Of course you do! We’re all so familiar with the fairytale of the Frog Prince that the phrase “You have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find a prince” has even slipped into the modern vernacular. It’s not something I’ve ever really thought about before, but today it struck me that it’s an expression that totally applies to The VICI… and now I’ve got the idea in my head I can’t stop thinking about it!
Because people seem to kiss a lot of language frogs before they come to us and find that we’re the language prince they’ve been looking for all along!
They may have had a private tutor, or used language apps, or gone to traditional evening classes, and none of those options have quite worked out the way they hoped. Often, they’ve been sold a fairytale of learning a language from scratch in 3 months, or that if they spend X amount, they’re guaranteed to achieve their linguistic goals and have been left disappointed having discovered those promises were too good to be true.
The VICI isn’t the kind of place where we promise we’ll make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear in 12 lessons flat. We never say: “cross our palm with silver and we’ll see how things go”. We’re crystal clear with our clients about the investment they need to make – both time and monetary – that it’s going to take to hit their pre-defined goals. We take the time to understand their preferences and levels of flexibility so we know whether to incorporate online or face-to-face sessions, and if their scheduling will be regular or flexible. We get to know their learning style so that we can tailor a programme which is bespoke to them.
It’s a privilege when clients come to us, and we know that we’re going to be able to look after them and genuinely help them in a way most other language educators can’t or won’t do.
I don’t mind the fact that our clients have often had several false starts before they come to us – and stay with us. In fact, I like it. It’s great that they’ve been exposed to different experiences, had the opportunity to see that not all approaches work and – mostly importantly – come to understand that they’re serious about learning a language, and it’s something they’re willing to work at.
Our clients have breakthrough moments with us.
Let me share a story with you. One of our wonderful clients is a busy lady, very committed to her learning but who was finding it awkward to fit the sessions around her other commitments. We split her one-hour session into two more consumable 30-minute chunks, and she saw an instant difference.
Learning plateaus are not uncommon – how you respond to them essential. When my coach came to me and said the student was starting to experience diminishing progression, we worked on options to help push her forward. We approached the client and suggested we help her with a learning style test, which she did, and which told us that her learning style was auditory (not visual, which she had assumed). We retained all the original learning objectives but switched to using more auditory resources, and the subsequent lessons were instantly much more productive.
We’re okay with not being the first, most-popular, go-to choice of all language learners out there, and we’ve worked hard to avoid becoming a high-volume language organisation.
Our boutique model is designed so that we can respond to our clients’ needs, and craft our offering to suit them. Being part of the VICI family becomes a part of our clients lifestyle.
At the VICI, we talk about a lifelong love of languages, and that lifelong aspect is important – because you don’t marry the frog, you marry the prince.
Read more about what we can offer at The VICI website, call 01635 44424 or email learn@thevici.com for one of our advisors to get back to you or book a consultation to find about what we can offer.
If you’re looking for your language Prince Charming, why not get in touch with and let us sweep you off your feet?