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Mr E @theniceman.bsky.social · 8m

Recent Posts on the Way Forward for Languages.

Here's selection of recent posts on the two systemic problems facing MFL, why they are so bad, and what we could do about it. The impact of...

Mr E @theniceman.bsky.social · 38m

I have always read the listening aloud myself so people can lipread or use the mic-implant

www.hepi.ac.uk/2025/10/10/h...

Reposted by Mr E

Mr E @theniceman.bsky.social · 11h

How the manufactured narrative of ‘failure’ is distracting us from resolving the systemic problems holding back the study of Modern Languages – Part 2. - HEPI

This post was kindly written by Vincent Everett, who is head of languages in a comprehensive school and sixth form in Norfolk. He blogs as The Nice Man Who Teaches Languages. In Part 1, I looked at h...

When everything you've told pupils about the new GCSE comes true!

Reposted by Mr E

Mr E @theniceman.bsky.social · 9h

The blog reached 250 thousand visits this week.
Good to see teaching and learning posts getting lots of views. Not just the fighting the system posts. I'd much rather be doing this!

whoteacheslanguages.blogspot.com/2024/11/when...

This week, everything I have been telling pupils about the new GCSE came true. And in quietly spectacular fashion. I suppose that means I'l...

How the manufactured narrative of 'failure' is distracting us from resolving the systemic problems holding back the study of Modern Languages - Part One. - HEPI

1 2

Reposted by Mr E

Mr E @theniceman.bsky.social · 5h

Time to stop the culture wars in MFL and sort out the real problems.

www.hepi.ac.uk/2025/09/04/h...

This post was kindly written by Vincent Everett, who is head of languages in a comprehensive school and sixth form in Norfolk. He blogs as The Nice Man Who Teaches Languages. We have to bring an end t...

Am I about to come unstuck? - How much can you rely on a metaphor for learning?

Reposted by Mr E

Mr E @theniceman.bsky.social · 3h

Help please! Has anyone managed to teach the new GCSE keeping the vocabulary list central?

It's not really pulling together how I hoped it might...

whoteacheslanguages.blogspot.com/2025/10/am-i...

How much can you rely on a metaphor for learning to guide your practice? All models of learning are metaphors. Starting with the popular "s...

Why I don't call them Sentence Builders.

Reposted by Mr E

Mr E @theniceman.bsky.social · 9h

This week the blog hit a quarter of a million visits. Good to see one of the earliest posts still gets lots of readers even now:

whoteacheslanguages.blogspot.com/2021/05/why-...

This post is inspired by my Year 10 class. This week I gave them a speaking/writing frame. They took one look at it and said, "We don't nee...

Am I about to come unstuck? - How much can you rely on a metaphor for learning?

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Reposted by Mr E

Mr E @theniceman.bsky.social · 5h

Latest Post on the new GCSE.

In which I have a revelation while talking to a vicar.

whoteacheslanguages.blogspot.com/2025/10/am-i...

How much can you rely on a metaphor for learning to guide your practice? All models of learning are metaphors. Starting with the popular "s...

How the manufactured narrative of ‘failure’ is distracting us from resolving the systemic problems holding back the study of Modern Languages – Part 2. - HEPI

2

Reposted by Mr E

Mr E @theniceman.bsky.social · 3h

You know those Spanish people who all speak English.

Did they have a language course aged 16-18 based on literature, linguistics, obscure grammar and essays?

Of course they didn't. They had mainstream language learning pathways.

Unlike us.

www.hepi.ac.uk/2025/10/10/h...

This post was kindly written by Vincent Everett, who is head of languages in a comprehensive school and sixth form in Norfolk. He blogs as The Nice Man Who Teaches Languages. In Part 1, I looked at h...

How the manufactured narrative of 'failure' is distracting us from resolving the systemic problems holding back the study of Modern Languages - Part One. - HEPI

Reposted by Mr E

Mr E @theniceman.bsky.social · 3h

I don't want to hear,

"There's something wrong with the teaching, the pedagogy, the curriculum, the pupils, the nation."

Pupils get to the level they are, with expert teaching, because that's how language learning is.

