The Language Academy (TLA) Teen Summer Program (Ages 13-18)

 “I had met the founder of The Language Academy, Marco Pinna, many years ago at an school and agent conference, and have kept up with TLA ever since. Marco went to the Ft. Lauderdale area originally as a designer of yachts(!), and later opened a business language training center for his international, high-profile clients. TLA evolved into a full-service English language school, also offering English for general use and exam preparation, but it has stayed true to its roots as a center for Executives. For his charm and good humor, dealing with Marco has been a pleasure from the beginning, and I’ve had the chance to catch up with him often since TLA joined IALC and Quality English. He also has family here in Rome, some of whom work with the school. I finally had the chance to visit Ft. Lauderdale and Miami, and while they are close to each other in Florida, they are quite different cities.  Ft. Lauderdale was founded as a winter destination by persons from the cold Northeast of the United States, and as a result it is almost exclusively English-speaking. Ft. Lauderdale is a good choice for foreign language learners, as the city is small enough to make distances manageable (also on foot or by bicycle, and the weather is great for that) but at the same time provide even a long-term student with enough to do. The school offers host families that are close to the school, and are friendly and welcoming and offer nice homes, some with swimming pools. As a city, Ft. Lauderdale is also not full of language schools competing for the same host families, so there is truly a good choice of them for students. I recommend this school to anyone who wants a course in an excellent school, a cost of living that is lower than that of the more storied locations in the US, and the chance to live and speak English as a real American in a fun and warm destination that has some of the best beaches in the country.”