Our pupils do amazing things every single day, but behind those achievements are all of the hardworking staff here at Merchant Taylors’ School. In Staff Spotlights we look to explore the diverse backgrounds and skills of the people who make Merchant Taylors’ a great place to be. This week we hear from Emily White – Assistant Head Lower School, Teacher of French
When did you join Merchant Taylors’?
I joined Merchant Taylors’ in January 2022.
Tell us about your subject. What excites you about it? How did you get into it?
I studied Modern Languages and Music at Durham University, in which I spent a year working as a language assistant in a school in Auxerre, France. On my return, I said that I was certain that there was one profession that I would not be pursuing, and that would be teaching. How wrong I was!
I spent the following year in Mexico, teaching business English and, on my return, completed a secondary PGCE in French and German at the Institute of Education in London. I have now been teaching for 17 years and have firmly landed on French as my area of expertise. I love learning languages. I think it is the perfect blend of regulation and creativity. Yes, there are patterns to spot and rules to follow, but one can also play with language, take risks and come up with something unique. If communication is the goal, then form doesn’t necessarily have to be exact, in my opinion. I consider myself a lifelong learner and it is rare that a week will pass where I don’t discover something new either linguistically or pedagogically.
What are you most proud of outside of your work at school?
Apart from my two (mostly) adorable children, professionally, I am most proud of having completed a Master’s in Education whilst working full time as a French teacher in a large inner London comprehensive school. I did my practice-based enquiry on the pedagogy of second language acquisition, transcribed hours of teaching footage and spent every school holiday in the library, but it was worth it. Whilst not wishing to unnecessarily reinvent the wheel, I have and will always value CPD, both in terms of subject and pedagogical knowledge.
What did you study at A-Level?
I studied French, German and Music A-Levels as well as Geography AS Level.
What piece of media would you recommend and why?
There are so many tools out there to facilitate language learning nowadays, however, I will always recommend a good online bilingual dictionary. So often students will simply ask Google and the response will lack the context needed for creativity and true depth of understanding, but www.wordreference.com is my personal go-to when it comes to looking for single-word vocabulary items.
