I've taken beginner classes and will be moving to intermediate with Live The Language. Nothing but…read moregood things to say about Deidre and Live The Language. She is a truly special teacher who you can tell loves language and knows so much about it's history (and film!). One time she taught our class with the begins of what turned out to be laryngitis (over Zoom of course) because she wanted to make sure we had class. And it was as perfect of a class as every night! So thoughtful of her students schedules. She's amazing and really makes for a joyful experience. It can be a bit intimidating, especially as a beginner, but the curriculum makes you feel comfortable! Doesn't throw you in the deep end too early. Classes right now are over Zoom which is perfect with Covid. I took a class previously with Deirde in person, pre covid, and I think the zooms today are just as good (and so much easier on working parents!) Also the class size is small (5‐6) so you get to know your classmates and lots of opportunity to pratice what you're learning. The class is structured to be lots of talking that is guided by Deidre and the written lessons. You do your reading and written work as homework every week on your own. One bonus is that she also gives you lots of fun recommendations of things to try in your spare time: games with music videos, other lessons to watch on youtube, things to listen to in your car if you're stuck in traffic.

I love Live the Language! Classes are capped at six students, so it's really personal. We spend a…read moreportion of each class just asking and discussing questions that are unknown to us before the start of class, so you get tons of time to practice talking on the fly. Plus, Deidre tailors the discussions to things she's learned about us personally, for instance asking how our dogs are, or whether a new job is interesting. Between classes, the written lessons introduce subjects at the perfect pace, and with explanations that only a native speaker or linguist can provide. Often, we learn how a word or phrase is different between different Spanish-speaking countries. This is something subtle that apps on your phone just can't do. Additional exercises are plentiful and well tuned to the week's subject. I've already recommended Live the Language to lots of people. It's smart, affordable, and personal. The format and instructor's attitude are perfect for folks with a job. Oh, and make sure to ask for a "guest lecture" from Deidre's mom, Kateri -- she's not afraid to tell you "how they actually say that."

Bright Beginnings has been a wonderful experience for our son. The structured learning environment…read morehas helped him grow and thrive tremendously over the past year. We've truly seen such positive development in him, in both his learning and character. He especially loves the outdoor time -- it's one of his favorite parts of the day, and he's rarely ready to leave when it's time to go home! We are so grateful to have found a place where we feel completely comfortable and confident sending our son each day. We would absolutely recommend Bright Beginnings to other families and look forward to enrolling our second child when he's old enough to attend!

Bright Beginnings provides an engaging environment where my 3 year old is daily learning…read moredevelopmentally appropriate play, crafts, and fun. He has grown in friendship and empathy through consistent opportunities to celebrate his peers and make holiday memories. The thoughtful and caring staff at Bright Beginnings builds a community that welcomes and supports our littles!

I'm very glad to study with HOFT. When I began, I understood very little English, but in this…read moremoment I can understand it more. I excited because I can communicate better every day. HOFT staff is excellent, everyone does a good job, so I'm very happy to be here. God bless HOFT. Mi name is Yair C.

I took one-on-one lessons with Henry and was able to learn many useful and natural expressions…read more Henry provided prompt feedback and guided the conversation, making it easy to talk. The new expressions provided in the chat were useful and helpful for reviewing on my own after the lessons. I learned various expressions used by local native speakers, starting with 'brick and mortar' for offline stores. Additionally, I learned other ways to ask for someone's opinion, such as 'how do you find something?' What made the lessons even better was Henry's familiarity and experience living in Korea, which facilitated communication. The lessons were so fulfilling that one hour felt too short. I highly recommend one-on-one lessons with Henry. I really appreciate you teaching me, Henry.

My 4 yr old needed a vision and hearing screening for her Montessori. I found Deanna when doing a…read moresearch, as our family practice does not do screenings. She was quick to respond to my email inquiry and we were able to schedule a time for the screenings that worked for both of us at my daughters school. My daughter can be a bit apprehensive around people she does not know, but Deanna was so kind and patient. The screening was quick and fun for my daughter. I would recommend her to anyone who needs a screening.

We needed some screenings done in order for my son to complete his enrollment for our homeschool. I…read morefound On Sight and Deanna was GREAT! She was very patient with my son and the whole process was done in less that 10 minutes. We will definitely be saving her card.

