From Quiet to Confident: Helping More Students Find Their Voice in the MFL Classroom

You cannot make someone do something.

You have to meet them where they are, connect with them, and invite them to where you would like them to be.

In many ways, this is what language teaching is all about.

Learning a language is one of the most vulnerable things a person can choose to do. We are asking young people to take risks publicly, to say things imperfectly, and sometimes to feel exposed in front of their peers. At a crucial time in life when teenagers are building their identity, we are asking them to be so vulnerable. Compared to other subjects, where they have built their expertise for years, they remain beginners in the language they are learning, no matter how long ago they started.