About

Welcome to Verbier Language School!

Our aim is to get you out and about using the language you’re learning as soon as possible.  We offer small group (maximum 8 students) and private classes for all levels, children and adults, in a friendly and relaxed atmosphere with fun, professional teachers.

Beginner, intermediate or advanced, VLS offers a unique language experience;  learn in real life situations, put everything into practice with everyday activities and find the confidence to use the language in all situations.

Eléonore Ribordy & Rosi Pickard, Founders
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Image of Eléonore and Rosi teaching at Verbier Language School

After meeting in 2005 and working together, Eléonore and rosi discovered they had a mutual love of languages and a very similar dream of having their own language school.  With Eléonore’s local knowledge, Rosi’s creativity and their valuable teaching experience, it quickly became a reality. The school opened in 2006, has grown over the years and now works closely with other businesses in Verbier and is a certified test centre for the fide test.

The school is in the centre of Verbier, a thriving, multicultural and multilingual town in the heart of the Swiss Alps. The town offers stunning scenery, wonderful wildlife, renowned restaurants, superior shopping and of course the liveliest of language schools with terrific teachers. Why not enjoy a holiday here whilst improving your language skills at the same time?

Eléonore Ribordy

Image of a teacher conducting a class

To make the most of your travels you need to be able to speak the lingo! Speaking different languages allows you to connect with new people you meet along the way. You may also be interested to know that if you use your brain, you stay younger!

Eléonore is from a small village called Sembrancher in the Valais very close to Verbier. She gained her Master of Arts, which included English, Spanish and History, at Lausanne University in Switzerland and following that moved to Spain to study Spanish literature and linguistics at the Santander University. She later returned to Lausanne and joined the Gamma Institute High School as Head of History.

Eléonore has taught French, Spanish and English in various cities around the world, including London. She moved back to the Valais in 2005 and opened the school with Rosi in 2006.

Over the last few years, Eléonore has continued to develop her language skills through a range of training courses, including preparation for the DELF/DALF exams, qualifying as an examiner for the fide test and Silent Way courses.

Rosi Pickard

Image of a Teacher conducting a class

Learning languages allows you to live, work and travel around the world, talk to everyone you meet along the way, make new friends from different cultures and, most importantly, helps you out in sticky situations!

Rosi was born in Leeds in the North of England but has spent most of her working life overseas. Her honours degree in European Languages (French, German, Italian) from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, also includes the TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) qualification. She also studied part-time at the University of Heidelberg in Germany and at the University of Cagliari in Sardinia.

She has taught languages to all nationalities at all levels in several countries including England, Germany, Austria, Italy and China where she was Head Teacher and Coordinator in English for the Yantai CIE Business College working with adults wanting to study at universities throughout the UK. She moved to Verbier to work as a ski instructor where she met Eléonore and opened the Verbier Language School in 2006. Over the last few years she has qualified as a French examiner for the fide test, as well as certification for teaching IGCSE Literature in English and has a Diploma in Special Education Needs Level 3. She has recently completed her a Diploma in teaching languages to those with Dyslexia.