Los Amigitos is absolutely magical. The combination of nature, Spanish, music, community and values…read morereally couldn't be better. Plus, the team is so thoughtful about the curriculum, pushing the kids to learn in creative, authentic ways. My son comes home every day exhausted. When I open his lunchbox, I am always surprised to find a new object or new type of dirt in there. To me, that variety signals a variety in experience and a freedom to explore. His Spanish skills have blossomed since joining the school, he does some pretty advanced yoga moves, and he is now an expert on olive trees (due to his recent presentation on the topic!) Overall, I feel so grateful that this place is in my community and that it's part of our life. If you have the chance to send your kid here, you really shouldn't miss it.

After researching, interviewing, and visiting almost every Spanish immersion preschool/kindergarten…read morein the Central & North Austin area, we finally settled on Los Amiguitos. One year later, we know we made the right decision and feel lucky to have been part of such an amazing school. Lila and her staff approach early childhood education from an emotional intelligence standpoint that aligns with our attitudes and understanding of how every child deserves to be treated. This approach fosters creativity and autonomy in children, while also supporting their budding relationships with both people and nature. The classroom education at Los Amiguitos is only used to enhance what is learned in the outdoor classroom. Our son, who has a natural need to move while learning, was able to remain in-tune with what his body was feeling and to not suppress it in order to follow arbitrary classroom etiquette. We also believe this improved his ability to recognize and communicate his own boundaries while interacting with classmates and teachers. Childhood safety was addressed early and maintained throughout the year. This was very important for us. Not surprisingly, the community that gravitates towards Los Amiguitos is full of like-minded parents, who value the same pedagogical preferences for their children. After 15 years in Austin, we made more friends in the one year that our son was at Los Amiguitos than we did the 14 years previous . We credit this to the fact that, not only did the school attract like-minded parents, but it also provided activities that gave us the opportunity to meet and interact with the school's families inside and outside of the classroom. The highlight activity of the year for us was a campout trip that most of the school took. We did nature walks, campfire sing-alongs, potluck cookouts, and star gazing. We found that the children mostly spoke English to each other at school, but every child-teacher interaction takes place in Spanish. This means that, although Spanish production isn't the primary emphasis of the school, Spanish intake and comprehension remained consistent, which enables our son to converse more or less naturally when spoken to in Spanish. Seeing our child flourish in nature while building up his social skills, especially after coming out of isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic, was exactly what we needed and we found it in Lila's school. We are very grateful to her and to the wonderful teachers -- Natalia, Gabriela, Andrea. We highly recommend Los Amiguitos to parents looking for an excellent nature-based, Spanish immersion school for their children.

I have been taking private lessons with Gwen for about a year and a half now and my French has…read moregreatly improved. I found that being in a group class setting was frustrating for me, having to go at the pace of the slowest learning student. With a private tudor I am able to go at my pace and have the lesson taylored to me by Gwen and how she sees my progression going. When I went to France last fall, my language skill really made my experience so much more personable and exciting. Being able to communicate with the locals was great! I think they really appreciated me trying to speak their language. I plan on going to Quebec next and can't wait to take my French with me! -Rebekah

I met Gwendoline after searching online about a private French teacher…read more She is a great teacher and I am learning a lot. She has a great method of teaching and I am understanding the language better. I am very happy that I found her and will continue taking lessons. It is great to a have a one-to-one language lessons. That's the best way of learning something new!!

