LEX LANGUAGE CLUBS OVERVIEW

LEX Language Clubs are immersion-style multilingual language learning clubs for families and individuals of all ages. The clubs offer an informal, supportive, no-pressure environment for acquiring and maintaining languages through a variety of activities including games, music, listening to LEX Language CDs, and conversation. Each club has a facilitator; however, there are no teachers, drills, homework, or tests. There are currently LEX Language Clubs in Japan, Korea, Mexico, and the United States. (In Japan, Korea, and Mexico, the clubs are known as Hippo Family Clubs.) In the U.S., all of the language clubs are held in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The following is a statement about LEX Language Clubs by Dr. Suzanne Flynn, MIT Professor of Linguistics & Language Acquisition and a member of the LEX America Board of Directors:

“The LEX / Hippo program in my opinion represents the perfect embodiment of what we know to be true about language and learning. LEX / Hippo begins with the belief that next language learning is possible and as a corollary, learning throughout one’s lifetime is possible. It understands the developmental process. You begin by singing the sounds. You hear lots of different speakers of the same language. You are allowed to proceed at your own pace. No one is instructing you to do this or that. You quite naturally learn. You immerse yourselves in other languages and cultures during your homestays. Clearly, LEX / Hippo recognizes that the human potential for language is infinite, bounded only by time and energy. The more languages one knows, the easier it gets. Most important of all, LEX / Hippo recognizes the power of the connection with others through a common language.”