Hi everybody, I'm Martina Castro, the executive producer for the Duolingo Podcasts.

And for this episode, I'll be filling in for our host, GoFan Mbuthabuele.

Growing up near Paris in the early 1960s, 13-year-old Simon Eru was a self-conscious girl,

filled with teenage angst.

She went to an all-girl school, and she wasn't a very good student.

She thought she had little to contribute.

I wasn't very good student, and I wasn't very sure of myself.

I put the literature and French authors, like Mollyère or Mo Passant.

But in class, I was often silent.

I was afraid of making mistakes.

One day in class, Simon had to recite a poem.

She had learned by heart in front of all of her classmates,

and her very strict, very demanding French teacher.

She was nervous.

I was a little scared, but I started to recite the poem

in front of my French class.

When I was reading, I felt something changing in class room.

The other students and the teacher looked at me and listened to me in silence.

As she spoke, Simon felt a hush settle over the room.

By the time she finished, she could hear a pin drop.

Finally, the teacher spoke up.

My teacher said,

...