Dianna Pharr has been an absolutely amazing advocate for our entire family over the last 3.5 years…read more(and counting). It is no exaggeration to say that her guidance, assistance, & advocacy have been nothing short of life-changing! I would give her advocacy services ten stars if I could! We are a family with four children, ranging in age from preschool to high school. All four of our children have multiple chronic illnesses or disabilities, from the common to the incredibly rare. Adding to the complexity, three of our children are also gifted, making them "twice exceptional" - and also making the task of attaining help for them exponentially harder. When Dianna first began to help us, only one of our four children was even receiving Special Education or 504 services. Accommodations for that one child were woefully inadequate, and our attempts to qualify the others for ANY help whatsoever had all hit a brick wall. I'd naively assumed that my diligent efforts to volunteer & to "work within the system" would get our children all the help they needed - & that my own knowledge as a law tutor would keep our family from being taken advantage of. But my efforts were getting us nowhere. Once Dianna began to review our children's situations, it immediately became clear that our School District was not fulfilling its moral or statutory obligations. She helped me to gather & review records; instructed me in how to create a paper trail of goodwill & good faith efforts; & encouraged me to find my voice. She has patiently led me on an intensive crash course on both the broad strokes & the intricacies of Special Education law. Once-foreign acronyms & concepts like IDEA, FAPE, FERPA, IEE, ESY, FBA, BIP, OCR, Homebound, & Related Services now roll off my tongue. With Dianna's help, we have navigated the fraught Child Find process. Despite the School District's repeated rejections for services when *I* had sought help on my own, now that Dianna is assisting us, all four children are fully qualified for Special Education services. No parent wants to "fight" their school district - just as no parent wants to "fight" to prove that their child rightfully requires Special Education services. But sometimes it's our job to take up that fight, because it's what our children desperately need & deserve in order to flourish within the educational setting. It's hard to admit that - however patient & well-intentioned we are in dealing with the schools we love - our children nevertheless cannot get the education they need without these modifications & accommodations. It's hard to admit that we can't always trust that our School Districts will act in our children's best interests. We'd all like to believe that we can navigate these negotiations on our own, using goodwill & persistence. But more often than not, once we've run into delays & denials, we need a knowledgeable & experienced professional to help us. Dianna has BEEN that expert voice for our family. She has tirelessly participated in countless ARDs, phone conferences, physician consultations, 504 meetings, & informal prep sessions. When we needed an attorney, she connected us with an amazing education lawyer & even came along - all while continuing to monitor our situation & educate us further SO THAT WE CAN HELP OURSELVES. She has loved and fought for our children as though they were her own. Dianna has ferociously supported our family at every turn. When we have come to her overwhelmed, frustrated, discouraged, or afraid, she has listened carefully - & then doubled her efforts to champion our cause. When our situation within our School District deteriorated, she has helped us weigh whether to request mediation or file due process. She has even guided us in filing formal grievances with the Texas Education Agency and the US Department of Education - and she has offered testimony to support us in those proce. At every step of the way, Dianna has stood with us, shoulder-to-shoulder, as we have navigated an incredibly difficult journey. Her knowledge is so vast that I still find myself looking to her for advice, even though she has ALWAYS worked her hardest to create self-confidence and the personal knowledge to conduct these meetings on our own. Dianna has been beyond generous with her time & her passion. She is absolutely brilliant at understanding education law - but her advocacy actually springs from a deep devotion to helping children and families. She most definitely isn't advocating for money or for glory - she's in it because it is her calling to HELP children and families. We honestly can't imagine where our children or our family would be without her. Update: Since I first wrote this review, Dianna has helped us to achieve full Special Education eligibility & appropriate services for ALL FOUR of our children. We are beyond grateful!

There simply is no better advocate for children than Dianna Pharr! She is relentless and works…read moretirelessly for her clients. She is the of the highest ethical and moral character. Dianna is simply put an angel on earth.

I've wanted to learn French for years. It always seemed out of reach. I took Spanish in high school…read moreand thought the only way I could learn another language was in a "traditional" school setting. Wow was I wrong. I have one week left in my Beginning 1A French class with Freestyle Languages and feel like I've already learned more than I did in all of high school. I am able to talk about myself, the weather, what I like and don't like to eat, the sports I play, my hobbies - how cool is that? My ultimately dream of becoming fluent in French and moving to Paris doesn't seem out of reach anymore. If you're wanting to learn another language, I HIGHLY recommend Freestyle Languages.

I self-studied French on and off for two years before deciding to take a formal class. I don't live…read morein Austin, but I was aware of Freestyle through an Instagram account they run (@frenchphraseoftheday), and checked them out after they started offering virtual classes because of covid. I had a pretty large vocabulary but really wanted to improve my speaking and understanding of different tenses. I've gotten both of those things and a lot more. We're about halfway through the semester and I'm already sad at the thought of it being over!! My teacher, Gloria, is patient and encouraging, and I really like the other students. My speaking has gotten a LOT better and more colloquial. The classes are held twice a week with an optional practice "café" on Saturdays. Every week is focused on a different theme: food, giving directions, etc. The classes are on Zoom, which means there is the occasional technical glitch, but mostly they run smoothly. The only drawback is that it's clear some of the fun events they now have to hold virtually, like movie screenings and happy hour, just aren't the same online. But I'm glad I get to attend them at all, because I couldn't if they were held in person. It's been a lot of fun and I look forward to every class and conversation.