Language for Fun

Language for Fun was created when I realised that traditional teaching methods in adult education weren’t supporting adults to talk confidently.

At the time, I was teaching in an FE college, and in a Primary School children and studying for a PGCE in adult education. I quickly realised that many of the games and interactive techniques that the children enjoyed could be adapted for adult pupils. I decided to trial a language course for adults where the focus was on fun and conversation, rather than results and written work.

So in 2007 I created French for Fun and held my first classes in Newcastle-under-Lyme. Through trial and error, I came up with a regular weekly format that worked. The classes are now built around a series of conversations, so everyone gets up and talks in every lesson at the same time (no trembling in front of the class). In January 2010, after enrolling our 60th student, I decided to see if French for Fun worked with other languages. In March 2010, Sally and Alejandra started to translate the programme in to Spanish with great success and now Sigrid is busy creating Italian materials.