Very young children will pick up the language in the same way as they learned their mother tongue, naturally and easily. Think of it this way: When a baby is born, it has no idea where in the world it is going to arrive. It’s brain is lovely and flexible, ready to soak up any new language is hears. At about the age of 8-10 months, the baby then starts to “tune in” to the language(s) it hears around him/her. This means that foreign language sounds which do not exist in the mother tongue, start to be “tuned out” ever so gradually. You can read more about this here.

Many experts do agree that there seems to be an ‘optimal’ time period for learning a second language: from birth to three years. In other words, right when a child is learning the first language. The time when his/her mind is still open and flexible.

The latest research released this week backs this up and has been widely reported in the UK press. The Independent newspaper reported last week that "the benefits of growing up in a bilingual home start early and are broader than previously thought, new research shows. At just six months old, infants who are exposed to more than one language have an edge over their monolingual peers." in their article entitled "Bilingual babies benefit from learning faster". 

Similarly the Daily Mail's article "Want your child to be clever? Teach them two languages: Study finds bilingual babies often show signs of having a higher IQ" stated on Friday that "... little ones of parents who speak two languages in front of them from day one get bored of familiar images quicker and tend to prefer observing the novelty. This is a known predictor of better pre-school development, such as high IQ test scores, according to experts."

So what can you do if you want to raise a bilingual child, but only speak one language yourself?  It can be difficult to find the opportunities, however it is also easier for them to learn a second language at this age, so the extra effort will be worth it. If you sign up to our newsletter you will receive our FREE 36-page practical guide on how to introduce your child to a new language even if you do not speak it yourself!

And of course we'd love to see you at one of our classes soon! Not only will you and your child benefit from the language we have loads of fun too. We were recently named by Mother and Baby magazine as one of the Top 12 Baby And Toddler Classes To Try With Your Little One!

Love Angela x
(Lingotot founder, MD and mum to Anna and Ellie, my original Lingotots)

What training and support have you received to establish your franchise?
All the sessions are pre-planned with resources provided, which is an amazing load off my mind. The head office mentoring calls are also great.

What do you enjoy most about running your own Lingotot business?
It's like a game, trying to find ways in to as many new markets as possible.

What advice would you give to someone considering buying a franchise?
You won't get anywhere unless you put the spadework in-but if you're ok with that, go for it!

Finally, what is your favourite Lingotot song or game?
Gotta be the Boogie-Woogie!

What attracted you to Lingotot? 
I have always wanted to teach languages and work with young children so Lingotot seemed to be the perfect solution! I was very attracted by the idea of running my own business because I hated working full time when my daughter was little, and I wanted to do something that would fit in better with our family life and also give me the chance to put my language skills and business experience into practice. When I took my daughter along to a Lingotot class I fell in love with the whole idea of teaching languages to babies, toddlers and pre-school children because it was great fun and they loved the session – I was amazed by their ability to pick up the language so quickly!  
  
What territory do you cover?
I run Lingotot Gateshead & Washington which also covers Chester-le-Street and Houghton-le-Spring, so it’s a big area!

What training and support have you received to establish your franchise? 
From the outset I received intensive training in teaching the Lingotot programmes, setting up your own business, sales & marketing, PR, Accounting etc. Followed by regular mentoring sessions with an experienced Lingotot franchisee. We have continuous support and training from Lingotot HQ with monthly webinars relating to Business Development, Sales & Marketing, PR, teaching methods and lots of other topics to help us run our business successfully. We all have access to a dedicated Franchisee Management System which contains everything we could possibly need plus a forum where we can ask each other for advice. The level of support I’ve received from the ‘Lingotot family’ since starting my Franchise in January 2013 has been phenomenal! 

What do you enjoy most about running your own Lingotot business? 
I really enjoy meeting new children at my classes, watching them grow in confidence and speaking French or Spanish after just a few sessions – it always amazes me! I also love the flexibility of working hours that suit my family life – I can take baby Thomas with me to my community classes and still get home in time to pick Sian up from school. I tend to do my admin work in the evenings when they are in bed, so it works really well.

What advice would you give to someone considering buying a franchise? 
Do lots of research about your target market in your territory area and other competitors, and speak to other franchisees about their experiences to get a ‘realistic’ view of running your own Lingotot business. Also take advantage of their knowledge and expertise when you do start – they can offer a lot of support and advice!

Finally, what is your favourite Lingotot song or game?
My favourite French song at the moment is “La Chasse à l’Ours” (The Bear Hunt) because the children love doing the actions and they get really excited when we find the bear (so do their parents)!

