If you want the best for your child socially, developmentally and educationally and believe that one of the best ways of achieving this is through the acquisition of a second language….
You’re in the right place.
Welcome to The VICI.
We’ve spent the last 20 years bringing bilingualism to children in the UK and France with our carefully structured and rigorously developed language programmes.
expanding their horizons
giving them a great start
and a truly competitive advantage
Our team has a clear focus on helping monolingual families make bilingualism a reality for their children.
And we are proud to say that, after exactly 20 years in Europe, we are now launching our programmes in Florida, USA!
Our Director, Nathalie, created the company 20 years ago
Here she explains what makes The VICI special and why our international French programmes are so effective.
When contemplating your child learning a second language…
Does it matter that I don't speak other languages?
bla bla
Is my child is too young?
Is a second language is beneficial?
Is this going to be fun or feel like hard work?
Can anyone learn a foreign language?
Will we have the time?
How do you keep the children engaged week after week?
I’m concerned my child may get bored after a while
Is it easy to fit this program into a busy family life?
Nathalie has written extensively about the benefits bilingualism brings.
You can read more here.
I’m Laure, a senior French coach at the Academy, heading up a number of our children’s programmes at our Academy in the UK.
I am a native french speaker and lucky enough to have achieved my education and qualifications in the best schools France has to offer. At The VICI, our purpose is to set your child up to take advantage of life-changing opportunities, and we take that role very seriously.
Every child is unique, and we don’t believe in a one-size-fits-all approach. Our qualified, talented, experienced French language coaches make getting to know students a priority, to understand how to get the best out of them.”
The parents who come to us are really committed to doing the best for their child.
They know that bilingualism is a tremendous advantage and that language learning is hugely beneficial to a child’s development, helping to develop cognitive skills, encourage creativity and increase confidence.
And to support this, we provide comprehensive educational French language programmes in online face-to-face sessions.
Your child’s journey to bilingualism could start today
Every week you delay is a week of missed learning opportunity!
20 years experience in Europe
Highly trained in-house language coaches
i.VICI platform specifically for language coaching
Access classes from anywhere in the world
Lessons 45 weeks a year
Emphasis on learning through interaction and play
Parent liaison via child's own record of achievement
Small class groups with similarly aged peer group
Choose how many classes to attend (up to 3 a week)
The perfect after-school programme that's just the right combination of fun and education
If you don’t just want to just buy lessons, but want to help your child develop a multi-lingual mindset, we are here for you.
Our aim is to foster an open-minded approach to opportunity and success through a way of thinking that will fundamentally change the way your children approach life.
“To us, learning a language is about so much more than being able to recite words in the target language, or even stringing those words together to form sentences. It runs deeper than improving outcomes at high school level. It is more formative than just ensuring better results in a school subject.
It’s also about learning to be open minded, being good at solving problems, acquiring critical thinking skills, building relationships that span different cultures, understanding that communication brings opportunity.”
At The VICI, we believe languages should be a lifestyle, not just a school subject.
What does your investment include?
A specialist online learning platform, i.VICI
With i.VICI, you don’t just hop onto a crackly Zoom or Skype call; our purpose-built online platform is secure, and designed specifically for language coaching.
The result is an intuitive and effective global platform, that allows fantastic interaction between coaches and pupils, as well as making it super easy to book classes, access homework and get hold of visual aids and resources. And all lessons are live with no automated or pre-recorded videos of the coach.
Each student has their own secure account which they’re given access to when they join up and can be used from anywhere in the world.
Simple, intuitive and effective, there’s a reason why we use i.VICI – it works.
A team of experts linguists
At The VICI we are exceptionally diligent about our in-house coaches, who are hand-selected and many of whom have worked with us for over 10 years.
We insist on the highest calibre of qualified linguist who have significant experience inthe language and culture (or are even native speakers themselves).
Our staff is rigorously trained, and because ongoing employee development and growth are important to us, we offer regular and ongoing learning and training opportunities for all our staff.
Most importantly, our coaches genuinely love what they do and have a passion for helping others achieve
their language goals. This is absolutely essential for VICI, and we only work with coaches who
hold the same values in this respect.
