Terms and Conditions



The following Terms and Conditions are a foundation of all work carried out by Alef-Bet Academy and are an integral part of Academy’s offer.

§ 1 – Definitions


In relation to the following terms and conditions:
1. Alef-bet Foundation is the Organiser of the Academy. Main aims behind creating the Academy are popularising knowledge of Middle and Far Eastern Cultures (both ancient and modern) though innovative techniques and the internet. 2. The participant is a student taking a course in Alef-Bet Academy.
3. The Virtual Classroom is an online platform enabling students to participate in scheduled classes and is owned by the Alef-Bet Foundation.
4. The term ‘special offer’ describes a term-long course where special terms and conditions apply, taking place in spring, summer, autumn or winter period, containing a specific number of teaching hours. The participant pre-pays for a particular number of lessons that can be taken at appropriate times.
5. The term ‘standard offer’ describes a system of lessons scheduled in accordance with student’s individual preferences. The participant can raise or lower the number of lessons in a given month, and also cancel or reschedule them if needed. The participant pre-pays for all the lessons scheduled in the incoming month.

§ 2 - General Terms and Conditions


1. The Alef-Bet Academy runs their language courses online - using the Virtual Classroom. The courses are inclusive of both children and adults’ classes on varying levels depending on participants’ skills.
2. The Academy carries out their work throughout the entire year - allowing participants to start their course at any time (with an exception of ‘special offer’ courses).
3. Each lesson is conducted online by a certified lector.
4. ‘One lesson’ is exactly 60 minutes long, with an exception of individually scheduled longer or shorter lessons.
5. The lesson commences with the lector starting their conversation with a student on the scheduled time.
6. Both the Organiser and the participant are required to sign a contract describing the length of the course; the course is only confirmed once all of the required payments are made to the Organiser.

§ 3 Free session


1. The participants are enabled to schedule a free consultation session prior the the commencement of the course. The session revolves mainly around scheduling their work, adjusting the level of the course to their abilities and familiarising the student with Virtual Classroom system.

§ 4 – Educational materials


1. The foundation will share all the required education materials with the student free of charge.
2. The teacher might suggest purchasing additional textbooks, dictionaries etc. for the student's individual use; those might act as a supplement to the online course.
3. Over the duration of the course the student will also be using publicly available educational materials, textbooks and publications owned by Alef-Bet Foundation - free of charge.
4. The materials are shared with a student on the ‘virtual blackboard’, screen-sharing software or different tools serving purposes similar to above.

§ 5 – Scheduling the lessons


1. All the lessons are scheduled individually with the teacher prior to the commencement of the course. The lessons can be carried out on a regular or irregular basis. When participating in one of the ‘special offer’ courses, lessons cannot be rescheduled once the course commences.
2. When participating in one of the ‘standard offer’ courses, the participant can request a change in schedule. The request has to be raised no later than 24 hours prior to the start of the lesson. Cancellations requested later than 24 hours prior to the start of the lesson are not valid; in this case the student is responsible for covering the cost of the lesson. The change in the schedule can be requested only once a month. The teacher has the right to deny the request, depending on his/hers availability.
3. Lateness policy: student’s lateness reduce the total time of the lesson. Lateness exceeding 15 minutes is equal to completing the entirety of the scheduled lesson. Informing the teacher about the lateness will not increase the total time scheduled for the lesson, it may however allow the student to participate in the lesson in its reduced timeframe. The lesson always ends at the scheduled time.
4. When participating in one of the ‘standard offer’ courses, the lesson is considered completed in its entirety and requires covering its cost if:
- the student reschedules given lesson more than once a month,
- the student reschedules the lesson without sending a rescheduling request at least 24 hours prior,
- the student is absent cancellation notice issued at least 24 hours prior.
5. When participating in one of the ‘standard offer’ courses, each rescheduled lesson has to be taken in a date that does not go beyond 7 calendar days, counting from the date of rescheduling.
6. When participating on one of the ‘special offer’ courses, the participant has the right to schedule a week or fortnight long break in the course. This has to be scheduled with the teacher prior to the commencement of the course.

§ 6 – Minimum requirements


In order to participate in the language course, the student must have a minimum of:
a) a computer connected to the internet (broadband speeds must not be slower than 512Kb/s) with an installed internet browser (IE, Firefox, Chrome) and Flash Player 11.4 (or higher).
b) headphones
c) webcam
d) up-to-date version of Java plugin.

§ 7 – Technical issues


1. In case of technical issues (including hardware breakdowns, broadband issues etc.) forbidding the student from participating in the lesson on time and schedule, Alef-Bet Foundation must be notified immediately (kontakt@alefbet.edu.pl). Each student has the right to cancel the lesson without charge due to technical difficulties - ‘special courses’ participant can do so once per course, while ‘standard course’ participants can do so once a month. Every additional cancellation deems the lesson completed in its entirety, and thus its cost has to be covered.
2. In case of technical issues forbidding the teacher from running the lesson on time and schedule, the student has the right to reschedule the lesson free of charge.


§ 7 – Payments


1. The cost of each course depends on the actual price-list. The costs of the courses can change. The costs displayed on a website are only trade information and are not to be considered an trade offer following the art. 66 § 1. of the Civil Code.
2. Payments are made directly to the Organiser’s bank account.
3. Upon completing their free session and signing up for a chosen course, the participants receives Organiser’s bank details. This information is sent to the participant by e-mail. When participating in one of the ‘standard offer’ courses the student is required to cover the cost of all of the lessons scheduled for a given calendar month, counting from the day of the first lesson (so starting a course mid-month only requires a payment for the lessons scheduled in given month).
4. Before the end of each calendar month the teacher schedules the number of lessons in the next month with the student. This number is a basis for calculating the total cost of the monthly course.

§ 8 – Cancelling the course


1. When participating in one of the ‘standard offer’ courses, the student has the right to resign from further lessons. Should there be any already paid for, the Foundation returns the cost of any uncompleted lessons.
2. When participating in one of the individual ‘special offer’ courses, the student has the right to resign from further lessons. This attracts a charge of 60% of the course cost, i.e. the sum equal to the first instalment paid by the student. The student participating in one of the group ‘special offer’ courses cannot resign from the course at any point.

§ 9 – Final agreements

1. Paying for any part of the course is equal to accepting the following terms and conditions.
2. Refusal to follow any of the following terms and conditions might result in forbidding the student from starting a course of removing the student from the course.
3. The following terms and conditions are in effect starting on the 1st of July 2016.