General Terms and Conditions of Online Courses
given that:
- ELS srl Unipersonale, Via Filandro Quarantotti no. 2 – 66100 (Chieti) Vat Reg. no. 02471740692 offers distanced learning via appropriate software and an on-demand streaming platform;
- The courses are aimed at those who want to learn foreign languages without either time or distance restraints;
- No particular requirements are needed to access the courses and/or single steps purchased.
ELS srl, Unipersonale, Via Filandro Quarantotti no. 2 – 66100 (Chieti) Vat Reg. no. 02471740692 and the course user who approves the enrolment on Online Foreign Language courses via the internet portal www.languagenaturally.org acknowledge that the relative courses follow a programme which has been devised and advertised on the aforementioned site and that the fees for these Online Courses called “Language Naturally” are given below.
Language Naturally foreign language courses are based on a learning programme consisting of various propaedeutic sections called “STEP”. Laboratory (called LAB in short), or rather a self-taught linguistic laboratory comprising illustrations and audio material which can be accessed via specific software installed on the portal www.languagenaturally.org which allows the user to learn Italian on his or her own by listening, repeating, comparing, writing and checking the pronunciation of words/sentences written; Situation (called SIT in short), is a collection of complete dialogues which take place in realistic situations including pictures and audio material which can be found on on-demand streaming whereby the user can listen to, understand, write down and (optional) imitate the Italian language; Action (called ACT in short), is a step consisting of a series of online video lessons via a prearranged Skype session (tutorial) based on the SIT topics; Class or rather a series of online video lessons (tutorial) based on the topics dealt with in the didactic Units of the downloadable manual Handbook (manual in PDF format); Test or rather pictures and audio material which tell entire stories which can be accessed via the on-demand streaming platform offering the possibility, through a specific online module, of writing down the text and (optional) imitating the speakers’ pronunciation. Finally, this last step includes an evaluating Skype session with a tutor.
The course participant may ask to do either an entire course or a single step as said before by stating he or she accepts the particular conditions included in the module chosen, the general conditions in the contract and the handling of personal data in accordance with article D.Lgs. 186/2003 (Privacy & Cookies) which he or she accepts together with this current contract.
PROGRAMME AND ONLINE COURSE START-UP
The courses are online and on on-demand streaming. Courses do not run according to a calendar and are always subject to the resolutive condition represented by a maximum number of days’ access to the Online Course chosen by the course user. The maximum number of days’ access online is always shown on the chosen course programme advertised on www.languaganaturally.org and automatically accepted by the course user upon enrolment and the payment of course fees.
Courses, and/or individual online steps, are joined via the “subscribe” form found on the various STEP information web pages, on the home page and on the web portal’s main menu www.languagenaturally.org
The completion of the enrolment Form (subscribe) and the payment of course fees, even with regards to a single STEP, constitutes, to all intents and purposes, the acceptance and nominal enrolment onto the course. The lack of the course user’s personal details on the enrolment Form exonerates ELS srl of all responsibility regarding the supply of didactic material, the viewing of online lessons (LAB, SIT, DRILL and TEST) and Skype video calls relative to the Tutorial Lessons (ACT, CLASS and TEST).
ELS srl is obligated to send the access password to the course applicant and deliver the training, only after verifying the applicant’s enrolment and payment of the course fee. The portal accepts payments via PayPal and bank transfer.
You can register in another section on the web portal www.languagenaturally.org if you would like to receive our promotional newsletter and/or information, contact requests or free training materials issued by ELS srl. You can register free for these services on the portal where you see the words “Login”, “Register”, “Register Form”.
Single STEPs can be purchased individually and studied at different times. Once the relative password has been received, the course user has a set period of time of 6 months in which to proceed with the entire course, otherwise the duration of a single step is divided as follows:
- In the case of Laboratory, an access password is provided with the duration of one year, at the end of which, the user will no longer be able to access the laboratory and will have to make another purchase. The password is issued solely to the individual course user and the sharing of it with third parties is forbidden. The current software allows the user to repeat every single exercise until it has been completed correctly. Once the user has progressed to the next exercise or subsequent Laboratory, he or she cannot go back. The course user is therefore solely responsible for the protection of his or her password and the integrity of the exercise carried out with this access password. The user is aware that by violating this agreement (giving learning material to third parties) incurs fines relating to the laws on copyright. The entire process is automated and self-taught when carrying out the following phases: listening, imitation, comparison, writing and checking.
For the Laboratory software to function properly, you need to use the Google Chrome browser and ensure that your microphone (internal or external) is active and well connected to your computer. For further technical information you should refer to the FAQs section
- In Situation and Drill exercises, you can listen to the individual audio and video files more than once until you are confident that you have done the task properly on your own. In total you have 250 hours to complete all of the SITs and DRILLs. In this phase, listening, writing and sending of the written text via the compilation of the form below the exercise, are the main tasks.
By submitting your email address on the form, the course user can also check his or her work as the key will be sent. You also have the optional facility of imitating and recording dialogues, but only by using the course user’s own hardware/software which he or she should install internally and/or connect externally on his/her own computer. In this phase, ELS does not offer solutions for making audio recordings, as this type of exercise does not form a fundamental part of the learning module. For further technical clarification, please refer to the FAQs.
- In Action, the user purchases and books a package of speaking lessons which are carried out via Skype. A total of 10 actions (lessons of about 40 minutes each) are foreseen, but the course user can purchase extra lessons. For further technical clarification refer to the FAQs
- In CLASS, bookings of individual online lessons are made by filling out the appropriate form on the CLASS page and video calls are made by Skype. The number of online conversations needed to complete this step is not fixed as it can vary from one course user to another. In tackling the 12 teaching units in the Handbook, each course user will need to undertake an individual and variable path.
