Privacy Policy

Who we are

Spanish Language Center is a Spanish-language school serving adults and professionals in San Diego, California, both in person and online. This policy applies to spanishlanguagecenter.com and our related pages and forms.

Information we collect

When you complete our contact or enrollment forms, we collect the details you choose to give us — typically your name, email address, phone number, and the message or class interest you share.

When you visit the site, our servers may automatically record basic technical information such as your browser type, device, and general location, which helps us keep the site secure and working well.

If you are an enrolled student and use the Student Portal, we process the account and class information needed to provide your lessons.

How we use your information

We use your information to respond to your inquiries, arrange class placement and scheduling, provide and improve our courses, and send you information you have asked for. We may also use it to keep records of your enrollment and to improve our website and services.

How we share information

We do not sell or rent your personal information. We share it only with trusted service providers who help us operate — for example, email, hosting, and scheduling tools — and only as needed to provide our services. We may also disclose information if required by law or to protect the rights and safety of our students, staff, or school.

SMS text messaging and your mobile information

Our SMS (text message) program is called Spanish Language Center Notifications. If you give us your mobile number and opt in, we may send you class reminders, schedule changes, school announcements, and promotional offers.

Consenting to text messages is optional. It is not a condition of enrolling in any class, of attending, or of purchasing anything from us. You can decline, or simply not answer, and it changes nothing about your place at the school, your lessons, or the price you pay. We ask about text messages, email and app notifications separately, so agreeing to one of them says nothing about the others, and you may agree to one and refuse the rest.

How you opt in. You tick the box yourself — it is never pre-ticked, and we never take silence for a yes. You can answer on screen when you sign in to the Student Portal, on a paper form at the school, in person at the front desk, over the phone, or through a link we email you. When a member of staff takes your answer for you — at the desk, on paper, or on a call — we record that a staff member took it and which of those it was, so the record never pretends you clicked it yourself. Texting us does not opt you in: if you previously opted in and then opted out, replying START turns your messages back on, but a text from a number that has never opted in is not treated as consent.

What we keep as the record of your consent. We keep the exact wording you agreed to — the sentence itself, not a reference to a page that can be edited afterwards — along with the mobile number as you entered it, the date and time, how the answer reached us, and the member of staff who recorded it if it was taken on your behalf. If you answered online we also keep the page you answered on and your browser and network details. Only the Principal and Vice Principal can see these records. If you opt out, we keep the record of the opt-out too — that is how we make sure you are not messaged again.

SMS opt-in data and consent are not shared and not sold to third parties for any purpose, including marketing. Spanish Language Center does not share, sell, rent, lease, or otherwise disclose your mobile number, your opt-in, or your consent to any third party, affiliate, or partner for marketing or for any other purpose. The only party that ever receives it is the messaging provider that delivers our messages for us, and that provider may process it only as necessary to deliver those messages on our behalf — never for its own marketing, and never for anyone else’s.

Message frequency varies. Message and data rates may apply. You can reply STOP to any message at any time to opt out and stop receiving messages, and you can reply HELP at any time for help. You may also opt out or ask for help by calling us at (619) 284-8636, through our Contact page, or — if you use the Student Portal — under Communication Preferences, where you can change or reverse any of your answers at any time, including a decline. Opting out of text messages does not remove you from your class or affect any other way we contact you.

Carriers are not liable for delayed or undelivered messages. The full terms of the program, including the message types and the opt-out instructions above, are set out in our SMS Terms & Conditions at spanishlanguagecenter.com/sms-terms.

Artificial intelligence: the chatbot, the phone line and the tutor

Spanish Language Center uses artificial intelligence in three places. All three are Jalapeño, our AI character. None of them is a person.

The chatbot on this website. When you open the chat bubble and type, you are talking to an AI, not to a member of staff. We store the conversation — your messages and its replies — with the date and time. The Principal and Vice Principal can read it. If you give the chatbot your name, email or phone number so we can follow up about classes, we store that as an enquiry and treat it like any other enquiry you send us.

Our phone line. When you call the school, an AI answers first. Before anything else, every caller hears this: “Welcome to the Spanish Language Center! I'm Jalapeño, your AI assistant. This call may be monitored, recorded, and transcribed for training and quality purposes. How can I help you today?” That is exactly what happens. Calls may be recorded, and we may keep the recording, a written transcript of the call, and any message or callback details you give. The Principal and Vice Principal can listen to the recording and read the transcript. If you would rather speak to a person, say “representative” at any time and we will take your details so a member of staff can call you back.

