Today we’d like to introduce you to Angel Li.
Angel, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
How does a Taiwanese Buddhist woman married to a Jewish man walk into a Catholic school and come out with a contract to teach Spanish? Perseverance and hard work!
After finishing college in Taiwan, I came to the United States in September 1991, and I have been here ever since! I received my master’s degree in Information Resources Management and started my career as an IT Project Manager.
With the love and passion of my own language and culture, I was determined to teach my children Chinese. After an extensive search, I realized that there was no school that teaches young children the way I wanted. That led to the birth of Little Linguists Academy. Within one year, we expanded from my living room to more than 20 schools and from Chinese to Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese, Hindi, Urdu and Arabic.
Little Linguists Academy started as a language program offering foreign language instruction through in-school and after-school programs in elementary schools, preschools and day cares. We have been in business for ten years and are currently working with more than fifty schools in the Chicago metropolitan area.
After building these great partnerships, schools started coming to us for instructors in other areas. Our answer to these requests? Instead of just finding a music teacher, we will offer you a comprehensive Music program with a curriculum, a management team and a talented, qualified and enthusiastic instructor who will deliver! Therefore, principals can focus on the core curriculum, while we take care of the Specials. We are the one-stop source for all Specials program.
Very recently, we rebranded Little Linguists Academy to Little Linguists Arts Academy to demonstrate that we provide not only language programs, but specials like music, art and physical education programs too! We work with Elementary Schools, Preschools and Day Care Centers, and we also work with students individually.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The process to get to where I am now is actually quite intuitive. It was pretty much a grass root movement. No fancy marketing or sales, just word of mouth. We are conservative in many ways, yet at the same time we never let any opportunity pass!
The balance between being a mom and a business owner is never easy. Thankfully, I have all the support from family, friends and my children. My daughter wanted to teach younger kids at a young age and my son will play drums at events to draw the crowd!
Please tell us about Little Linguists Arts Academy.
Little Linguists Arts Academy is the one stop source for all specials programs! We provide an engaging curriculum that meets Education Learning Standards, a management team to support the needs of every parent, school and teacher, and talented, enthusiastic instructors that delivers an exciting and engaging lesson plan.
We offer Foreign Language learning through cultural immersion for toddlers to teens with highly trained instructors whose focus is on teaching their native language to young learners. Classes are presented in a fun and accessible way, and students are instructed in a multi-sensory environment that caters to many different learning styles!
Our Music class fosters natural musical development and instills a lifelong passion for creating music. A variety of instruments are provided for students to interact with and use to build upon concepts of harmony, dynamics and rhythm. Each class helps students with their listening skills, focus, self confidence and musical abilities while exposing them to sounds from cultures around the world!
In our Yoga classes, kids of all ages engage in a playful experience of peaceful practices. By incorporating music and movement into each session, students become more in control of their thoughts and emotions, which leads to improved behavior, focus and concentration!
By developing these quality enrichment programs, schools can focus much more on the Core Curriculum while we take care of the Specials.
What sets us apart is our passionate, talented, and authentic teachers. Our teachers love working with children, are passionate about education and are experts in the area they are teaching. With a dedicated management team to back them up, these amazing teachers are always able to deliver the best possible lessons to students inside and outside of school.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
From my earliest memories, my mother was always very sick. She was in an out of the hospital. However, I remember vividly how she taught me to sing and dance in our one-room dormitory in the factory where my father worked. She was so happy and the smile on her face was so beautiful. Perhaps, I carry that memory into my teaching. When I teach or work on a curriculum, I always incorporate singing and dancing, and I make sure that happiness is felt throughout the lesson.
Contact Info:
- Phone: (773) 609-5492
- Email: angel@littlelinguistsacademy.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/littlelinguistsarts/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LittleLinguistsArts/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/little-linguists-academy-chicago-3
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