of expert teaching is modelling, a research-informed strategy demonstrating to our students how to...
Silvia Bastow
Mar 6, 20223 min read


Using Sentence Builders
There is an increasing number of language teachers; me being one of them; using Sentence Builders (previously referred to as substitution...
Silvia Bastow
Feb 13, 20224 min read
bottom of page