This paper presents some of the preliminary findings of a study into modern languages (ML) learning in five Scottish secondary schools. Five ML teachers were observed and audio-recorded over a period of several weeks while teaching their third-year classes (pupils aged 14-15 years). All the teachers used the target language extensively in their classrooms. The purpose of the study was two-fold: to observe how the teachers went about their work and to examine how pupils responded to the teachers' continuous input in the foreign language, with few mother tongue interjections. A sample of pupils was also interviewed. Despite a range of schools and ability levels of classes observed, the analysis of the data uncovered important similarities in the techniques the teachers used to promote pupils' language learning, which are the focus of this article.