Who are we ?

The idea of Lingualinks came to me quite simply because for years I have been organising foreign language exchanges for both English and French families. As an English mother, living in France, people naturally ask me to find friends who could welcome their child into their family in order to improve their language skills.

After twenty years in France, my network of friends in the UK is no longer sufficient to meet the demand and so I have teamed up with other mothers in the UK who, like me, believe that the best way to progress with a language is to live it, in the heart of a loving family.

I am also proof that language exchanges work. I fell in love with France aged sixteen during my first exchange with Sylvie and her wonderful family and decided there and then that I would one day work here. This first exchange brought the language to life, gave me the confidence to speak it and above all, put it all into a context above and beyond the classroom.

At twenty-one, after university and several summer au pairing jobs, I came to work in Paris for a marketing company.

My husband and I speak French and English at home to our three children and I have written about multilingualism for several publications.

I look forward to offering your children the safest and most enjoyable way to learn a language which is essential to progressing in an international environment.

I started learning French and English at school as a child in Italy and took great pleasure in being able to talk to people in their own language when I travelled, especially when I realised how much more positively people responded to me. My languages enabled me to live and work in Paris, London and Oxford during my gap year and then to get a place at Oxford University.

Work wise, it is definitely my knowledge of French and English, rather than my degree in Philosophy that helped my career, first in publishing then event organising. I live in London with my British/Swiss husband and our three children and have spent the last few years setting up the first Italian primary school in London. Again the drive is that bi-lingual education is not only good for going on holidays but also opens the mind to other cultures, creates friendships and generally enriches one’s life.

For several years I have hosted a number of Italian and French children of friends and family who come to London to learn English. Last year for the first time I sent my eldest child, then aged 10, to stay with some friends in Italy and do a sailing course, which he loved!

That is why I joined Sarah in at LinguaLinks. I know how much children get out of spending good quality time with families like theirs abroad and I hope we will be able to offer this great opportunity to many of them.