Language Plus’ Statement of Mission, Values and Guiding Principles

 Mission

 Values

 How we accomplish our mission is as important as the mission itself. Fundamental to success for the company are these basic values:

 -Staff: Our people are the source of our strength. They are our intelligence and determine our reputation and vitality. Involvement and teamwork are our core human values. 
-Services: Our services are the end result of our efforts. As our services are viewed, so are we viewed. 
-Clients: We must educate the public on what language training entails, thus enabling them to establish realistic goals and an effective training plan.
-Profits: Profits are the ultimate measure of how efficiently we provide customers with the best services for their needs. Profits are required to survive and grow.  

 Guiding Principles

 -Quality and professionalism come first. To achieve client satisfaction, quality and professionalism must be our top priorities.

 -Clients are the focus of everything we do. Our work must be done with clients in our mind, providing better services than our competition. Relevance, customization, innovation and flexibility are paramount.

 -Continuous improvement is essential to our success. We must strive for excellence in everything we do: in our services, in their value—and in our human relations, our competitiveness and our profitability.

 -Employee involvement is our way of life. We are a team. We must treat each other with trust and respect.

 -We have an open door policy. Language Plus encourages all employees to share their ideas with the administration and director. We value your opinion.

 -Integrity is never compromised. The conduct of our company must be pursued in a manner that is socially responsible and commands respect for its integrity and for its positive contributions to society. Our doors are open to men and women alike without discrimination and without regard to ethnic origin and personal beliefs.

Language Plus is recognized throughout the U.S. for providing high quality training that produces practical results. Since opening in 1983, we have been contracted by over 1000 leading firms to do job-related language and/or skills training. Additionally, we have conducted employee-employer human relation workshops for many local and national firms, and have trained approximately 11,000 persons and individual enrollees.

Language Plus is authorized by the US Department of Homeland Security to issue I-20 forms for Student Visas. We are an approved training source for many Federal agencies. We also provide high quality translation and interpretation services in most principal languages for many corporate and private clients. Language Plus is a member of ACFTL (American Council of Teachers of Foreign Languages), TESOL
( Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages), ATA (American Translators' Association), and the prestigious IALC (International Association of Language Centres) and is accredited by ACCET (The Accrediting Council for Continuing Education and Training).

The owner and director of Language Plus, Connie Gyenis has been serving the language training needs of adult professionals in both teaching and program administration for over sixteen years. A native of Luxembourg, who speaks five languages, Ms. Gyenis holds a degree in Spanish from the University of Texas at El Paso, with additional course work beyond the bachelor's. She is an active participant in the International Association of Language Centres and serves as an on site evaluator of US schools that apply for membership. In addition, she serves as a peer evaluator of ACCET. Ms. Gyenis specializes in designing customized curricula for a variety of clients' needs. She also has a broad expertise in contract management and services.

Cheryl B. Gordon, MAT, founder and senior technical director, has designed and managed language and cultural training programs for many of the world's largest corporations. She is a recognized expert on second language acquisition and diversity training.

Training Philosophy

Language Plus personnel are experts in use-oriented language training, offering specialized courses in most major languages. In most instances, course curricula are developed to meet specific client needs. All courses give students intensive task based pratice in the target language. This approach helps the student learn to really communicate in a second language, not just memorize verbs and grammar rules. Lessons are planned to follow the natural language patterns and pronunciation used by educated native speakers. Special effort is made to give each student the practical language he/she needs. Most lessons are available on cassette tapes and CD'S for additional reinforcement outside the classroom. For beginners in either Spanish or English, a video course is also available for purchase.

Instructors are dynamic professionals having second-language teaching experience, audio-lingual methodology training, fluency in the target language, knowledge of the cultures involved, and empathy for the second language learner. For group classes, class size is limited to ten in order to enhance student participation. Students are screened prior to placement in order to ensure compatible groupings.