Do you know someone who would like to come and work for Lingotot? We're looking for tutors and franchisees all the time. Please click here for more information on franchising or here to apply for a part time job.

She is delighted to have won the awards for Best Educational Business for Young People AND Best New Business for Children or Young People.

Davina, who lives in Bayston Hill, added: “Lingotot is already successful and has been growing rapidly in the past couple of years. Sessions are offered to nurseries and schools and there are also a number of community sessions too.

“I had an amazing day at the Businesses for Children Awards and I'm very proud, and shocked, to be able to say that Lingotot Shrewsbury & Telford won TWO categories after only a year in operation!”

This has been a busy year for Davina, who gave birth to her second son while setting up her business. Both of her boys attend Lingotot classes. Visit Lingotot Shrewsbury and Telford's Facebook Page to see some videos of them in action!

BABIES, toddlers and schoolchildren in Glasgow and Stirlingshire will be able to learn new languages to help them become fluent more quickly – thanks to our newest member of the team, Janet.

Youngsters will be able to speak in French and Spanish as they learn English to help them get to grips with languages more easily.

Janet Phillips is setting up the lessons after buying a franchise from UK-wide company Lingotot earlier this year.

She hopes the lessons will help broaden opportunities for Scottish children, and has seen how easily younger children learn languages.

“I was looking after my four-year-old grandson, Archie, and he was watching a CBBC programme called The Lingo Show,” said the mum-of-two.

“I know that the earlier children learn new languages the easier they pick it up, so watching Archie made me think about setting up a business to teach children languages.”

Janet, a self-employed HR consultant since 1993, gained a masters degree in translating and interpretation and was only too aware of how being able to speak other languages opened doors of opportunity.

After 20 years being a consultant, Janet wanted to a new opportunity herself, so started looking into establishing her own business.

She said: “I worked a lot at home and it is a lonely job. I wanted to do something where I got to meet new people and when I started researching, I found the Lingotot website.

“The branding is so good and the more I looked at the product the more I saw just how well thought out it was. So, I decided to make a call to find out more, because it would be much quicker than having to set everything up from scratch yourself.”

Within a couple of months, Janet had bought the franchise covering Glasgow West and North Helensbrough.

She is now setting up local sessions and will also be offering Lingotot lessons to schools as they gear up for introducing languages to lessons.

Janet said: “The Scottish Government has set up a working group actively looking into foreign modern languages and want to young children to be introduced to two languages by 2020.

“Many schools may not have teachers who will be able to provide the lessons, which is where they can bring Lingotot into school to do that for them.”

Lingotot already links with Key Stages 1 and 2 in England, and its sessions are already being used in schools there.

The business was set up by mum-of-two Angela Sterling, who was taking time out from teaching after the birth of her first daughter.

Teachers and parents were so impressed with the sessions they asked her to introduce books and CDs so that lessons could continue at home.

Angela said: “We are delighted to welcome Janet to Lingotot, especially as she is the first franchisee in Scotland. The sessions she will manage will help toddlers get to grips with language earlier and help improve their future prospects.”

For more details about Lingotot sessions, contact Janet by emailing [email protected] or telephoning 0845 680 8148.

Here at Lingotot we're delighted to announce that our very own Davina Hamilton has been nominated for the New Business BizMums Award.

Davina Hamilton runs Lingotot sessions in community centres, nurseries and schools in Shrewsbury and Telford. What makes her success even more remarkable is that she has only recently given birth to her second son alongside running the business alongside her job as a vet AND she doesn't even speak any languages! Instead she recruits highly-qualified tutors to teach the sessions.

Davina says, “I think it’s a fantastic idea to teach children while they are so young as they learn much more quickly. The Government announced last year that children as young as five will be taught a language, but there is a lot of research that shows they learn a language even better from a younger age.”

She adds, “Lingotot is already successful and has been growing rapidly in the past couple of years. Sessions are offered to nurseries and schools and there are also a number of community sessions too. When I heard about Lingotot from a friend and was told about the franchises I thought it would be a great opportunity."

For more information on Davina's classes, you can email her at [email protected] or call 0845 680 8148. She also has a facebook page.

The awards take place on Saturday 14th September 2013, Lord Hill Hotel in Shrewsbury from 10am – 5pm.

