Language Link was created in 1988 as an Illinois corporation by Kay Godfrey, who started her interest in Spanish by spending her teen summers with the Medellín family of Mexico City, followed by professional training at the Latin American Institute of the University of Texas at Austin and more graduate work. She continued on, teaching Spanish ranging from early childhood classes to corporate executive training. Recognizing that an artificial environment for learning Spanish was very limited, she sought a way to offer a complete Spanish immersion experience.

The first representation of a Spanish school was in Cuernavaca, Mexico, where Kay set up an executive program. It was started as a part time venture, as Kay was heavily involved in cross cultural and Spanish corporate training at the time, but participants’ reactions were so positive that it quickly grew. It was quite amazing how the word of mouth spread.  It soon evolved into a comprehensive, full time undertaking. But we found that participants wanted other destinations as well as Mexico.

Very gradually other schools and countries were added, with currently twenty Spanish language schools represented in Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Peru, Argentina, Chile and Spain. Carefully and through many personal visits, each one was added to offer a variety of choice, but still remaining small enough to keep the personal attention and in-depth knowledge so highly valued by Language Link. With the goal of first hand knowledge of each Spanish language school, Kay and the staff regularly visit each of the programs. This has developed wonderful working relationships through the years, and as a Language Link student, you benefit from this special attention.

Language Link has dropped representation of schools if they have not lived up to our standards. No school has ever severed a relationship with us. We are approached by hundreds of Spanish language schools each year about representation, but we prefer to remain very selective and with high standards.

Language Link has two offices. Our U.S. office is located in Peoria, Illinois, headed by Meredith Butler,  and we have recently opened a second office in Cuernavaca, Mexico, headed by Kay.  We have been a member of the Better Business Bureau of Central Illinois for many years. Our staff regularly is invited to attend professional meetings such as FEDELE of Spain and the workshops of the International House World Organization.

It’s been a long, enjoyable journey, and it’s still continuing! Want to come along?

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