Several researchers (East, 2007, 2008; Villers, Tolosa & East, 2010) have identified a shortage of language teachers in New Zealand as a main limitation in the enactment of a learning area devoted to the learning of additional languages in the New Zealand curriculum (Ministry of Education, 2007). Thus it is important to consider the range of ways in which language teachers learn to teach languages in the New Zealand context. This article reports on an 18 month longitudinal study of two New Zealand language teachers in primary settings, to reflecting on the reported process of teachers learning to teach languages. Over an 18 month period, three semi-structured interviews were conducted with each participant (six in total) and these transcripts were then analysed in terms of the place of context in the change of teacher practice across the first 18 months of teaching, with particular consideration of the language learning context in the New Zealand curriculum. The contrast between the two contexts the participants found themselves in provides a useful platform for the discussion of factors supporting the teaching of languages in primary settings.