American Tesol

American TESOL Institute is committed to ensuring the protection of personal information of our staff, customers, clients and users of this web site. ATI is committed to keeping personal information accurate, confidential, secure and private. American TESOL Institute privacy policy is simple: we collect personal information about you only when you knowingly and willingly provide it, and we will not share or otherwise profit from the distribution of personal data beyond the use it was provided to fulfill. Our practices conform with privacy laws charted in the United States of America.

The Ten Privacy Principles

Principle 1 - Accountability American TESOL Institute is responsible for all personal information under its control including any personal information disclosed to third parties for processing. American TESOL Institute has established policies and procedures to comply with its own privacy code, and has designated one or more persons to be accountable for compliance.

Principle 2 - Identifying Purposes American TESOL Institute will identify the purposes for collecting personal information, prior to or at the time it is being provided. Personal information will not be used for a purpose not previously identified without further individual consent, unless the new purpose is required by law.

Principle 3 - Consent The knowledge and consent of the customer are required for the collection, use or disclosure of customer information, except where inappropriate.

Principle 4 - Limiting Collection The collection of personal information shall be limited to that which is necessary for the purposes identified by American TESOL Institute.

Principle 5 - Limiting Use, Disclosure and Retention Personal information will not be used or disclosed for purposes other than those for which it was collected, except with the consent of the individual or as required by law. Personal information shall be retained only as long as necessary for the fulfillment of those purposes.

Principle 6 - Accuracy Personal information shall be as accurate, complete, and up-to-date as is necessary for the purposes for which it is to be used.

Principle 7 - Safeguarding Customer Information American TESOL Institute protects personal information with safeguards appropriate to the sensitivity of the information.

Principle 8 - Openness American TESOL Institute will make specific information about its personal information management policies and practices readily available to individuals.

Principle 9 - Customer Access Upon request, American TESOL Institute will inform individuals of the existence, use, and disclosure of their personal information and provide access to that information. An individual shall be able to verify the accuracy and completeness of their information, and may request that it be amended, as appropriate.

Principle 10 - Handling Customer Complaints and Suggestions American TESOL Institute will provide procedures to receive and respond to complaints or inquiries about policies and practices relating to the handling of personal information. These procedures will be easily accessible and simple to use.

Why We Collect Personal Information Online

Currently American TESOL Institute collects personal information from users when they enroll for American TESOL Certification and Job Placement, or request information about TESOL programs.

Private, Public and Aggregate Information obtained by ATI

PRIVATE INFORMATION is any information that allows others to contact a user other than through ATI or allows the collection of information about the user other than what is displayed on the site. Private information is gathered from free trial members and regular members. This information includes, but is not limited to: email address, first name, last name, credit card number, and address.

PUBLIC INFORMATION is personal information that may be displayed on the site, such as gender and age, but cannot be linked to a particular user. Public information is personal information such as gender, age, ethnic background, appearance, and more. This information is meant to be seen by employers, members, and visitors to the site and be used to identify a specific member by name, address, or other profile information for employment or language exchange. Members can request their personal information only be viewable by ATI employers for job placement, which is optional with certification. Individuals are able to join ATI by only disclosing their personal information to ATI and the payment processor. Please note that images posted can be used by ATI in ads or press releases about our service. People attending ATI events can be included in photos and images taken of such events and used in ads or press releases about our service. Posting images or attending ATI events constitutes agreement with the fair use of the images involved.

AGGREGATE This is information we collect that is not personally identifiable, such as browser type and IP address. This information is gathered from all visitors to americantesol.com. Use of Information Obtained by ATI

