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"Reflections of a language teacher.
Always learning."


Case Study: Why Secure KS3 Foundations Matter: Building Sentence Control for (I)GCSE Success
This blog post was written by Céline Courenq. About the author of the post: Céline Courenq is Head of World Languages (MFL and Home Languages) at a British international school in Bangkok, leading language pathways across KS3–IB She previously taught in comprehensive secondary schools in the UK, which continues to shape her commitment to inclusive practice and strong foundations. She has led the implementation of the EPI model across KS3 and KS4, is EPI accredited, and is al
Silvia Bastow
Feb 16 min read


Why students underperform in GCSE writing – and how over-scaffolding and misunderstandings about “complex language” make it worse
From a GCSE examiner’s point of view, I believe most students do not underperform in writing because they lack ideas, motivation or effort. Much more often, they underperform because they have been taught a version of GCSE writing that does not reflect how writing is actually assessed. Year after year, the same issues surface in exam papers. Students rely heavily on scaffolds , they misunderstand what “complex language” really means and accuracy at sentence level is sacr
Silvia Bastow
Jan 47 min read


30+ Fun and Effective MFL Games for the Languages Classroom
One of the most powerful ways to build confidence, fluency and motivation in the MFL classroom is through purposful games. I believe that well-chosen, low-prep activities can transform the energy of a lesson while driving serious progress in retrieval, phonics, grammar and spontaneous use of the target language. Below is a bumper list of 30+ tried-and-tested MFL games you can use across key stages. They work brilliantly in German, French, Spanish and beyond. ⭐ Retrieval & M
Silvia Bastow
Dec 3, 20256 min read


Making learning stick: Strategies for lasting knowledge
Learning a language is a cumulative and dynamic process that involves acquiring, processing, and retaining vocabulary and structures....
Silvia Bastow
Nov 25, 20234 min read
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