Opinions needed please...would you send your child?

[purplebear]

Hi everyone Im in the need of your advice...i am looking to set up a language school for children and want to know if this is something you would be interested in.
I have pasted some general information about the academy, classes etc below and want to know your thoughts, especially on our methodology and our prices- do you think this is reasonable?
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Little Language Academy is a play based immersion school teaching 5 different languages from the ages birth - 11 years.

Our Methodology
Children?s minds are like sponges, they absorb and can retain information from a very young age. Their minds are naturally primed to learn any language effortlessly from birth to the age of 7. They are also born with a natural ability to acquire language simply through hearing and use.
By immersing a child in a given language from an early age they are more likely to become fluent, have better pronunciation and will make it easier for them to learn a language through a traditional academic route once in High school.
Research shows children learn better through play, our play based learning method will maximise and enhance the child?s language learning experience.

Languages taught:
ArabicChinese*French*ItalianSpanish
Our Curriculum
The classes will involve physical movement, play, activities, games and general fun our program has been developed with maximum sensory and intellectual activities.
The curriculum and scheme of work is developed based on the early years foundation stage guidelines and on the national curriculum for MFL and we have incorporated learning through a play and fun based environment. It is a spiral curriculum so the themes taught will be reintroduced over the terms.

Classes:
Mums and Tots:
Age 1-3 and 3-5 yrs will be a 1hour session with a 15 min break in-between for snack, nappy change etc. (siblings under 1yrs are free)
Child only classes
5-8 yrs 1.5 hours.
8-11 yrs 1.5 hours.
Price per term: 12 week sessions@ £108 (discount available for siblings)

Our website is under construction at present but will be up and running very soon, this will provide you with more information about the academy, research and evidence on language learning, more information on the curriculum and methodology, and general information on classes.
All of our staff have an enhanced CRB check
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so, what do you think guys...interested or waste of time

I would be interested, my questions would be

will the way you teach them a new language be similar and/or support their (minimal) langage learning at school?

How large would the classes be?

Do you provide material for my kids to practise at home with?

What qualifications do your staff have?

I think the prices are reasonable for what you're offering as long as I was confident that the staff were qualified.

The methodology to me sounds fab, however I have heard comments in my DS's playground at pick up time along the lines of 'there's no wonder they cant read/write/be a brain surgeon yet, all they do is play all day'. DS is 4!! So maybe short taster sessins would help to reassure parents that their little darling will still be learning even thougn they are enjoying themselves .

Hi guys, thanks very much for replying...

the teaching method would be based on MFL curriculum for ages 5-11 and the early years framework for 0-5 yrs...this would provide the baseline of what they need to be learning and their developmental stages.
the actual teaching method will be different, although there are some primary schools who have began to use games etc to teach MFL.
The languages will be taught only by native speakers who have teaching experience.
the classes will be maximum of 10 children for 0-5 yrs and 12 for 5-11.
I was thinking of sending some information home with children (5-11yrs) so parents were aware of what they had learnt in the class and so they could reinforce vocab etc at home...but someone has just suggested that a CD which they could listen to at home would be a good idea...so i will be looking into this.
I think the time has been a issue for many parents...so i think i would need to shorten the sessions to 45 mins and offer a second session at a concession during the week.

Children learn at best through play and lots of research suggests this and although they may not be able to say certain words they certainly recognise them through listening and actions, they will become familiar to the vocabulory, tenses, tones and pronunciation of the words, and in turn will eqiup the child with the language once they are ready to start speaking...I will provide more info and research on my website once its up and running

Any suggestions and ideas on marketing would be much apprecaited as this is the area im a little stuck on at present...i have thought of offering a discount in a local newspaper, handing out leaflets in schools, children's centers, so any thoughts or ideas on how I could market/advertsie the adacemy would be very beneficial

purplebear, just thought I'd say hello. I am doing a similar thing at the moment - setting up a language academy. But I am in Spain, so it will be an English academy. It's quite a tried and tested model here; lots of parents want their DC to learn English and don't think they will get good enough tuition in school. The kids start at about age 4 and go right up through teenager years, some on to being adult learners. Anyway, I don't really have any experience of your market (though would probably have been in your target market before we decided to move abroad) but just wanted to say good luck really.