PRIVATE INFORMATION: We use email addresses submitted by members when forwarding anonymous emails. Responders' email addresses are not disclosed to the original sender nor is any other personally identifiable information. We may use a user's email or street address to send news regarding our site or offers we feel appropriate to our members but the user may choose not to receive email of this type by indicating upon joining up to not receive such mail or later at any time through our unsubscribe methods or by modifying their account information. Any sharing of email or street addresses with third party marketers is done only with the permission of the user by giving consent on signup or by changing their email setting preferences at a later date. Your preferences can be changed by logging onto your account, going to the "My Account" setting at the top of the page and choosing "settings". To remove yourself regarding postal third party offers, please write to the company address at the bottom of this document. Email and street addresses may also be used in private correspondence with the user for customer service issues. Financial information that is collected is used to bill the user for services. ATI utilizes a third party service provider for credit card processing to facilitate the user's transaction and the service provider does not use personal information provided by the site for its own promotional purposes. All other private information submitted by the user is confidential and will not be disclosed except as required by law or to protect members of ATI. All private information can be updated or deleted by the user at any time. We also use personal information in connection with newsletters, information, offers and other promotional materials sent to you for ATI's or third parties' goods or services. We attempt to have offers sent to you that are of value to you, such as discounts, exclusive offers or special event information. ATI provides you with options to decline to receive communications from ATI (other than those contained in Operational Communications). Some of these options may only be for a certain category of communications; others may be more general. To operate ATI, including processing your transactions and supporting your activities on the Site, we may share your personal information with our agents, representatives, contractors and service providers so they can provide us with support services such as authorization of credit card transactions, email origination, receipt or support services, customer relationship management services, order fulfillment and sweepstakes and promotional fulfillment. We require these entities not to use your information for any other purpose. By purchasing, or registering or making reservations for, products or services offered or sponsored by third parties on the Site, or electing to receive communications (such as emails or magazine subscriptions) or electing to participate in contests, sweepstakes or other programs (such as discount or rewards programs), offered or sponsored by third parties on americantesol.com, you consent to our providing your personal information to those third parties. Those third parties may use your personal information in accordance with their own privacy policies. You will need to contact those third parties to instruct them directly regarding your preferences for the use of your personal information by them. Additionally, you agree that we may use and disclose all such information so submitted to such third parties in the same manner in which we are entitled to use and disclose any other information you submit to us. Any third party with whom we are allowed to share your personal information is authorized to use your personal information in accordance with our contractual arrangements with such third parties and in accordance with their own privacy policies, over which we have no control, and you agree that we are not responsible or liable for any of their actions or omissions. Those who contact you will need to be instructed directly by you regarding your preferences for the use of your personal information by them. Your personal information or financial information may be passed on to a third party in the event of a transfer of ownership or assets of ATI, or a bankruptcy. We may also disclose personal information or financial information when we determine that such disclosure is necessary to comply with applicable law, to cooperate with law enforcement or to protect the interests or safety of ATI or other visitors to americantesol.com. We also may disclose your personal information or financial information to our subsidiary and parent companies and businesses, and other affiliated legal entities and businesses with whom we are under common corporate control. Whenever personal information or financial information is disclosed under this paragraph, we may also disclose your demographic information along with it, on a non-anonymous basis. All of our parent, subsidiary and affiliated legal entities and businesses that receive your personal information, financial information, or non-anonymous demographic information from us will comply with the terms of this privacy policy with respect to their use and disclosure of such information.

PUBLIC INFORMATION: Public information supplied by the user is intended to be viewed by registrants and subscribers to the site. This information is used by registrants and subscribers for searching and matching purposes.

AGGREGATE: We use your server, IP address, and browser-type related information in the general administration of our web site. It is not personally identifiable information and is not released to third parties. Email-A-Friend: If you choose to use our referral service to tell a friend about our site, we will ask you for your friend's name and email address. We will automatically send your friend a one-time email inviting him or her to visit the site. ATI does not store this information. Chat Rooms, Bulletin Boards, and Forums ATI makes chat rooms available to its users. Please remember that any information that is disclosed in these areas becomes public information and you should exercise caution when deciding to disclose your personal information online.

Terms of Service

American TESOL Certification An individual must be at minimum eighteen years of age to enroll for American TESOL Certification and Job Placement. The information they provide allows us to deliver services to them in a secure manner, and we enable them to change their preferences associated with any information provided. We also ask for credit card information with enrollment, although this is optional, and can be provided directly to our payment processor. When a enrollee submits his or her credit card information, that individual's credit card information is deleted from our database immediately after processing. This is to ensure security of the participants personal information.

