Privacy

Last updated: August 8, 2026

We collect as little as possible — only what we need to save your progress, let your program help you learn, and understand how the platform is being used.

What we collect

Your name — so your teacher can recognize you.
Your email address — for sign-in, invitations, and password reset. If you sign in with Google, we receive your name and email address from Google.
Your practice activity — which exercises you've completed and your score, so you can pick up where you left off.
The program, site, and class you joined with a code or invite link.
Your preferred first language — so we can show translations and play audio in your language.
If you are a director, site admin, or teacher: the two-step sign-in (authenticator) setup on your account, and whether you opted in to our newsletter.

Aggregated usage information

We also record events about how the platform is used — which lessons and activities are opened, how many times audio and translation are used, and which languages are requested. These events are linked to your account so your teacher can see your progress, and they are reported to program directors, site admins, and platform administrators only in aggregate (for example, "Program Z served 35 learners this month").

AI features and third-party processing

Some features send text to third-party AI providers through our AI gateway in order to work:

Spoken audio for vocabulary, sentences, and stories is generated from lesson text by a text-to-speech model.
Translations of lesson content into your first language are generated by a language model.
Writing practice — the sentence you type is sent to a language model so it can give you feedback. It is not used to advertise to you, and we do not use it to train models.

The optional page-translation widget in the header is provided by Google Translate. When you use it, the page text is sent to Google and Google's own privacy policy applies.

Cached audio and translations

To keep the platform fast and free, we cache the audio, translations, and writing feedback generated for lesson content (vocabulary, sentences, and stories) so they only have to be generated once and can be reused for every learner. Cached items are tied to lesson content and the answers typed for a lesson exercise — never to speaking recordings.

What we don't collect

Phone numbers, addresses, or dates of birth.
Payment information (the Service is free).
Family members or immigration status.
Your speaking-practice recordings — audio you record in the browser stays on your device and is never uploaded or stored.

Who can see your data

You can always see your own name, email, and activity.
Your teacher sees the students in classes they teach and each student's activity.
Your site admin sees the classes, teachers, and students at their site.
Your program director sees all sites and classes in their program and can move students between classes.
Platform administrators can see accounts and roles for support and safety, and view program- and class-level usage reports.
Class team scores show only the class total — individual scores are never shown on the leaderboard.

Service providers

We use trusted providers to run the Service: cloud hosting and database and authentication services that store your account and progress, an email provider that sends sign-in, invitation, and notification emails, and the AI providers described above. They process data on our behalf and are not permitted to use it for their own purposes.

Leaving a program

If a director removes you from their program, your account and progress stay with you. You can join another program later with a new code.

Deleting your account

Email connect@tesolministry.org from the address on your account and we will delete your account, which removes your name, email, and practice history from the Service. Aggregated usage counts that no longer identify you may remain in program reports.

Cookies and analytics

We use cookies and browser storage that are required to keep you signed in and to remember your settings, such as your first language and your cookie choice. We also use Google Analytics to understand how the site is used; analytics cookies are switched off until you accept them in the cookie banner, and you can decline. We do not sell your data or share it with advertisers.

Children

The Service is built for adult learners. We do not knowingly create accounts for children under 13. If you believe a child has an account, email us and we will remove it.

Questions and future changes

Questions, corrections, or a request for a copy of your data? Email connect@tesolministry.org. If we ever add paid features, we'll add the minimum billing information needed — and we'll update this page before doing so.