"When I think about my time in school, I always remember a certain teacher who had a profound effect on me.

I decided to take French as my second foreign language in school – English being the first – because I always thought that it was a lively language that sounded nice.

I was excited to learn French but wasn’t yet aware of how difficult things would get.

My French teacher was strict and even a little scary. He wanted us to have such a command of the irregular verbs and vocabulary that we could even repeat them in our sleep. I can still hear him today: “When I call you in the middle of the night and your parents pull you out of bed, you still need to be able to recite the verbs.”

I couldn’t sleep on the nights before French class

Of course he never actually called a student at home, but I couldn’t sleep on the nights before French class because I was overcome with the fear of not knowing the vocabulary or verbs.

It wasn’t until I had the same teacher for theatre that I realized that the only reason he was so strict was because he had invested so much in his students wanted us to learn as much as possible.

Today I can still recite all of the irregular verbs – even in my sleep."

Sent by: Kerstin, Germany
Edited by: Sarah Daman