Community Guidelines

We know that learning Spanish isn’t just about learning words, verbs, and the grammar that connects it all together — it’s also about mindset, motivation, confidence, and connection. This journey is humbling. As adult learners, we face fears that go beyond forgetting a word — we fear looking “stupid,” being judged, or not getting it “fast enough.”

These emotions are normal. But they can derail progress when we feel unsupported or unsafe. Which is why we protect our classroom environment, something we fiercely value. One bad experience of feeling judged, spoken down to, or dismissed can be the difference between someone persevering and someone giving up.

Creating the Best Online Learning Experience

Our online classroom is designed to be highly interactive. For this to work well, we need every student to show up prepared with a strong connection, clear audio, and visible video.

• Video is expected in all live lessons unless there is a specific reason discussed in advance. This helps create human connection and allows the teacher to read body language.
• Virtual backgrounds are okay, but if the background causes visibility issues, flickers, or hides your face, the teacher may ask you to turn it off.
• Use a computer or tablet when possible. Phones are not ideal for Zoom-based classes due to screen-sharing, limited visibility, and difficulty participating in pair/group work.
• Headsets or earbuds with a mic are highly encouraged to improve your audio quality and reduce background noise.
• Attend from a quiet space where you’re free to participate out loud. Avoid public cafés or airports unless you’re attending in “listening-only” mode with prior notice.

When audio and video are clear, everyone benefits — including your classmates, who need to hear and see you just as much as the teacher does.

Respecting the Shared Classroom Space

In our group courses, everyone is sharing limited time with the teacher and with each other. To ensure a supportive and balanced class experience, we ask that you:

• Treat speaking time as shared space. Activities are designed so that each student has a fairly equal opportunity to participate. However, sometimes a classmate may need extra support — we ask for your patience when that happens.
• Be mindful if you’re someone who likes to talk. If you tend to speak more than others, please stay aware of your talk time. Avoid dominating discussions, going off on tangents, or steering the class away from the planned lesson flow.
• Avoid interrupting or speaking over others. Everyone deserves the chance to share their thoughts without being cut off. Raise your hand, and the teacher will get to you at a natural break.
• Keep questions relevant. Each class has approximately 5 minutes reserved for answering questions. Please try to keep them related to the course content or something related to a recent interaction.
• Encourage your classmates. If a classmate is struggling with something — especially around mindset or confidence — your support can make a big difference in helping them understand they are not alone in their struggle.

Behaviors that Undermine the Group Experience

We’ve seen students shrink, second-guess themselves, or stop participating altogether because of one classmate’s tone or energy. Because of this, the following behaviors will not be tolerated:

• A consistently negative, dismissive, or resistant attitude
• Condescending, cold, or defensive communication
• Passive-aggressive behavior or refusing to follow teacher guidance
• Controlling class time, interrupting, or speaking in a way that silences others
• Speaking in an intimidating or superior tone
• Making others feel judged, expressing impatience, or unwelcoming.
• Discrimination of any kind will not be tolerated. This includes disrespectful comments or behavior related to race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, age, or personal identity (including pronouns). We are a diverse and inclusive community.

This isn’t about personality — you can be quiet, quirky, blunt, or introverted and still be a great fit. What matters is your energy, your openness, and your respect for others’ learning process.

Class Bookings & Fair Use

We are all learning together, and real-time practice is essential for bringing the language to life. To support you we are committed to providing several class types every week, each designed to build different skills. We always ensure there are enough classes for every student to book one spot per class type (within the next 5-7 days).

With this flexible scheduling system, we need cooperation from our students to follow the guidelines below so everyone has fair access to each class.

Group Chats, Online or In-Person Events, and Support Interactions

These expectations extend beyond the classroom. Whether you’re in: a group chat like WhatsApp, a community event, an in-person gathering, or contacting our team via email or chat support. We ask that you treat others — including our team — with the same patience, kindness, and understanding you would hope to receive.

Tech Issues & Student Support

We get it. Tech can be frustrating. Especially for those of us that struggle with it. To get through these setbacks, it is so important to:

• Don’t wait until you have reached a level of ‘totally frustrated.’ Make a reasonable attempt to figure it out, then reach out.
• Our student support hours are Monday–Friday, 9 am–5 pm (CST).
• Be sure to access your courses as soon as possible to identify tech obstacles sooner than later.
• Check our Help Center or the Welcome Section in your course, which often has related tutorials or documentation that might help you to solve the issue.
• If you do need to reach out, we ask for your patience, to keep the tone respectful, and to provide enough details about the issue. Screenshots, page links, and providing extra detail helps us to understand the issue faster and provide the support you need.

How We Handle Misalignment in the Community

In this community, everyone is equal and plays a vital role in creating a safe, positive space to learn and grow together. That’s why, when a concern is raised about someone’s behavior, tone, or energy — whether it comes from a teacher, another student, or a member of our team — we take it seriously.

We won’t share who brought it to our attention or exactly what was said, to protect the emotional safety of everyone involved. But we will reach out privately to the student in question and open a respectful conversation about classroom fit. Our first step is always awareness.

For some people, they truly don’t realize that their behavior may be affecting others. They might be surprised — even shocked — to hear there’s been a concern. That’s why we direct them back to these Community Guidelines, to reflect and see where things might not be aligning.

For others, it’s a relief. They already know that something hasn’t felt right — maybe the group format isn’t working for them, or they’ve felt tension but didn’t know how to name it.

Either way, we offer three respectful options for them to move forward:

• Continue with the group classes – with a renewed commitment to showing up in alignment with our Community Participation Guidelines.
• Switch to solo study – they can choose to learn independently by still having access to the online courses while opting out of group learning.
• Withdraw from the program – in some cases, the program and its dynamic is simply not the right fit. For these cases, we issue a full refund with no questions asked.

If we reach out, please know that we are not trying to shame you or ask you to change your personality. The outreach is to protect the energy of this community and to make sure that everyone who wishes to be part of it is aligned — and sometimes that means giving someone a chance to realign or respectfully step away.

To conclude, we’re happy you have chosen to be part of Expat Spanish and are glad to have you as part of our Spanish learning community where kindness, patience, and supportive attitudes lead to successful learning.