Today I’m presenting a 2nd written interview with Alena Sunavska. Alena is the founder and director at London Language Studio.
Check out the interview:
1. What got you interested in teaching various languages to others? Share your story.
I am very passionate about languages. And I find the learning process fascinating. Initially I thought it would be a good way to fund my studies as private tuition was a flexible and well paid job; since I was able to speak several languages when at university, I thought it was a sensible thing to do. But once I started and experienced the dynamics between student and tutor, I became very passionate about teaching. And this is what I have been doing for the past 15 years. I love the feeling of achievement, when I see I am able to help someone to improve, when I see I am the one able to facilitate this for them. Of course after the years of experience as a private tutor, it was only natural for me to set up a language school and take my passion for teaching to the next level. I am very entrepreneurial and the combination of business and my own passion for teaching languages make my job a very good one. I now work with some of the best language tutors in London and I could not imagine to do anything more fulfilling.
2. Of all the languages you are fluent in, what is the most challenging and why?
I personally only find challenge in learning a language I am not very keen on. It happened to me with German and with French and although I tried many times and on different occasions, I never grew to like these enough to become fluent. My ability to become fluent is strictly related to my immersing completely into the language, interacting fully with its people and its society. Language is based on communication, if you don
communicate you don’t learn. It is as simple as that and a massive challenge at the same time.
3. What are some of the toughest aspects students going through when attempting to learn a new language?
Lack of confidence. Impatience. Distraction. Lack of time to study. Lack of opportunities to use the language. Other than that, poor concentration, inability to retain new information. Does any of that sound familiar? Everybody experiences difficulties. Everybody. It is perfectly normal to struggle. And this where a good private tutor comes in. We are here not only to teach, but to motivate our students, encourage them and to make sure they make progress, no matter their personal circumstances. We are committed to improve their understanding and conversation skills with every single session they attend.
4. How have you gone about promoting your services online? What’s working for you?
Our success is hundred percent based on positive testimonials. I believe the feedback our clients give us speaks for itself and there is little I can say on top of that. We are mostly being referred by our existing clients, be it individual student or large businesses. Online marketing is always good but can often be misleading. However having excellent feedback from real customers is an invaluable tool and works extremely well not only in attracting new customers, but also as a benchmark, against which we are able to evaluate our business. Our students’ feedback help us to ensure we only work with top quality language tutors.
Being involved in numerous profit free language related projects is also an attractive part of the business and makes us a recognized and valued entity of our specific industry.
We work with bilingual families, promote language learning in local children centers and play groups, and numerous new parent group settings.
5. What are your future plans for 2014 and beyond?
London Language Studio is rapidly expanding and it is inevitable we will need to hire more language talent. We have teamed up with Home Language and have several new projects coming up such as setting up an informal Czech school in Richmond, in close cooperation with the Czech School without Borders, which should provide language development opportunities for the numerous bilingual children of mixed Czech/English families based in West London.
We are going to dedicate more time to our popular Private Language Consultations, sessions we offer to beginner students or students who notoriously struggle to learn a language. These sessions are aimed to tackle bad learning habits and instead provide students with tools and techniques which will enable them to learn a language successfully, and in a much short period of time.
Check out her site here and find more information about her background here.
