Our story
Inspiring Linguists began with a question I kept asking myself as an MFL teacher: how do we inspire our students to see the value of learning languages?
After studying Spanish and English at the University of Birmingham, I became an MFL teacher, working in secondary schools across the UK and UAE. Over the years, I saw first-hand the challenges facing MFL departments as GCSE and A Level entries declined. Teachers were constantly looking for new ways to motivate students and help them see where languages could take them.
Rose, teaching abroad
Liz, BBC SportThe inspiration for Inspiring Linguists was closer than I thought…
My twin sister, Elizabeth, also studied languages at university, but our careers took us in very different directions. While I became a teacher, Elizabeth built a successful career in journalism and is now the BBC’s first Spanish football reporter. We are both examples of how languages are not a pathway to one particular profession, but a skill that can open doors across countless industries.
What if every school could give students access to professionals from a wide range of careers, all sharing how languages have shaped their journey?
That idea became Inspiring Linguists.
My vision is to make inspiring career stories accessible to every MFL classroom through an on-demand, digital platform. By helping students connect language learning with real careers and real people, I hope to inspire the future linguists in our classrooms to see the incredible opportunities that languages can create.