- In TEST, you will be able to listen to the individual audio and audio-visual files more than once. The length of time allocated to complete each TEST is 3 hours. The phases foreseen in this phase are predominantly listening, writing and comprehension. The possibility of imitating and recording dialogues is optional, exclusively by using the course user’s own equipment which must be installed independently and internally or externally connected via hardware/software to his or her own computer. In this step, ELS srl does not offer solutions for making audio recordings, as this type of exercise does not form a fundamental part of the learning module. At the end of each TEST, the course user can make an appointment with a tutor to practise speaking, ie. an online video call via Skype. For further technical clarification refer to the FAQs
All correspondence between course users and language naturally tutors (bookings and online lesson confirmation) will be sent to the email address provided at the time of registration. Lessons purchased are visible on the portal www.languagenaturally.org via broadcasting hardware which is compatible with operating systems, Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, iOS 4.0+, Android 4.0+, Windows Phone 7.0+, and can be reproduced using Adobe Flash Player or HTML5 Player. Chrome is the recommended browser for viewing. In any event, viewing is guaranteed if your internet connection has a minimum downloading capability of 1Mbit. The service cannot be guaranteed if the minimum requirements mentioned above are not met.
ELS srl accepts no responsibility for slow video speed or poor internet streaming connections which may hinder the course user’s viewing of the entire Online course. Furthermore, we can guarantee maximum professionalism and the correct use of software used and the streaming signal in the on-demand service. ELS does not consider itself responsible for the user’s internet connection with a downloading capacity lower than 1Mb/s, the lack of browser updates, plug-in, software used by the user; the user’s lack of computer literacy or other technical issues not related to the tools provided by ELS. In these cases and other technical issues related to the web refer to the FAQs in www.languagenaturally.org
RESOLUTIVE CONDITIONS REGARDING COURSE ACTIVATION
Upon the user’s acceptance of the contract via email or the course purchase form or by registering online, the courses are activated within 48 hours. The course is considered active up to the deadline indicated for each step on the relative web page.
RIGHT TO WITHDRAW
If, after registration is requested and the password has been given for viewing the playlist and/or individual video course in streaming and/or the LAB software has been consulted, the course user wants to withdraw from the contract, he or she may do so within one hour from his or her enrolment using the form associated with his or her chosen course. Only in this case can the course user claim a refund of the sum paid.
COURSE FEES
Payment can be made by: credit card, pre-paid cards, PayPal or bank transfer. Bank transfers should be sent to: ELS srl Unipersonale, IBAN: IT 93 R 01005 15500 000000001296 Swift/bic BNL: BNLIITRR with the following reference: “language naturally”, also including the STEP chosen.
COMMUNITY SECTION
The users enrolled on the Community section must respect the c.d. Code of Ethics by communicating in Italian or English, using appropriate language. The use of dis-respective language, pictures, videos or anything else which may not respect the decorum and ethics upheld by ELS srl and its users, is forbidden.
Users are personally responsible for the safety, publication and approval of all materials (except for the format with which they appear or the support with which they are transmitted)
Any opinions/reviews users express on the website made by the users themselves are in no way representative of the opinion of the site and its administrators.
Although the approval of users’ opinions/reviews may be filtered by the site administrators, responsibility for publications and approvals lies exclusively with the user as original author of the contribution (opinions and reviews) and represents solely his or her opinion which cannot be generalised as the opinion/review made by the company to which it refers.
Users must not publish offensive, derogatory, defamatory comments about people or companies (concerning either the company or the products and/or services offered by that company).
Users must not publish any of the company’s private information, and particularly, information related to industrial secrets, clients, strategies, organisational models or products.
The site and its administrators may not be held responsible for private information which is published, in that the level of privacy and sensitivity of such information may only be known by the user who publishes his or her own opinion/review (the author of the opinion/review)
Users must only publish opinions/reviews related to their personal past and present experience. Users must therefore not publish opinions/reviews that have nothing to do with their own real and provable work experience.
Users must only publish opinions that truly mirror their own experience without exasperation, either positive or negative.
Users must not attempt to source authors of opinions/reviews printed on the site, with the purpose of pursuing them on a personal and work level in order to obtain their subjective opinions.
All opinions/reviews published are considered subjective and in no way objective. Therefore they do not want to express objective opinions, and neither that of the site or of its administrators.
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTIES AND AUTHORS’ RIGHTS REGARDING DIDACTIC MATERIAL:
Els srl Unipersonale own all rights to the Language Naturally project. JMOTION own the moral rights to the work carried out (development of the software LAB, the web portal’s speaking features Lab/Sit/Drill/Test, audio-visual set-up). The illustrations are by Manuela Dragani and the texts are by Paolo Verlengia. The reproduction of material including its delivery and availability to the public, the hire and lending is prohibited, and, likewise the usage of the course material other than for personal use, without the authorisation of the owner. Fines are applicable in accordance with those related to the violation of authors’ rights.
DISPUTES
Surfing of this current site and the relationship between it and the user is regulated by Italian Law in force at the time of dispute, regardless of domicile or head office. Regarding any dispute arising out of the access or use of the site, or related to the use of the material herein, or under any other circumstances, between the user and the owner of the site or other individuals who have collaborated, collaborate or will collaborate in the creation and management of it, the user accepts the exclusive judgement of the Court in Chieti.