A LANGUAGE teacher from Yeadon, has won an award for the quality of her work.

Zoë Dooley teaches extracurricular Spanish and French classes, under her language school Language Learners, through the La Jolie Ronde programmes, at nurseries and primary schools in Leeds, Bradford and Harrogate.

And now she has been honoured with the La Jolie Ronde Licensee of the Year Award for The Midlands and The North.

Zoë said: “I am absolutely delighted to win this award and be rewarded for my teaching. I would never have gained this award without the support of my tutors, plus all the head teachers, nursery managers and parents who put their trust in me to deliver high quality French and Spanish lessons to their pupils and children.

“All my pupils are incredible and I gain so much satisfaction from seeing them progress and hearing them speak with beautiful pronunciation and authentic accents. The award is a real honour and it means a lot to know that the hard work I have put in to developing my business over the years has been recognised.”

Zoë’s love of languages began when her family moved to France when she was six. Schools were in the local village where no English was spoken so she quickly became fluent. After five years the family moved again, this time to Italy, and Zoë went on to and soak up the culture and learn Italian.

She returned to England in her late teens with a passion for languages and cultures of the world. After starting a family and when her third child was one year old, she started looking for opportunities where she could use her language skills that would also fit around family commitments.

She came across La Jolie Ronde Languages for children who were looking for French and Spanish speakers in the area, it was from there that Zoë took the plunge and set up her own business, Language Learners.

The last 17 years have seen Zoë and her business thrive. She was made a regional support advisor for the organisation and many other teachers within the network have benefited from her experience.

The company’s general manager Steve Baker said: “Not only are Zoë ’s classes amazing, Zoë herself is an excellent ambassador for La Jolie Ronde plus a true inspiration to so many licensees who she has, over the years, willingly offered support.

“Over the last 12 months Zoë has also successfully embraced the use of social media to promote and improve the visibility of her classes. Her Facebook page, Language Learners, is bursting with interesting features, videos and colourful photos of pupils and classes and receives significant traffic and enquiries plus effectively also helps to drive parents, nurseries and schools through to her business website. Language Learners is a thriving business teaching French and Spanish, in and around the Leeds area, to over 400 course pupils each week, with the help of Zoë’s team of excellent tutors, in 37 schools, 28 nurseries and an open centre. This alone is an incredible achievement.”