Taking "Foreign" Out Of Language

Leslie Lancry speaks six languages, a fact that usually impresses other people more than herself. It is, she says, the result of loving language and of opportunity.  She believes that while American children often have the first, the second is in too short supply.

“I immersed myself in one of them [French] before adolescence, which is key,” Lancry says. “That made the others easier to learn. It’s easy to learn as long as it’s taught right.”

 Enter her company, Language Stars, which opened its Reston location on Thursday. Lancry founded the company, which immerses young children in foreign language, a dozen years ago at age 29. It now serves more than 6,000 children in Chicago, has annual revenue above $4 million, and just expanded into the Washington, DC and New York City areas.

Sometimes Language Stars operates proprietary centers, sometimes it is in shared space, and other times it operates in public or private schools. The new space in Reston is a proprietary center, Language Stars’ first in the area.

Lancry says Language Stars liked Reston’s convenient location (her center is next to the future Wiehle Avenue Metro station, now under construction) and strong sense of community.

 The center will serve children from age one year (who take a parent-and-me class) up to age 10. Children can come one or more afternoons a week. The average tuition is about $160 a month.

“When they walk in, they will walk in to a Spanish, French, or Mandarin-speaking country,” the three languages to be taught in Reston, Lancry says.  The company’s trademarked method, which it calls FunImmersion, pairs full immersion (no English) with activities most children like, such as music, movement, art projects and treasure hunts.  Only native speakers are hired to teach language.

Lancry says she’s often asked how children react to the full immersion method, but it’s only adults, she says, who want to know that.

“The children just dive in,” she says. “They are never intimidated.”