Getting to Know Lingotot East Limerick
Posted: Thu, Feb 4, 2021 2:43 PM
We've been chatting to Sophie, the founder of Lingotot East Limerick, about her experience of joining the Lingotot family.
Tell us about yourself and your background.
My name is Sophie, I am an Applied Languages graduate and mum of one from Limerick. My passion for languages began when I took up French in secondary school, I had a great French teacher, whose classes made me fall in love with the language and I quickly realised that it was something I was good at and wanted to study further. I decided to study Applied Languages in the University of Limerick, I continued to study French and also took up Spanish and Japanese. What I especially enjoyed studying was language learning theory, especially early language learning and linguistics. Soon after finishing my degree, I had my little boy Jacob, who is now nearly two. I was very lucky to be able to stay at home with him for the first two years, but now I feel ready to start my career and I am so happy to have found Lingotot!
How did you come across Lingotot?
I found lingotot on a website called employmums.ie. I came across this website whilst desperately google searching ‘flexible jobs’ and ‘jobs for mums’, trying to find something I could do that would allow me not to work full time, and spend as much time as possible with my son. I was almost willing to do anything to achieve this work/life balance, until I saw Lingotot, and I couldn’t believe it when I saw ‘language teaching’ ‘children’ ‘flexible’, it was my perfect job that I didn’t even know existed. It was as if my prayers had been answered.
Why did you decide to choose Lingotot? What appealed most?
I chose Lingotot because everything they represent and what they do appealed to me from the outset. I have always thought that there was a lack of opportunity for young children to learn languages in Ireland before secondary school and Lingotot is the perfect answer to that need. I loved their brand, their values, their curriculum and the way they teach. What also really appealed to me is the incredible support you are given from Lingotot HQ as a franchisee. They help you in every step of your journey. I was especially worried about running my own business, as its not something I have any experience with but Lingotot provided training and made everything so easy.
How will your work life balance improve by running a Lingotot franchise?
The work/ life balance was one of the main reasons I chose Lingotot as it is what I was looking for out of a career. I can’t believe that I can do something I enjoy every day and still spend lots of quality time with my family. I get to run the business as I like and choose my own hours essentially, which means I can have breakfast with my son in the morning, put him down for his nap and go out and play in the afternoon and work in between. You don’t get that with any job, it’s amazing.
What are you most looking forward to about running a Lingotot franchise?
I am most looking forward to bringing Lingotot to my hometown of Limerick and giving children here the opportunity to learn a second language in such a fun and interactive way. I am also looking forward to running my own business, strangely as it was the thing I was most nervous about. Now that I feel ready and I’m confident, it’s so exciting.
Find out more about Sophie and Lingotot East Limerick here, email them at eastlimerick@lingotot.com or call 01 442 8689
Peter Petra
Sat, Feb 6, 2021 7:52 AM
Wonderful news Sophie. And what a great idea - we learn so much more effortlessly when we’re still tots! And congratulations on taking the ‘jump’ (into business). I expect the people of Limerick (and beyond) will benefit for generations to come. Lots of love Peter Petrareply