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Charlie Lane became her own boss when she decided to invest her savings in a language franchise, which opened six months ago in Christchurch, New Zealand. The language project is called Fun Languages, and is now offering language teaching services in both Spanish and Mandarin, although it expects to expand to offer German, French and any other languages which are in demand.
The System
Fun Languages does not work in any one building or office. According to Lane, this is mainly due to the fact that she likes bringing the learning experience close to the students’ own setting. According to her, this makes the process easier. Lane and the group of teachers who are working with her make schools and community centres their classrooms, where they teach both children and adults focusing on making learning fun.
Fun Languages believes in making students feel comfortable learning and using a new language by means of a non-academic style of teaching. In the case of children, they foment playing, self-confidence and awareness of diversity while disregarding the central position generally assigned to exams. Lane commented on these values herself by adding that she wants people to understand that learning a new language does not have to be hard. She also said that in Fun Languages, children are also taught about the culture behind certain languages.
The Background
Charlie Lane, who came across to a foreign language for the first time when she moved to Argentina at the age of 17, has recently returned to Christchurch after traveling around the world for some time. With her Spanish and marketing degrees she decided to sign for the language franchise in June 2013. She had experience working as an English teacher in South Korea and seized the opportunity to become an entrepreneur at age 23, which allowed her to avoid sitting in an office all day while focusing on something she loved. Right now, Lane is aiming at helping her new business grow which, she admits, involves a lot of work on her part.
