John Bald began teaching in 1973, and soon became concerned at the impact of reading difficulties on children’s chances of learning a language. As consultant for Hackney (2005-11), he developed effective and enjoyable teaching methods for the early stages of language learning, which are particularly helpful to children with SEND. He has been a member of all government working groups since 2010, and of the Ofsted working party on “deep dives”. His work has been published by Strasbourg University, and he is a group expert on Facebook Teaching German. He offers pro bono teaching on request. www.johnbald.typepad.com.