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Inspiring confident language teaching

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"Reflections of a language teacher.
Always learning."


Cognitive Load in the Languages Classroom: Are we accidentally overwhelming our students?
Picture this. You have planned what you consider to be a rich, communicative lesson, a new grammar structure or language introduced with examples, a task to practise it, a class questioning to bring it to life, and a spoken or written activity to consolidate. You have scaffolded, you have thought about pace, you have prepared a slide for every stage. And for a significant chunk of the class, it still does not land. The students are capable. They are engaged. But somewhere bet
Silvia Bastow
Jul 55 min read


From Supported to Self-Sufficient: Building independence in the MFL classroom
This post is a follow-up to the Linguascope Adaptive Teaching Webinar, which Jennifer Wozniak-Rush and I run on Tuesday 2nd June. A lot of the conversation in our recent webinar centred on how we support students better: how we scaffold, adapt, and respond to where learners are in the moment. And that conversation matters enormously. But several of you came back afterwards with the same question, and it is a good one: 'If we are always scaffolding, always supporting, always a
Silvia Bastow
Jun 79 min read


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


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


Unlocking success: Supporting students with the lowest prior attainment in their GCSE exam
Achieving success in GCSE exams is a challenging journey for all students, but those with the lowest prior attainment often face unique...
Silvia Bastow
Jan 14, 20246 min read
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