In 2000 Mark Buckley Executive MBA, CELTA, was a franchisee of an international language chain in northern Italy. He subsequently became Director of one of their most important schools, with over 1200 students. In 2002 he realised his project, The Lounge, to offer a different method, look and feel to language learning. The name The Lounge reflects the environment and philosophy of the school, to promote a moment of relaxed communication. The Lounge method was also brought into local secondary and primary schools as part of the CLIL bilingual initiative.
Following the success of the method in Italy, he opened The Lounge Lugano (Switzerland) in 2009. The success of the method and the approach to children led to the foundation of Associazione The Lounge in 2013 and the creation of two private bilingual schools (kindergarten and infant school) in the heart of Lugano city under the new Swiss federal regulations “HarmoS”. The Lounge continued to work with local high secondary and primary schools in the region forging alliances both with the CLIL approach, teaching Maths, Science and IT in English, and also the creation of an ad hoc English programme for the entire Elementary section. Mark spent 2 years with Coleggio Papio High-school in Ascona Switzerland teaching English and Geography for the federal bilingual high school diploma. He also teaches Economics in English. In 2017, Mark received his Executive Master in Business Administration. In 2020, Mark received the authorisation from the Dept. of Education in Monaco to teach English to all age groups including support for other school subjects in English.
The Lounge policy has always been one of forging strong bonds with its teachers, whether staff or collaborators, through respect and clear alignment of our goals and standards. All of our partners have been with us for years; we have been learning, growing and innovating together. We have the expertise and experience to give our students the best learning experience whether in-person or on-line. At The Lounge we see diversity as a value and are proud to be, and always will be, an equal opportunities group of people.