We were delighted to be finalists in the North East Business Awards 2013 #northeastbusinessawards. We were finalists in a massive TWO categories: Newcomer of the Year and Small Business of the Year. We had an awesome night and we'd like to thank the organisers and congratulate the winners. You can read more about the night and the winners here. We're particularly proud of Derwentside Homes, a fellow Stanley-based company.

The Newcomer of the Year award was judged on the following criteria so we are delighted to have made it through to the final!

• The company’s business plan and indications of how it has been pursued so far.
• What differentiates the company’s products/services from their competitors?
• Managerial and financial performance, with evidence.
• The background of the directors.
• Notable achievements to date.
• Potential for growth.
• Evidence of commitment and imagination in the product or service.

The Small Business of the Year category was also very challenging and the judges loved Lingotot and how far we'd come so quickly.

• What has made the difference between success and failure for the company?
• What differentiates the company’s products/services from their competitors?
• Managerial and financial performance.
• Potential for growth.
• Evidence of commitment and imagination in the product or service.

We've all got huge grins here at Lingotot HQ this morning!

Celebrate Chinese New Year 2013 by singing along to one of our fantastic Mandarin karaoke songs! "If you're Happy and You Know it". Singing is a great way of learning a language with your little ones.

This week it was reported that not enough UK schools are offering lessons in Mandarin Chinese, putting the country’s economic recovery at risk. Research conducted by the British Council and HSBC said the number of schools offering the language was ‘stagnant at best’ You can read more here

Did you know that Lingotot offers Mandarin classes in schools, nurseries and community centres from children aged 0-11? Contact us to find a class near you or to recommend your child's school to us.

Lingotot has been shortlisted in an impressive TWO categories for the Durham & Wearside heat of the North East Business Awards 2013, the biggest business awards in the North East of England! We are delighted to be finalists Small Business of The Year AND Newcomer of the Year categories.

The shortlist for each category consists of 3 companies, of which Lingotot is one. The winner will be crowned at the Durham & Wearside Business Awards on Thursday 7 March 2013 at the Stadium of Light, Sunderland.

The awards are organised by the Evening Gazette and The Journal in association with the North East Chamber of Commerce. NECC chief executive, James Ramsbotham, said: “We have an enormously successful business community that has achieved so much this year. The North-east Business Awards provide the perfect stage on which to recognise the ground-breaking work by companies across the region."

We are incredibly proud to have been shortlisted and are very much looking forward to the ceremony. Wish us luck!

Many highly qualified linguists toy with the idea of completing a PGCE and becoming a teacher of MFL, yet they worry about a number of issues: the cost of the course; more time away from employment to study; no guarantee of a job at the end of the course; fierce competition for teaching jobs; horror stories about paperwork, verbal abuse towards teachers and general poor behaviour in schools.

I trained as a teacher and taught in secondary, middle and primary schools in the UK and overseas before founding Lingotot. I LOVED teaching, especially the more challenging classes. Ask all my family, friends and ex-colleagues - I was about the most enthusiastic and dedicated teacher you could get! I never thought in a million years I would give up teaching in a "proper" classroom.

But then I had two little babies and everything changed. So I started my little Lingotot classes as a way to keep teaching and earn some extra money. I wasn't prepared for many things when I set sail down the self-employment route. I didn't expect the classes to be so successful, I certainly didn't expect to love the mechanics of running my own business. But the biggest surprise was that I fell totally and completely out of love of traditional classroom teaching. I do miss the pupils (well most of them!) but I certainly don't miss the politics, paperwork and power games. Oh yes, and the marking!

Instead I have a job I love, teaching really fun and relevant lessons to young children. I get to share that with their parents too, it's a lovely family affair. When I go into a school to teach, the children are excited and look forward to their very interactive classes.

Aside from the teaching I get to set my own timetable and work the hours I want to, meaning I never miss a nativity play. Don't want to work on Mondays? No problem!

So I refer back to my opening point. If you're a graduate (or maybe you're not but you speak another language fluently), why would you spend £9,000 for a year of hard graft doing a PGCE, plus all of your living costs for that year, with no guaranteed job at the end of it (and even if you get one the NQT year is even worse!)? You could come and join Lingotot as a franchisee instead. You get to teach immediately with no daft targets, marking or demanding headteacher. The fee is half the cost of a PGCE, you get to start earning straight away, you choose when and where you want to work AND your business becomes a valuable asset you can keep running or eventually sell on.

Would you like to find out more or do you know someone who might be interested? Take a look at www.lingototfranchise.co.uk and start exploring the possibility of running your own childrens language business now.

Angela, MD of Lingotot Ltd and happy mum to two little girls.