The Jalapeño Tutor in the Student Portal. Enrolled students can practise Spanish with an AI tutor. It is an AI, not your teacher. We store those practice conversations. Your teacher can read the conversations of their own students, and the Principal and Vice Principal can read all of them. That is deliberate — it is how your teacher sees what you are working on and where you need help.

Google Gemini processes these conversations. Gemini is an AI service run by Google. In plain terms: the words you type or say are sent to Google, Google’s computers work out the reply, and the reply comes back to you. Google processes that text so that we can answer you. For the tutor we also send your first name, your Spanish level, and the names of the classes you are enrolled in, so the tutor knows who it is helping. We do not send Google your grades, your attendance, your account balance, or your documents.

What Jalapeño can and cannot be relied on for is set out in our Terms of Use at spanishlanguagecenter.com/terms-of-use.

What the Student Portal stores about a student

If you are an enrolled student, the Student Portal keeps a record of your learning. This is what it holds and who can see it. Other students never see any of it.

Your account and profile — your name, email, phone number and your Spanish level. You can see it, your teacher can see it, and the Principal and Vice Principal can see it.

Tutor conversations — everything you and the Jalapeño Tutor say to each other. Your teacher can read the conversations of their own students. The Principal and Vice Principal can read all of them. You cannot open the stored transcripts yourself in the portal; if you want a copy of yours, ask the office and we will give you one.

Practice records — what you practised, the topics you have covered, how you did, and which items are due to come back for review. Your own portal shows you a short summary of how you are getting on. The full internal record is for teaching staff: any SLC teacher, the Principal and the Vice Principal can read it, and it is not something you open yourself. If you want to know what it says about you, ask your teacher or the office and we will go through it with you.

Your mistakes and corrections — when the tutor corrects you, the correction is saved as part of your practice record. That is how the tutor knows what to bring back for you, and how your teachers can see where you need help. The same people who can see your practice records can see these.

Attendance — whether you were present, late or absent for each class session. You can see your own attendance rate on your report card. Your teacher can see it for the classes they teach, and the Principal and Vice Principal can see all of it.

Grades and assessments — your marks and any comments a teacher leaves. You can see your own grades once your teacher has published them. Your teacher can see the classes they teach, and the Principal and Vice Principal can see all of it.

Documents — anything kept in your student file, such as enrollment paperwork or a receipt. You can see the documents that have been marked as visible to you. Your teacher can see documents for their own students. The Principal and Vice Principal can see all of them.

Billing and payments — your tuition charges, your payments and your balance. You can see your own. The Principal and Vice Principal can see all of it. Teachers cannot see it.

How long we keep it. We keep your student record for as long as you are enrolled with us, and afterwards as part of the school’s records. Nothing is deleted automatically. We have not set a fixed number of years for each type of student record. You can ask us to delete information about you at any time — the next paragraph explains how.

How to ask us to delete your information. Ask us through our Contact page, by phone at (619) 284-8636, or by mail at Spanish Language Center, 2727 Camino Del Rio S, Suite 141, San Diego, CA 92108. Tell us what you would like deleted. We will check who you are before we act, and we will tell you what we have deleted. Some records we may have to keep — for example payment records we are required to keep for tax and accounting. If that applies to something you have asked us to delete, we will tell you which record it is and why we have to keep it.

Cookies and analytics

Our website may use cookies and similar technologies to remember your preferences and understand how the site is used, so we can improve it. You can control cookies through your browser settings; disabling them may affect some features.

Data retention & security

We keep your information only as long as needed for the purposes described here or as required by law, and we take reasonable measures to protect it against loss, misuse, and unauthorized access. No method of transmission over the internet is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security.

Your choices

You may ask us to access, correct, or delete the personal information we hold about you, or ask us to stop sending you marketing messages, at any time. To make a request, please contact us and we will respond as required by applicable law.

Children’s privacy

Our programs and website are intended for adults. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has provided us information, please contact us so we can remove it.

Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do, we will revise the effective date above. We encourage you to review this page periodically.

Contact us

If you have questions about this policy or your personal information, please reach us through our Contact page, by phone at (619) 284-8636, or by mail at Spanish Language Center, 2727 Camino Del Rio S, Suite 141, San Diego, CA 92108.