What is Krause English?
Krause English is a combination of two things: a language training program and a presentation skills training program.
It started out as a language-only program in 2006, and then within a few years had evolved into a corporate presentation skills program, when we noticed that was one of the main skillsets our clients wanted to develop.
Of course, if you want to focus on language, we can do that, we’re set up for that. After all, that was how we started. But presentation skills (interview practice, job presentation practice, public speaking practice, etc) are one of the most common skillsets our students want to develop.
Am I buying hours, or help?
With us, you are not buying hours, you are buying help. With Cambly, or at a language school, you are buying hours, and hoping they can help you in that time. That’s not how it works here.
If Zoom sessions are what’s helping you, you can Zoom us twice, or three times, or four times, or 100 times. You can call us every day if you want to.
Here are a couple real-life examples:
A client called us once at 9pm from a bar, because he had a TV interview the next day and had some questions about it, so we had an unscheduled practice right then and there.
Another client called us from the airport, and we had an unscheduled session right then, because she was flying to a meeting and wanted some last-minute practice.
Remember, you’re not buying X hours sitting on Zoom. You’re paying language and presentation experts to spend a month helping you diagnose and solve your issue. The Zoom sessions are just one of the ways we do that.
What is your hourly rate?
We don’t have one.
We give fixed prices so clients never have to pay more if things take us longer than expected.
What's the difference between you and other online language people?
Basically, the meter isn’t running whenever we’re working for you.
You know how stuff comes up for you during the week, like you’re responding to an important email from your boss, or you’re getting ready to present to some important committee? That stuff can’t wait for your next tutoring session, you want help right now.
At those other places (Cambly, Preply, etc), you pay by the hour, so the minute you ask for help, they start the meter and you start paying.
But with us, you just pick up the phone and say, “Hey, can you look at this for me?” and we do. You don’t have to think about money, you just get help.
Think of it like having a Netflix subscription. You don’t pay Netflix every time you watch a movie, you just watch a movie. Same here. You don’t pay us every time you want some help, you just call us and get some help. We’re your coaches between sessions as much as we’re your coaches during sessions.
Do I need to be giving presentations at work to benefit from the Presenter packages?
No.
You don’t need to actively be giving presentations at work (“actively” meaning one presentation or more every week), but if you’ve got two or three examples we can work with in class (like a presentation your boss gives each month and you’ll need to do soon), you’ll get about three times as much benefit from the packages.
Is it okay if I live in [insert country here]?
Yes, of course it’s okay. We work with people from all over the world. In fact, no one country makes up more than 30% of our business.
Since the service is online, you can do it wherever you are located, and entirely on your own time schedule.
What if I travel frequently?
Many of our clients travel a lot for work, which makes online training an ideal fit for them.
We will be happy to put together a special program for you to follow when traveling, so you can stick to your routine and continue making steady progress even when you’re on the road.
Is it suitable for beginners?
Yes. If you are just starting out in your English journey, you will probably be helped mainly by Tuğba, our resident expert on getting someone through the early stages.
Do I need to subscribe to the papers and magazines?
No. We’ll use a lot of outside materials (articles from the Financial Times, New York Times, Economist, etc). But we maintain our own subscriptions to those things, and we’ll share the articles with you directly in the assignments.
Is it confidential?
Yes, of course.
We are used to dealing with confidential issues. In fact, almost all of our clients discuss confidential issues (company strategies, acquisition targets, internal issues, etc) in our classes, and whatever is discussed in those classes stays in those classes.
Your name, everything about you, and everything we discuss or do in class is strictly between you and us.
Can I pause?
Yes, but we don’t recommend it.
What is pause? In other words, take a break. For example, you get really busy with something else, and you ask us if you can take a break for a few weeks or a month.
Of course we’ll say yes. What else are we going to do? You are an adult, and no one has the power to make you do something you don’t want to do.
However, we do not recommend taking a break.
Our entire approach is built around the power of habit to revolutionize your life, and building a habit only takes a few minutes each day. But it has to be done every day. Before you start lessons (whether they’re with us or on your own), ask yourself if you want to make this a habit.
A tiny habit, repeated for a few minutes every day, revolutionizes your life. A desire stopped, and then started, and then stopped again, brings only demoralization.
How will I communicate with you?
You’ll be able to contact us at any time via email, videoconference, WhatsApp, or phone.
How will you measure my progress?
We will measure your progress in a variety of ways, including changes in:
–Your reading ability
–Your writing ability
–Your speaking ability
–Your listening ability
How quickly will you get back to me?
When you message us, we will always try to get back to you as soon as possible. Usually that means within two hours.
However, you shouldn’t have to wait more than 24 hours for a response to a question, excluding weekends and holidays.
How long before I see results?
That depends on your specific goals — but we’re fully committed to helping you reach those goals in the least amount of time.
Generally speaking, the biggest results come after two months, in months 3 and 4.
The average amount of time clients stay with us is eleven months. Some stay for years, some are out after a couple months, but the average is eleven.
When do I pay?
Payment is at the beginning of the month.
Yes, that means each month is prepaid, but there is no long-term commitment, so if the service isn’t working for you, just don’t renew.
Can I postpone classes?
Yes, as often as you want, and with just a couple hours’ notice. If you call us a couple hours before class, and say, “I can’t do class today,” that’s fine. We understand that emergencies and unexpected things happen, and we’ll be happy to find a time that works for the makeup class.
However, there’s one rule, and that is that if you don’t pay the monthly tuition, you give up the postponed classes.
For example, you can’t save up 4 postponed classes, and then say, “You owe me 4 classes, I’m not going to pay you for the next month.”
Do you give refunds?
No.
If you would like to cancel in the middle of the month, the full monthly fee you already paid for that month will be forfeited.
The program is month to month, no contract, so if you’d like to cancel, just don’t renew. No hard feelings. It’s that easy.
What payment methods do you accept?
We accept all major credit or debit cards (Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover, etc), bank transfers, or PayPal.
We’ll email you a bill at the beginning of the month, and you can pay by any of those methods.
Unfortunately, we do not accept stacks of cash or paper checks at this time.
Do you secure my data?
Yes.
We employ industry-standard Secure Socket Layer (SSL) and Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) encryption measures for all data we exchange with our clients.
Also, we don’t store your credit card info, so there’s nothing for anyone to hack or steal.