A COUNTY Durham mother is aiming for a nationwide roll-out of her business teaching toddlers to speak a second language.

Angela Sterling set up Lingotot at the start of 2010 to provide French tuition for young children at schools, nurseries and playgroups.

The idea has proved so successful she is now producing CDs and books to accompany the classes and will shortly be introducing Spanish alongside the French tuition.

Ms Sterling, from Stanley, said: “I went to Paris to be an au pair when I was 18 and I noticed that all the children could speak another language.

“In this country we tend not to start teaching languages until children reached secondary school, and we should really be starting it earlier than that, certainly from Key Stage 1.”

She set up the business after taking a career break from teaching to have her own family – daughters Annalise, two, and seven-month-old Eleanor.

Ms Sterling already has international teaching experience having worked at the Lycée Claude Monet in Paris and Wellington International School in Dubai.