Terms

Last updated: August 2026

These are the terms of working with me. They're written plainly on purpose. If something here isn't clear, ask before you pay.

What this is

Private Spanish lessons, one to one, with me. Online or in person in New York. There is no company, no staff, no substitute teacher. If I can't teach, the lesson moves.

Admission

Submitting the application doesn't create an agreement. I read every application and I answer either way, usually within a few days. If it looks like a fit we talk for twenty minutes, free, and then either of us can decide not to continue.

I keep twelve to fifteen students. I decline applications, and declining isn't a judgment of you — it's usually about schedule, level, or what you need not matching what I do.

Students must be eighteen or older.

Lessons

A lesson is sixty minutes. Online lessons happen on the platform we agree on. In-person and walking lessons happen at a place and time we agree on beforehand.

I teach in Spanish as much as your level allows, and I correct as we go. I don't promise a level, a score, a timeline, or a result. Learning a language depends on what you do between lessons as much as what happens in them, and that part isn't mine.

Rates and payment

Published rates apply. I don't negotiate rates.

Packages are paid in advance by Zelle or bank transfer, before the block begins. Single sessions are paid before or at the lesson.

Eight-session packages are valid for four months from purchase. Sixteen-session packages are valid for eight months. Sessions don't transfer to another person.

Rates may change for new students at any time. If your rate changes, I'll tell you at least thirty days before, and never in the middle of a package you've already paid for.

Cancellations

Cancel at least four hours ahead and we reschedule at no charge.

Cancel with less than four hours and the lesson counts as taken. The same applies if the same lesson is rescheduled and then cancelled again.

If you don't show up and haven't written, the lesson counts as taken. If that happens twice, we'll talk about whether this is working.

If the weather makes a walk unworkable, we move online that same hour at the online rate, and the difference goes back to you.

If I'm the one who cancels — whatever the notice — the lesson doesn't count and we find another time.

Pausing a package

If you're travelling or away for more than three weeks, tell me and we'll pause the block. Paused sessions extend the validity window; they don't disappear.

Refunds

Prepaid packages can be refunded at any time for whatever you haven't used.

Sessions already taken come off at the standard hourly rate rather than the package rate, since the package price is for committing to the whole block. Sessions left unused past the validity window aren't refundable.

Refunds go back the way the payment came, within fourteen days of you asking.

In-person and walking lessons

Walking lessons happen on public streets in New York. You're responsible for your own safety, your belongings, and anything you buy along the way. Either of us can end a walk early for any reason — weather, fatigue, or a street that doesn't feel right — and we'll finish the hour somewhere else or reschedule.

I don't teach in private residences, mine or yours. In-person lessons happen in public or semi-public places we agree on.

Materials

The texts, videos, exercises, and animated stories I make are mine. You can use them for your own learning, print them, keep them. You can't republish them, sell them, share them publicly, or use them to teach other people.

Your lesson notes are yours as much as mine. Ask and I'll send you what I have.

AI tools

I use two tools built on a third-party platform: Luma, an optional practice tool for you, and an internal tool that helps me build your materials.

Luma is optional and lessons work without it. The materials tool is something I use on my side, and it means my notes about your progress pass through that platform. You can ask me not to use it for your materials and I'll prepare them by hand.

I don't record lessons. Your conversations with Luma stay yours unless you choose to send me a transcript. See the privacy page for detail.

Ending

Either of us can stop at any time. If you stop, the refund terms apply. If I stop, I'll tell you why, refund what's unused at the package rate rather than the hourly rate, and if it's useful I'll point you toward someone else.

The unglamorous part

I teach Spanish. I'm not a translator, an interpreter, an immigration adviser, a therapist, or a certified examiner, and nothing in a lesson should be treated as professional advice in those areas.

My responsibility to you is limited to what you've paid me for lessons not yet taken.

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of New York.

If I change these terms, current students keep the terms that were in place when they bought their current package.

Contact

Josué Ocando

josue@spanishwithjosue.com

New York, NY