Our method get results
With experience educating over 600 children a week, we’ve broken down how children absorb, assimilate, analyse and reuse a foreign language in an age-appropriate way and created educational modules with different topics and learning objectives to form the basis of the student’s record of achievement.
Our approach to language learning is immersive, involving exposure to French little and often. To support this we advocate blended learning, a methodology that uses technology to combine in- and out-of-class learning to maximise educational impact . We research and test new resources across a range of media,
including tools like LanguageNut.
The result is a truly bespoke, holistic approach to
language learning with the student at the heart of it.
Maximum focus, care and attention for your child
Small but perfectly formed, we like to keep group sizes to a maximum of 6 children. This allows our coaches to give each child plenty of attention, while giving the children plenty of time to think, talk and interact with other children in the group.
We put the children in groups with similarly-aged and skilled peers, to ensure that they’re on an
equal footing in terms of maturity and interests, and where possible aim to
group children from the same state.
We really get to know our students
Our coaches go out of their way to get to know each child on a personal level. This is what allows them to go beyond the one-size-fits-all, standardized learning models that other institutions use.
By understanding who your child is, how they learns and what they respond to, their coach will able to deliver truly engaging and inspiring activities. Our coaches even aim to match the energy levels of the children in the group with the resources being used!
The lesson planning takes into account the learning styles of the children –
whether they respond better to visual, auditory or kinaesthetic stimuli,we’ll get
deep into your child’s communication skills to help them achieve the best results.
We also get to know you
You’re part of the bilingual learning journey too! We know how essential it is that you are also involved in your child’s learning journey, and to that end you’ll receive a weekly communication from your child’s coach recapping the the week’s learning objectives.
Each student has their own record of achievement which your coach will use to keep you abreast of their development and accomplishments. And we also hold regular parent clinics so you can check in on your child’s progress – and if you ever have any questions our support team are always on hand.
We also have a thriving Facebook community and encourage all our parents
to join in and enjoy the sense of belonging getting involved imparts!
It’s not just a club!
Many parents looking to introduce their children to the French language find themselves frustrated that there’s nowhere in between a full-on international school and unstructured kiddies’ clubs. That’s where we come in.
While we may offer all of the fun and high-energy interaction as an after-school club, we are so much more. VICI is elite in its philosophy, programme structure, concept and resources. Our bilingual programmes, based on the latest language coaching techniques are rigorously researched and taught by highly skilled and experienced in-house coaches, many of whom are native-speakers of the language they teach.
With VICI you’re not spending money on an after school club,
you’re investing in a proven, structured language programme.
We’ll take care of it all
We want you to feel like you can hand over this part of your children’s education to us and relax in the knowledge that we’re drawing on 20 years of experience using the latest language coaching method to get amazing results.
That’s why we take on every aspect of your child’s linguistic journey; there’s no need for you to buy materials,oversee your kids homework, sit with them while they’re in a lesson, help with the
planning or speak French yourself – that’s all for us to handle.
Regularity and predictability, year round
One of the frustrations we hear from parents is that the language lessons they put their child in are cancelled at the last minute, or the French club they enrolled their child in stops after a few months because the group leader has moved away. As an established, full-time, professional academy, we’re as regular as a school and we run like clockwork.
Your child will have access to up to 3 classes a week, which they can attend according to their availability
and timetable requirements. What’s more, these classes take place 45 weeks of the year –
we only take a short break at Christmas and in the summer.
The icing on the cake? The chance to travel to France
Knowing a language goes so far beyond learning words and grammar; it’s also about learning to be open minded, mixing with other communities, understanding and adopting tolerance.
The cultural element of bilingualism is essential – and there’s no question that cultural exposure in turn makes language learning easier.
Immersion is one of the most effective ways of consolidating language learning, so we offer our families the opportunity the most immersive experience of all: a residential stay in France.
Designed to be a perfect balance of fun while reinforcing language progress, these
unforgettable experiences can combine elements like school visits, sports days, visits to
historical sites and local markets… living a real French experience!
When asking our parents what made them enrol their children, this family portrays typical responses we receive.
What made you decide to enrol Florence at the academy when she was so young? Florence was seeing her brother attending Vici, she was keen to join too. We thought she was young first, but as she was getting on with her second languages so well, we thought lets give it a go and try a third one. Also, to be honest, it was no holding her back, she just wanted to be part of Vici.