Meanwhile there's a simple calibration error:

www.hepi.ac.uk/2025/09/04/h...

This post was kindly written by Vincent Everett, who is head of languages in a comprehensive school and sixth form in Norfolk. He blogs as The Nice Man Who Teaches Languages. We have to bring an end t...

Is Nigel Farage Moscow’s Man?

Reposted by Mr E

Slurmsadako MacKenzie @slurmsmackenzie.bsky.social · 11h

GenAI truly was the worst technology to come along at this moment.

An energy and water guzzler when we most urgently need to take climate action.

A disinformation machine as our journalism fails.

A bias machine as fascism takes root.

A job killer in a cost of living crisis.

Bria "tries to write a book" Horses @thevoidencore.bsky.social · 5d

The "cognitive decline and brain damage from repeat COVID infections" and "easy to use robot that makes slop and melts your critical thinking skills" is a hell of a combo in a post-fact media ecosystem

18 1.1K 2.6K

Mr E @theniceman.bsky.social · 2h

Just asking legitimate questions

Farrukh @implausibleblog.bsky.social · 2h

A question many wonder

youtu.be/CVtiJ5jrpOM?...

YouTube video by Political X

youtu.be

Mr E @theniceman.bsky.social · 2h

Have googled tassomai and it says it is really good.

Mezquita de Córdoba: El legado Islámico de España

Mr E @theniceman.bsky.social · 2h

youtu.be/kgjL30chX08?...

YouTube video by Manuel Bravo

youtu.be

Mr E @theniceman.bsky.social · 2h

youtu.be/_KYx-sgmync?...

Spain's Architectural Wonder: The Great Mosque of Cordoba

YouTube video by Manuel Bravo

youtu.be

Mr E @theniceman.bsky.social · 2h

I am worried that all the work on speaking/writing is taking the time we "should" be spending on encounters with the vocab list vocab.

Mr E @theniceman.bsky.social · 2h

Thanks. I always stressed non topic vocab. But now with this new GCSE there's hardly any topic vocab. So what are the words we should be teaching? And how do we bundle them up?

Eg homework or revision. Have you sorted the list to give them in manageable ways?

Mr E @theniceman.bsky.social · 3h

Trump was President at the time...

Mr E @theniceman.bsky.social · 3h

(No beards, no fatties)

Mr E @theniceman.bsky.social · 3h

Do they make inflatable ICE character suits?

How the manufactured narrative of 'failure' is distracting us from resolving the systemic problems holding back the study of Modern Languages - Part One. - HEPI

Mr E @theniceman.bsky.social · 3h

I don't want to hear,

"There's something wrong with the teaching, the pedagogy, the curriculum, the pupils, the nation."

Pupils get to the level they are, with expert teaching, because that's how language learning is.

Meanwhile there's a simple calibration error:

www.hepi.ac.uk/2025/09/04/h...

This post was kindly written by Vincent Everett, who is head of languages in a comprehensive school and sixth form in Norfolk. He blogs as The Nice Man Who Teaches Languages. We have to bring an end t...

How the manufactured narrative of ‘failure’ is distracting us from resolving the systemic problems holding back the study of Modern Languages – Part 2. - HEPI

Mr E @theniceman.bsky.social · 3h

You know those Spanish people who all speak English.

Did they have a language course aged 16-18 based on literature, linguistics, obscure grammar and essays?

Of course they didn't. They had mainstream language learning pathways.

Unlike us.

www.hepi.ac.uk/2025/10/10/h...

This post was kindly written by Vincent Everett, who is head of languages in a comprehensive school and sixth form in Norfolk. He blogs as The Nice Man Who Teaches Languages. In Part 1, I looked at h...

Am I about to come unstuck? - How much can you rely on a metaphor for learning?

Mr E @theniceman.bsky.social · 3h

Help please! Has anyone managed to teach the new GCSE keeping the vocabulary list central?

It's not really pulling together how I hoped it might...

whoteacheslanguages.blogspot.com/2025/10/am-i...

How much can you rely on a metaphor for learning to guide your practice? All models of learning are metaphors. Starting with the popular "s...