It took just 48 hours for Kidslingo franchisor Anna Neville to react to the news of the coronavirus epidemic and devise a way to continue her language classes for young children
Anna Neville is the franchisor of multi-award-winning Kidslingo that inspires young children to love languages. Through interactive learning – via songs, games, Makaton, active story-telling and let’s pretend – children from birth to the age of 11 are learning French and Spanish and building their confidence and communication skills.
“Overnight we changed the model from face-to-face classes to doing everything online via the interactive web platform Zoom,” says Neville. “The impact the coronavirus is having on children and young families is unprecedented. But I knew that keeping the classes open would be one of the ways in which to offer some stability and normality in this very confusing time. Where we can, we have tried to keep children in their friendship groups so they can continue to virtually see their best friends, which we know is really, really important.”
The interactive and fun live video classes have been rolled out nationwide and are available via computer, phone or tablet for existing and new customers. As well as the live classes, there will be additional resources to help parents. These include educational packs and music, emailed out weekly. The first online classes took place last Wednesday, and the feedback from parents has been useful. Due to the increase in demand, Kidslingo has even started running this week.
“Amazing classes, what a fantastic idea,” says Maxine Bryant whose four-year-old child attends Kidslingo Plymouth. “The kids adore it – not only are they continuing to learn but also they get to ‘see’ their friends. Thank you, Kidslingo.”
Bringing back a routine and safe social interaction for children is incredibly important to preserve the mental health and wellbeing of young children. Many will be feeling the loss of their daily activities and seeing their friends, which has almost changed overnight. The pressure on parents is also at an all-time high and many will be feeling overwhelmed with the thought of homeschooling and balancing their own work and running a household.
With a team standing at over 120 franchisees and tutors, Kidslingo runs hundreds of classes and teaches thousands of children every week. The success of the online offering has been through the quality of teaching each school offers. These expert linguists create interactive content where they can reach out to individual students to ask questions and set additional fun tasks. For children that have become proficient in a language, it would be heartbreaking for them to see it all go to waste if the classes were discontinued.
“I have put my heart and soul into developing the Kidslingo business over the last six years, building up an amazing team of passionate and dedicated franchisees,” adds Neville. “I feel a responsibility to enable them to continue to earn an income from their business and through this platform, we can do this without compromising on the quality of the offering to our students. As things progress, we will continue to build on what we are offering, including content that all children can access via our social media channels. I’m very grateful for the support from our customers across the UK and all the photos and videos that they have shared of their children continuing to enjoy Kidslingo.”