Athens Creative English is an educational space where children are free to express themselves while learning English through the arts. It follows a humanistic approach to learning which respects the unique needs of each child and builds on their speaking skills. Student-led learning (vs. teacher-led learning) allows children to fully explore their creativity and builds a foundation for life-long, independent, self-directed learning. Despina, ACE’s founder and ‘teacher’, achieves this by playing and creating arts with the children and speaking with them in English. The ‘teaching for test’ focused system in traditional schools stresses children and is the anti-thesis of meaningful learning. At Athens Creative English the goal is to empower children because their full potential is being undermined at regular schools. The success of Athens Creative English ‘students’ inspires other educators to finally change the way they teach our children. Think about it: how does a child learn their Native tongue? By speaking and being spoken to. How? By drawing, building, listening to stories, role-playing, singing, making music, inventing games…through art and play! By focusing on speaking while playing and creating, children get to engage freely with English as if they are learning their first language.