What change did you see in her over the years?
(Besides the fact that she enjoys the class do you feel that that has helped her to build confidence in herself or try speaking Hungarian more when she went over to see her family?) About 5 years ago, we visited Paris, she was very conscious about saying the odd word here and there. This year we visited Spain, and without even thinking about it Florence was having a coversation with our tourist guide in french.
Do you feel that it has been a good investment in her future? Definitely, by speaking different languages she can pick any country to live, work or just to take a break. It’s opens so many different doors for her.
This is a question for Florence!!
How do you feel about going over to France for two weeks all on your own in a family that doesn’t really speak English?! Very excited and a bit scared. It is going to be the first time to be without my family for two weeks. But look forward to the experience, I have been waiting for so long. Look forward to seeing how does a french family live and learning the language. Its going to be challenging.
Hi! I’m Nathalie Danon,
Director of The VICI Language Academy
I’m originally from a beautiful area of rural France – unspoiled but a far cry from an international metropolis with mind-expanding experiences. Bilingualism wasn’t on my family’s radar; I wasn’t an academic high-flyer, neither of my parents spoke a second language, and there weren’t a lot of opportunities for linguistic exposure.
One of the wonderful things about being educated in France that English was compulsory in school. And the moment I started learning, I was hooked. It ignited a strong desire to experience the language for myself, and I ended up travelling extensively in the UK and the US, eventually finding a home in the south of England.
I decided to capitalise on my bilingualism, and so began my story; from humble beginnings giving private French lessons, I was soon teaching over 600 children a week across regional schools. I wanted to grow and reach more children and the result was The VICI Language Academy, a full-time, professional language academy which I opened in 2008.
Meanwhile, I had become a mother to two wonderful boys. I was desperately keen that they would learn to speak my mother tongue, but I was the minority langue in a house dominated by English. The boys’ father spoke English, they spent all day in an English school, their friends were English and were the films, TV programmes and music they consumed… I was outnumbered. As a working mother, far away from my family, I needed to think of new ways to expose my children to the target language, so I started to carve out special bubbles of time dedicated to speaking only French; story time. Breakfast time. Weekly swimming lessons. Going to the supermarket on a Friday night. These occasions were my chance to make sure they absorbed my language… and it worked.
As someone who didn’t start out as the kind of person for whom bilingualism was an obvious and foregone conclusion, this made me realise a simple fact.
Anyone can become bilingual. You don’t have to come from a multi-lingual family. You don’t have to have an academic background. You just have to want to do it!
Parents would hear my children speaking French, and enviously declare that there was no way they’d ever be able to achieve the same thing, and I was astonished and saddened at how far out of their reach parents thought bilingualism way for their children.
I realised I could help these parents – those little pockets of French immersion were something I could replicate for students.
I became passionate about making bilingualism a realistic and achievable prospect for monolingual families.
Being bilingual opened so many doors for me; travelling, friendships, networking, work opportunities. And I want to offer that to your child, too.
I can’t wait to help your family on your journey towards your child’s bilingualism – reach out to me personally today, and let’s get them started!
What our existing parents think…
In addition to Jake’s language development, I’ve noticed how his sessions have helped his interpersonal, presentation and communication skills. He loves the small, focussed online groups and is making great strides in speaking and comprehension.
I just want to say thank you to you and your team for the fantastic base you gave Noah with his French before we moved out here! I really feel that thanks to VICI, he was able to start school confidently and hit the ground running. So thank you!
Since Arthur has been with VICI, he has so much more confidence in himself. We treated ourselves to a holiday in France last summer and he wanted to go to the boulangerie and order breakfast! He loves his lessons and is always eager to learn new things.
Conversations with our students
We’ve had the privilege of working with thousands of children over the years, each with their own unique language journey. We spoke with three of our ex-students who began learning with us as children to find out how our bilingual programme had an impact on their lives.
Your child’s language journey starts here
“This programme is amazing! My daughter has been learning for only eight weeks, from across the world! Laura, her French Coach is so energetic and engaging, she absolutely loves it! She learns so much as well. I am so grateful!”
“A brilliant educational investment! Nathalie is very passionate and comes up with new initiatives on a regular basis. Not sure how the team does it but my two 7-year-old boys would never miss their French lesson!”