Here at the VICI Language Academy in Newbury we are often celebrating; whether it is to mark someone mastering French or another language through to someone speaking their first words – it is a happy place! However, this month we truly had something to celebrate – our fifth anniversary!
So much has happened since 2008 – we started with just 20 students and now have over 200! We taught five languages initially and that has blossomed to 11 and while it was just the VICI Academy when we started there is now VICI Exec to meet the demand for training businesses and VICI English School which offer support for relocation programmes. Also we are now employing 17 staff compared with just three when we began.
All this from a business many predicted was doomed to fail as it was unveiled at the same time the recession began. However, dedicated language programmes that differentiated learning a language for pleasure and the way children are taught in school and a continually innovative approach to language destined the business for success.
We were joined by some of our founder members for a party to mark five years at Arcade House and there were plenty of different languages being spoken, including French, German and Spanish. Guest told how much progress they, or often their children had made since joining VICI back in 2008.
There were cupcakes and a big cake featuring the VICI logo and its Latin motto – lingua pro vita – which translates to ‘language for life’.
While the Academy has been going for five years, it’s founder Nathalie Danon-Kerr has been teaching for much longer so proof of the power of language surpasses the life of VICI and included Jessica, a 13-year-old girl who began learning French aged three and has determined that she wants to use languages in a career, just like those who have taught her for the past five years at VICI.
Although VICI as a company was formed five years ago this month, it will not be until November that we can celebrate helping the first of many learn a foreign language and we are planning a grand ball to mark that occasion and will be inviting everyone who has contributed to our success over the last five years.