Ruth Gibson (left) presented with her award

Local French and Spanish teacher Ruth Gibson has been awarded with the La Jolie Ronde Licensee of the Year 2013 for Scotland and the North East. La Jolie Ronde is a provider of primary language learning that has been running since 1983.

Gibson, who has been a licensee of La Jolie Ronde since 2007, was chosen out of 60 candidates in the region because of her outstanding commitment and dedication to La Jolie Ronde. She teaches both private tuition as well as delivering classes in schools under the national curriculum.

La Jolie Ronde’s general manager, Steve Baker, said: “Ruth has consistently provided high quality language classes, and maintained and developed a thriving business with effective marketing and promotion. Her experience and enthusiasm for La Jolie Ronde has also meant she has helped the company with its development on various resources over the years. Her drive and enthusiasm about languages, with a love of France and Spain, pervades through to her excellent teaching, making her an extremely worthy winner.”

The prize included a glass engraved trophy, a free licence renewal worth over £100 and £50 worth of vouchers.

After receiving the award Gibson spoke of feeling “immensely grateful and proud to have been awarded this prestigious award. It’s a real boost to be recognised as being the best in the area this year – particularly as so many of my colleagues are excellent licensees.”

Having received the prize, Gibson reflected upon her career, saying: “I absolutely love teaching languages. I love working with smaller groups of children who are so keen and eager to learn, it is such an incredibly rewarding career. I particularly enjoy the way in which relationships are built up with my pupils.”