Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy outlines how Richmond English Language Institute ("we," "our," or "us") collects, uses, and protects your information when you use our online learning platform.

We are committed to ensuring that your privacy is protected. Any information we collect is used only in accordance with this privacy policy.

Information We Collect

We collect only the minimum information necessary to provide our services:

• Email address - Used for authentication and identifying parents with their children's accounts
• Student aliases or profile labels - Used to organize learning records and display the student within the platform; these are not intended to be legal names
• Class identifiers - Used to organize students and provide appropriate learning materials
• Class recordings, transcripts, or class notes - Used to maintain class records and prepare educational feedback
• Learning progress and assessment information - Such as lesson completion, review activity, pronunciation or grammar practice results, scores, feedback, and areas to practise

For the learning-platform records described in this policy, we do not intentionally retain students' legal names or parents' legal names. Student labels are aliases or profile names, and parent accounts are identified by email. We do not intend those labels to disclose who a student or parent is.

How We Use Google & Yahoo Authentication

We do not store any passwords. For your security, we use third-party authentication services:

• Google Authentication: When you log in with Google, we only verify that you own the email address associated with that Google account. We never receive, store, or have access to your Google password.
• Yahoo Authentication: Similarly, when you log in with Yahoo, we only verify that you own the email address associated with that Yahoo account. We never receive, store, or have access to your Yahoo password.
• We only receive a secure verification token from Google or Yahoo confirming your identity
• This approach provides stronger security than if we were to manage passwords ourselves

Your password security is managed entirely by Google or Yahoo, not by us.

Email Collection from Demo & Trial Signups

When you sign up for our demo or trial placement session, we collect only your email address:

• Purpose: To send you the demo link or trial placement session information
• Consent-Based Contact: We only contact you if you explicitly allow us to. You can opt in or opt out during the signup process.
• Minimal Data Storage: We store only your email and your consent preference. We do not collect or store any other personal information during signup.
• No Student Data Collected: At the signup stage, we do not collect student names, ages, or any other information about the student.
• One-Time Use: Your email is used for communicating about your signup request only. If you do not provide consent for further contact, we will not use your email for any other purpose.

Class Recordings, Transcripts, and Learning Progress

Some classes are recorded or accompanied by transcripts or class notes. We may retain those materials, along with related class metadata and generated feedback, to train and support teachers, improve our educational product, conduct quality review, communicate with parents, and support the student's ongoing learning.

We use this information to create custom feedback, identify what a student may need to practise next, and understand progression over time. Review lessons and speaking activities may also calculate completion information, practice results, pronunciation or grammar scores, and recurring areas for practice. Some review activity is stored locally in the student's browser, while class-recording analyses and related feedback may be stored in our educational systems.

We use automated or AI-assisted tools to help transcribe, summarize, assess, or generate feedback from relevant audio, transcripts, and notes. These tools are used as educational support, not as the sole basis for high-stakes decisions, and their results may be imperfect. Teachers and parents should consider the surrounding classroom context.

Service Providers and Data Sharing

To provide authentication, storage, transcription, pronunciation assessment, and educational feedback, relevant information may be processed by service providers such as Google Firebase and Google Drive, OpenAI, Google AI services, and Microsoft Azure Speech, depending on the feature being used. We send only the information needed for that feature and use these services for education, platform operation, security, and support—not for advertising.

Some service providers may process information outside Taiwan. We do not sell personal information or use student information for third-party advertising.

How We Use Your Information

For logged-in users and registered students, the information we collect is used solely for:

• Connecting parents to their children's educational materials and class information
• Storing only a student alias/profile label and class identifier for learning management purposes
• Determining which lessons each student should have access to
• Recording learning progress, review results, and areas for future practice where those features collect them
• Reviewing class recordings or transcripts to prepare custom student, parent, or teacher feedback
• Providing administrators and teachers with the ability to manage student access
• Improving our educational offerings and platform functionality

We do not intentionally collect browsing behavior for advertising, and we do not use personal information for marketing purposes.

We do not sell your data to third parties.

Data Security

We use access controls and security measures intended to protect information stored in Firebase, Google Drive, and other service-provider systems. We do not store account passwords. No online service can guarantee absolute security, so we also limit access to educational records to people and systems that need them for the purposes described above.

How Long We Keep Your Data

We retain account, class-recording, transcript, feedback, and learning-progress information on an ongoing basis to train teachers, improve our educational product, support learning progression, and maintain teaching records. We do not currently promise automatic deletion after a fixed period. Different systems and backups may have different deletion times. If you would like your information reviewed or removed, please contact us directly and we will assess the request.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this privacy policy from time to time. Any changes will be posted on this page.

Contact Us

If you have questions about this privacy policy or how we handle your data, or if you want to request access, correction, a copy, cessation of processing, or deletion, please contact us at richmond.english.taiwan@gmail.com.