Many moons ago, when I was in Year 9, I added Spanish as my second foreign language. By then, I had already been learning English since Year 7, and later I would take German as my third language. In France, it was common practice to study at least two languages, sometimes even three. My experience with English had been very traditional. We used a textbook called Way and Means , following the adventures of the Hill family and their dog Bill. Their stories were regularly interr