November always arrives with a noticeable shift. I hear it in many of my learners' voices in our lessons. The daylight fades earlier, the days are getting darker, the air cools. Our bodies and minds are looking to slow down, but to make things tougher, I notice each year that in many learners' jobs things are getting particularly busy in the last weeks of the year. And your German learning is stuck somewhere in between those two opposites. What should you do?

Do you see lots of apples on this image? Look again! Some people might see loads of apples 🍏🍏🍏 in this image.... I see (or rather: hear) podcasts! 😄 How?...

I love September because it is a month of balance. The autumn equinox arrives and for a brief moment, day and night are perfectly equal. After that, the evenings slowly grow longer, the mornings a little darker and we feel the shift into autumn and winter. It’s a good reminder that balance is not something fixed but something we constantly adjust. The same is true when learning German...

I recently visited a sunflower field near me, and it was beautiful: rows of tall yellow blooms all facing the sun (but can you spot a 'funny looking sunflower' among them all, too? :-) And as I stood there, I realised how much we can actually learn from sunflowers about our journey with German. Sunflowers are always turning towards the light. They don’t waste energy twisting back to the shade. They move forward, day after day, following what nourishes them...

Can you believe we’re already halfway through 2025? June the perfect time to check in with yourself, not in a dramatic, New Year’s resolution kind of way, but just a gentle pause to reflect: Am I where I wanted to be with my German by now? I always think June is the best month to pause, rest, breathe and reset. Here’s a simple mid-year check-in:...

Is German Really That Hard? Or Are We Just Approaching It the Wrong Way? “German is hard.” I hear this all the time. And I get it. When you're faced with words like Geschwindigkeitsbegrenzung or trying to figure out why the word for “girl” (Mädchen) is neuter, it’s easy to throw your hands up. But let me tell you: German isn't impossible. It might not even be as hard as you think. What makes it feel difficult is often not the language itself, but how we approach learn

"I can get by using English." "I am not ready to speak German yet. I'll wait." "German grammar is hard." Sound familiar? You're not alone...

The most common complaint I hear from my German learners? “I don’t have time.” But what if the real issue isn’t that you don’t have enough..

But here’s a thought: what if, instead of letting your German learning take a holiday, you made it part of your Christmas break traditions? 

The key to success is to make these little habits part of your routine, and you’ll never look back!

So, here’s my round-up of 20 lessons learnt from 20 years in the UK.