Linguaphone Group, global leaders in language training have signed two new Master Licensees in South-East Asia for the Group’s character-based pre-school English language course, Pingu’s English.

Club Academia Co. Ltd. has signed the exclusive rights to act as our Pingu’s English Master Licensee for Thailand. Currently specialising in the distribution of recreational education products to the Thai market, they will launch their flagship Pingu’s English School in the new prestigious Central World complex in Bangkok in November. They will also act as the official distributor of our Pingu’s English language course directly to pre-schools and kindergartens across Thailand.

At the same time, International Test Center (ITC) has signed as the exclusive Pingu’s English Master Licensee for Indonesia. They come with an impressive reputation in Indonesia, providing internationally accredited qualifications to the Indonesian workforce and student population since 2004. ITC already actively promote English language learning in Indonesia. These activities will be further enhanced when they open their first Pingu’s English School in the centre of Jakarta in January 2010.

Derek Price, Chief Operations Officer of the Linguaphone Group said: “There is no doubt that parents now see English as essential for their child’s education and future prosperity, and we are delighted to see how parents and children alike are reacting to Pingu’s English wherever they are in the world. We are particularly delighted at the success of our South-East Asia expansion strategy for Pingu’s English. Master Licensees are keen to capitalise on the lucrative pre-school English language training market – perhaps one of the most recession-proof industries out there at the moment! We welcome our new Pingu’s English partners for Thailand and Indonesia to the Group, and look forward to celebrating the continued success of all of our global training partners in the months and years ahead.”

Pingu’s English is a three-level language course that teaches English to young children of 3-7+ years and is based on the globally popular children’s brand, Pingu™. The Pingu’s English language course has been inspired by the mischievous and loveable penguin and his everyday adventures in the South Pole. This innovative character-based course has been produced by the Linguaphone Group, and is designed for use within Pingu’s English Schools as well as by parents and children at home.

English language training is already being provided to children in Pingu’s English Schools across Malaysia, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt. This autumn will also see our fun, friendly and effective children’s English language course being launched in China, Hong Kong, Singapore and South Africa.