Member Article

Tot's language franchise rapidly growing

A MUM who set up a business teaching toddlers foreign languages has proved she’s talking the talk as the firm has grown rapidly since becoming a franchise!

Angela Sterling, from Stanley, County Durham, launched Lingotot in 2010 offering lessons in French to toddlers in nurseries and primary schools.

They were so successful that teachers and parents asked Angela to produce books andCDsso they could continuelearningoutside Lingotot sessions. And due to popular demand, she now teaches Spanish and Mandarin Chinese in addition to French.

But to ensure that the business could continue its growth, Angela decided to franchise Lingotot in January this year – and now four have been sold and a total of 11 people are working for the business.

The mum-of-two, who set up Lingotot while taking time out from teaching after the birth of herfirstdaughter, said: “It’s amazing that since January it has gone from just me to 11 people – including franchisees and tutors – working under the Lingotot brand.

“It has been a passion of mine since I was an au pair at the age of 18 to teach children in the UK languages from as early an age as possible. But I knew that on my own, I would have a finite number of sessions I could offer, so I decided to franchise the business.”

The franchises have so far been concentrated in the North East, and the latest have been set up for Newcastle West and North Tees. Angela plans to roll out the franchises nationally in the next year.

Katherine Matthews, a paediatrician who is currently on maternity leave, has decided to go back to her language roots by taking on a Lingotot franchise.

She hopes to run the franchise alongside her medical career when she returns to the Great North Children’s Hospital.

Katherine, who has a BA honours degree in French and Spanish, said: “After my degree I went on to study medicine and my love of children led me to start training as a paediatrician.

“After the birth of my daughter,Olive, I was keen to bring French and Spanish into her life as early as possible but was unsure how to do this. It was then I came across Lingotot and after meeting Angela I realised there was no going back.

“I consider myself extremely lucky to be part of an organisation like Lingotot.”

Mum-of-two Abigail Curtis, from Hartlepool, works part-time as a manufacturing technology engineer at 3M and has set up a Lingotot franchise in North Tees.

She said: “I read a lot about how young children can pick up a foreign language easily and researched on the internet and came across Lingotot. I live in Hartlepool and the nearest to me was Durham so I started taking my boys, aged three and one, to the session. They really enjoyed it.”

Although not able to speak a foreign language fluently, Abigail decided to buy the franchise and has taken on tutors to deliver the lessons.

Angela said: “I welcome both Katherine and Abigail to the Lingotot family. They have different backgrounds, but it shows that the Lingotot franchise is a brilliant and unusual opportunity for those who want to be part of an exciting and growing business.”

For more details about Lingotot sessions in your area and for franchise information, contact 0845 680 8148 or visit www.lingotot.com

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