Optional Guaranteed Job Placement & Refund Policy
Optional job placement for ATI graduates can take from two (2) weeks to nine (9) months post certification, depending on the availability of TESOL employment in the country the participant is wishing to teach. American TESOL Institute guarantees job placement abroad or a refund of program cost. Participants must choose ten (10) non-native English speaking countries they are willing to teach, and wait at most nine (9) months post certification, plus receive no job offers before requesting a refund. Refunds are only given to participants for this reason, and none other. Refunds are not given to participants offered employment in a country, but not able to gain proper working papers or visas to pursue the employment opportunity. Participants requesting a refund must forfeit ATI Certification & Membership, and pay a $150 cancellation fee. All materials must be returned by certified mail to ATI head offices in Florida, USA. ATI agrees to pay the balancing refund amount within three (3) months of receiving (a) all materials by certified mail, (b) participant certificate(s), and a (c) letter of resignation stating the reasons forfeiting membership to ATI.

American TESOL Certification and Memberships
When a visitor purchases American TESOL Certification and Job Placement, our third-party merchant service provider collects personal information in order to validate billing. Of this information, email address, name and shipping address, credit card number and info. is (optional) are made available to American TESOL Institute. This information is used to verify buyers' identity and to ship materials.

Email
When you send us an email you provide us with your name and email address, along with any other information you provide in the body of your email. This information may be shared with persons outside of American TESOL Institute only when they are required to receive this information in order to respond effectively to your query. We retain all email correspondence indefinitely in order to improve our services according to customer feedback. When you complete a contact or enrollment form, you agree that ATI can contact you via email or telephone in regards to TESOL program promotions.

Cookies
Cookies are small text files transferred to your hard drive by a web server. Because cookies only contain text, they cannot transmit a virus or damage your system. They are commonly used to determine return visitors to a site, record your preferences, shopping cart, registration information, pages viewed or items purchased. You should have the option to set your browser to either accept cookies openly, to notify you before accepting cookies, or to refuse cookies altogether.

Employee Confidentiality
Upon employment, every employee of American TESOL Institute is required to sign a "Confidentiality Agreement and Code of Ethics" that ensures the confidential handling of business information. This agreement demonstrates our commitment, both collectively and as individuals, to protecting the confidentiality of information held by the company, including specifically, "customer information."

Limitation of Liability
American TESOL Institute Web pages may provide External Links to other Internet sites for the convenience of users. American TESOL Institute is not responsible for the availability, validity, or content of these external sites, nor does American TESOL Institute endorse, warrant, or guarantee the products, services, jobs or information described or offered at these other Internet sites.

Complete confidentiality and security is not yet possible over the Internet. Internet use and communication is subject to interception, loss and alteration. On whichever site you provide personal information, it is possible for a third party to view that information. It is not surprising, for example, that messages to newsgroups have resulted in unsolicited email from spammers. You acknowledge and agree that American TESOL Institute shall not be responsible for any damages you may suffer as a result of the transmission of confidential or sensitive information over the Internet, and that all such communications will be at your own risk. No refunds are issued other than for guaranteed job placement. By joining ATI, and using this Institution and web site to gain TESOL certification and employment, you acknowledge and agree now that American TESOL Institute, inc., employees, stock holders, owners, partners, and affiliates are in no way, can not, and will not be legally held responsible, either civilly or criminally, in any court in the world, nor bear any legal responsibility for any damages members, ATI employers, and participants of this web site may suffer in any capacity. - Currently ATI lends it's name and curriculum to Innovations Solutions, Ltd. for TESOL certification and employment in Thailand, India, and Nepal, ATI also lends it's name and curriculum to a variety of organizations worldwide. You acknowledge and agree now that American TESOL Institute, inc., employees, stock holders, owners, partners, and affiliates are in no way, can not, and will not be legally held responsible, either civilly or criminally, in any court in the world, nor bear any legal responsibility for any damages members, ATI employers, and participants of this web site may suffer in any capacity through it's contractual affiliates. By agreeing to the Terms of Service, you understand there are risks to traveling abroad, and that they are documented here - Travel Warnings - and in no way can hold American TESOL, Inc. American TESOL Institute, Inc. faculty, staff, partners, and investors responsible for any damages a member may suffer while traveling, working, or living inside or outside the USA. By using this website you agree to these terms. If you do not agree to these terms - Click Here to Exit Now

Contact Us
We hope you find this statement informative and clear. Please email us at info@americantesol.com regarding any questions or further information you may be interested in. Or, if you prefer, contact us in writing at:

American TESOL Institute
8875 Hidden River Parkway
Suite #300
Tampa, FL 33637