My (Cathy’s) husband decided he wanted to learn to speak German. So I bought him the online version of RosettaStone. My husband taught for 38 years, but now he is once again a student. We often meet for ‘recess’ over the island in our kitchen and talk about our day so far. I find it delightfully funny to listen to him reflect on his lesson. He says things like, “it’s hard!” and “my brain is so tired after a couple of hours”. But my personal favourite is after he has had an online session with a live instructor. Sometimes he says things like, “I didn’t like the instructor today, she wasn’t very friendly.”   Wow. No matter what the age of the student, learning is challenging and the teacher makes all the difference. He is so much happier when he happens upon a suitably attentive and patient teacher. He feels encouraged and motivated. He is smiling when we have our recess. This says so much about the power we wield as teachers, doesn’t it? I wonder how many students are smiling during recess. I hope lots. BTW, my husband loves the program and highly recommends it!