We were all
children once.
This was me.
Long before I became a teacher, I was just a kid.
Curious. Talkative. Sometimes right. Sometimes completely wrong.
Like every child, I learned about the world by asking questions, trying things, making mistakes and trying again.
I wasn’t thinking about whether every sentence was perfect.
I just had something to say.
And after more than a decade of teaching, I’ve come to believe that this instinct is something worth protecting.
We learned the words.We learned the grammar.We passed the exams.
Children work incredibly hard at English.
And many become very good at it.
But when it’s time to actually speak, something changes.
They hesitate.
They think about the sentence.
They wonder whether the answer is right.
Knowing English and feeling confident enough to use it are two very different things.
What if we helped them keep talking?
Let them
keep talking.
That’s the confidence we want children to keep.
GentleSpeak was created to give it room to grow.
Our mission
Real bilingual confidence.
Taiwan has spent years investing in English education.
Children study vocabulary, grammar, reading and tests — and many become very good at them.
But knowing English and feeling confident enough to actually use it are two very different things.
We want to help Taiwan become truly bilingual — not just on paper, but in real life.
One child, one conversation at a time.
A Different Kind of Classroom.
During the pandemic, I began teaching online.
At first, I was skeptical.
But over the following years, I discovered that online learning didn’t have to mean children sitting silently in front of another screen.
Done properly, it could create something surprisingly personal:
A small room.
A familiar teacher.
A few familiar classmates.
And enough space for everyone to speak.
That became the foundation for GentleSpeak.
Because conversation needs people.
Vocabulary can be practised alone.
Grammar can be studied from a book.
But conversation requires someone on the other side.
- 1
Someone who listens.
- 2
Someone who responds.
- 3
Someone who asks a question you weren’t expecting.
- 4
Someone who makes you laugh.
- 5
Someone who doesn’t always agree.
This is how learning should feel.
Founder & Lead Instructor
Hi, I’m Bart.
I’ve been teaching English since 2014, working with children and teenagers across different ages, levels and learning environments in Taiwan.
Over the years, I’ve taught large classrooms, small groups, individual students and online classes.
And the longer I’ve taught, the more convinced I’ve become of one thing:
A child can know the answer and still be afraid to say it.
My work isn’t simply to put more English into a child’s head.
It’s to help children become comfortable using what’s already there — and give them the confidence to keep building on it.
That’s why I created GentleSpeak.
What we believe.
Confidence comes before perfection.
Making mistakes isn’t the opposite of learning.
It’s part of learning.
Conversation isn’t the reward.
Children shouldn’t have to finish years of English study before they’re finally “ready” to use it.
Speaking is how they become ready.
Every child deserves to be heard.
A small class isn’t simply about receiving more teacher attention.
It’s about having enough room to participate.
English should feel real.
The most valuable sentence isn’t always the most complicated one.
Sometimes it’s simply the sentence a child genuinely wanted to say.
Learning can be gentle.
Children can be challenged without being overwhelmed.
Structure and kindness aren’t opposites.
We believe children learn better when there’s room for both.
One day, they won’t be little anymore.
We can’t know exactly who they’ll become.
But while they’re still finding their voice, we can teach them that using it doesn’t have to be scary.
That mistakes are allowed.
That English belongs outside the textbook.
And that what they have to say matters.