Back to school for Kidslingo!

May 2, 2021

Finally, after months of preparation and anticipation at Kidslingo, we are so excited to now be back in many community venues, nurseries and schools in England with our fun French and Spanish classes, with Scotland and Wales following suit very soon.

We have rigorously developed and revised (and revised again) Risk Assessment documentation, undertaken additional COVID and infection control training and adapted our classes to reduce risks for all parties. However, we certainly haven’t compromised on the fun with lots of new activities and games to inspire our little linguists.

The joy and pleasure for both the children and our teachers has been heart-warming – we have loved the whoops of excitement as we have entered the rooms after a year away in some cases. It’s amazing to see how much French / Spanish vocabulary and phrases our little linguists have retained and we’ve loved being welcomed back with a big chant of Hola or Bonjour! Additionally, a wonderful new cohort of children have joined us and started their language learning journey with Kidslingo.

Here is the story of the last few weeks from the point of view of one of our franchisees – Cristina West who runs Kidslingo Spanish Nuneaton & Hinckley.

“Here at Kidslingo Spanish Nuneaton & Hinckley we’re delighted to be ‘back to school’ and back to our nurseries too!

In reality we have been back several schools and nurseries since September 2020. When I approached these establishments about us coming back, showing them our risk assessments and training we have undertaken and suggesting that we stick to the class bubbles, there was no hesitation. One school said simply “we knew you’d have it all sorted”.

We had 2 clubs in schools that belong to a big academy trust in Leicestershire and when we asked to return in September, they were keen for us to do so, and even asked us to start clubs in 2 of their other schools, such was their confidence in our procedures.

We wear masks to move around the school or nurseries and visors to deliver the class, which the children haven’t even really noticed. The children and tutor remain 2 metres apart. In nurseries the key workers support the children to do this. Even though we are not bringing as many props as we used to and can’t always sing, we have found lots of new ways to inject fun and inspiration into our classes. We have had some brilliant dance offs and Pictionary and bingo are always firm favourites.

There have been a few occasions when year group bubbles have been isolating at home, but that’s not a problem for us – we move the children over to our online classes where they continue with their programme either by attending the live sessions or using our pre-recorded videos.

Having staggered lunchtimes has also made it possible to teach even more children. In one large primary their lunchtime starts at 11.30 and ends at 1.30 meaning that we can run more classes back-to-back and have even started some private lessons there. Whilst the children wait for the midday staff to escort them back to class, we sanitise the tables and chairs ready for the next group.

It’s been really lovely to see the children face to face again, they cope so well with all the changes and it’s been great to be a constant in their lives. We really do get just as much pleasure from teaching them as they get from participating in our classes.”