When the students became teachers...

As a teacher of English to speakers of other languages it's easy to forget just how challenging it can be for a language student. While I try to recall the struggle of French and Spanish classes at school in an attempt to hone my own teaching methods it's important to have my own lesson every now and then.

It's the last day of term at a further education college in London and I find myself gripping the little desk attached to my chair with the tips of my fingers and nervously biting my lip. One of my students is instructing the class and boarding the verb forms of 'to have' and 'to be' in French. Her clarity and warmth leave me feeling ever so slightly inadequate and it is at that moment that I am reminded of how much I have to learn.