We have three children, ages 5, 8, and 9. My wife knows a little Italian and I can get by (barely)…read morein Spanish, so we know the value knowing a foreign language. We both learned in college, which was tough and unnatural. We knew it was easier to learn as a youth, so a few years ago we started looking for a quality long-term program for Spanish for our kids. After quite a bit of homework to find a dedicated, long-term program, we came across Langokids.
In January of 2025 we enrolled all our kids in the entry level classes (they offer various levels and ages throughout the week).
Our kids, surprisingly, really enjoyed it. Here's why: LangoKids is designed to make the kids WANT to learn the language. They play games, sing songs, give awards, and just all around "hide" the learning in play.
So far, our kids have taken a class per week from January 2025 through the present, excluding summers. Last summer they took two weeks of summer camp (and 5 weeks of other various camps). At the end of the summer they said Lango Kids was their favorite camp of the summer.
Now that they have a solid foundation, we went all-in and enrolled them in 8 weeks of summer camp thus year. Tomorrow's the last day of week three and wow! Things have started to "click." They understand full phrases, understand grammar and sentence structure, and have flawless accents. It is AMAZING! Are they fluent? Of course not. But are they making excellent and steady progress? Yes, absolutely they are. Is learning completely a foreign language easy? No, it's very hard. But, Lango Kids has a system that works.
We figured the weekly classes built a foundation but the magic happens a in summer camp (bc it's full immersion, 9:00-3:00 every day) and later in the year the classes will be maintenance until next summer.
Ok, what are the downsides? It's hard work. Do not expect it to happen over night. It takes commitment from you for the long haul. We've been going for 18 months, every week plus we are on our 5th week of summer camp. But, we are really starting to see major progress now.
There is a bit of homework during the school year. Mostly it's fun worksheets and reviewing vocabulary. Nothing hard though. And helps keep the progress moving forward (especially for a family like ours that is English only at home).
The teachers are great, but they are teachers. Your child will be expected to behave and participate. This is a professional program, not a city thing run by high school kids. We love it bc the teachers keep the students on task and learning.
Is it as cheap as some city run program where they learn a few phrases? Of course not. This is a high quality, foreign language education program designed specifically for young children. In my opinion, if you understand what you are investing in (a richer life for your child full of wonderful opportunities), it is absolutely money very well spent.
Lastly, Ms. Christina, the director, is simply a quality person. She takes the job very seriously, is an excellent administrator, and hires excellent, kind, and effective teachers.
We are very pleased and highly recommended Langokids Irvine looking to give their children the gift of knowing Spanish.