QA Pausing a Subscription Rachels Online School
hey guys well I’ve again on Facebook and
I will upload this to YouTube so hello
if you’re seeing this there after the
fact but I’ve been going live a couple
times over the past couple of weeks to
talk about Rachel’s English Academy it
is a an online school that I am
launching next week so over the course
of this week I will be going live a
couple more times to answer your
questions so what I’ve done is I’ve gone
and looked at the past recordings and
I’ve written down your questions that I
didn’t get to in the comments because
it’s very hard to keep up with the
comments as I’m talking and trying to be
coherent so again put your comments here
and I might not read them as I’m going
live I’ll try but I can’t see them all
but I will look at them all after the
video is over so let’s get to some of
your questions first of all maybe this
is your first time hearing about it and
you don’t know what Rachel’s English
Academy is it’s an online school hey
Lucas that I’m launching next week a
week from today actually October 25 and
Lucas who’s commenting right now I
actually gave him an early pass I gave a
couple people an early pass to get
feedback and so he’s one of them so he’s
been in there already and he already
wrote a really nice review thank you for
that Lucas which I got to see a day or
two ago so anyway Rachel’s English
Academy is a set of courses that you can
get to only through a subscription I’m
not making a big course that sells for a
bunch of money it’s a low monthly fee if
you join in the first week it’s $10 a
month for as long as you choose to stay
in the Academy so you get access to all
of these different courses for ten
dollars a month and I I’m starting small
there’s seven courses in there
and some of them are complete or
incomplete but the idea is that each
each month once a month I’m releasing
new lessons and starting new courses so
for example right now there’s a course
and they’re called vowels and diphthongs
and there are three vowels in there and
so next month I might add a couple more
I might start the consonants course but
there’s lots in there to work with it
focuses heavily on conversation and
listening comprehension if you’ve
followed me for a while you know this is
my passion this is what I do best I’m
not a grammar expert I don’t teach
writing but I love the voice and how we
use it I love discovering what’s musical
about our speech and one of the courses
that was really fun to make it’s called
the basics is it uses a lot of other
languages and I use those other
languages to explore English and to find
out English different from other
languages maybe your language not just
as far as the sounds go because that’s
just a small part of it but all of these
other things the feeling the character
of it that’s really what interests me
how we can sound more natural more
conversational when speaking a language
I know when I study a foreign language I
really want to understand the character
of that how to use my body to sound
natural and for me that’s more important
to even than vocabulary it’s just
feeling it inside of my body and and
expressing myself that way so Rachel’s
English Academy focuses on those things
that I love and we do a lot of speech
analysis we study a lot
conversations and there’s a lot of audio
for you to work with and the idea is if
you are my private student this is what
I would be giving you well I’m not
taking private students anymore but this
course is a way to get all of that
information and to access all of that
and there’s also going to be a private
Facebook group for members only in the
Academy and so in that Facebook group
you can post videos I’m going to be
commenting in there a lot you can post
questions and you can also find a
language partner who’s working through
the course to practice with okay so that
is a little rundown of of Rachel’s
English Academy and now I’m going to be
answering your questions first I see one
that’s coming in now on live how can we
get your program well it’s all online
and you can get access starting October
25 next week next Tuesday in the
meantime above this video there should
be a link it’s a bitly link and if you
click on that it takes you to a page
with the countdown timer very exciting
so you can see exactly when the Academy
opens in the meantime there is a yellow
button there that you can click to get
on the VIP list you click that button
and you send your email and I’m looking
at all of these emails as they come in
that is doing something when you send in
your email to get on the VIP list you
should get one email just a little
notification that says you’re in and
then starting October 25 when the school
is available you’ll get a series of
emails reminding you when to buy what
you get if you buy in the first week
because you did get a few extra things
if you buy in the first week and then
also you get the lowest price if you buy
in the first week so if you click on the
link put your name on the VIP list then
you’ll get those emails so that’s how
you join and at that point then on
October 25 if you choose to go ahead and
join the Academy and
your subscription then you get instant
access to the courses that are there and
the lessons that are there and to the
Facebook group and I will be doing a
live class every month but an extra one
after the first week on November 2 we’re
all sort of be talking about the Academy
how to use the lessons how to navigate
and I’ll be answering your questions it
will also be a chance for you to test
out and see the webinar platform that
we’ll be using for our live classes okay
I’m going to get to some of these
questions now someone asked in a
previous video what about canceling and
restarting what happens then okay if you
ever cancel your subscription then if
you choose to restart later then you
just restart at whatever the current
price is so if you cancel then you’re
giving up whatever price you joined at
for example if you join in the first
week your price will be $10 a month and
maybe you decide to cancel in a year
maybe the price has gone up to $18 a
month or something if you cancel and
rejoin them when you rejoin you would
join in $18 a month unfortunately
there’s no way to pause the membership
so once you sign up you just stay in
there until you feel like you’re ready
to be done practicing on your English
and but once you start your subscription
you get access lifetime access to the
Academy at that price so no matter what
happens over time as the price goes up
as there’s more and more content in
there you keep your price for the
lifetime of your subscription payment
okay I have bad news I found out that I
can only accept credit card payments
through this Academy the thing is I
can’t do everything right so I came up I
am using a website platform to build the
online courses because I can’t do all
that myself that’s crazy I can come up
with a lessons but I can’t handle
billing and all of that and everything
so I’m using a platform that does
and to be using a subscription with it
which I’m doing the Academy is by
subscription only they can only use
credit cards as a four month payment so
I know that’s gonna not be good for a
lot of people and a lot of people that
means they’re not gonna be able to get
access so I want you to know that I am
trying to think of other things and one
idea I have is that I will be able to
take payments in another form but it
would be a manual thing you would send
me the payment I would give you access
to the course it wouldn’t be automatic
through the system
so probably the way I would do that is I
would require like six months or a year
at once and then at the end of that if
you want to buy again and you buy again
I wish there was a better way I am
asking the platform to come up with more
payment methods fingers crossed I don’t
know if they’ll ever do it okay someone
asked about test prep and speaking test
prep so there’s nothing and there
specifically about test prep I like the
idea of it and I definitely could see a
future course on that but there’s
nothing aimed at that directly however
every course is aimed at speaking
pronounciation conversation confidence
phrases so if you’re working through
this material and you are improving the
the way you speak how you’re able to
speak more naturally with your flow
you’re finding the American placement
from the conversation studies maybe
you’re picking up phrases that Americans
use when talking about themselves even
though it’s not directly relating to a
particular test question it’s definitely
preparing you for any spoken exam
definitely okay someone says who’s gonna
have direct contact with the students
well that’s me
it’s Rachel’s English Academy and for
now I’m all you get the videos in there
I’ve written and made
and then I’m gonna be the one in the
Facebook group I’m gonna be the one
teaching the live classes so it’s mostly
for self-study and this is something
you’re gonna be working through on your
own I’m gonna be giving you access to
the material and then you’re doing it
I’m not assessing you personally at this
point I would like to get that going at
some point in the future having some
people that can actually give
assessments and check-ins with students
and say you need to work on this a
little bit more or whatever but for now
it’s really a resource for you to work
through on your own with guidance from
me
yeah so I hope that answers that
question
okay someone says I am interested in
joining but I know I’m busy in this
first month I’m gonna be busy in October
and I’m not gonna be able to do all the
lessons will I get behind that’s a good
question yes and no let me explain you
will get behind a little bit in the
sense that there is one class it’s
called the daily plan I almost forgot
the name of the course it’s called the
daily plan and your first day that
you’re in the Academy you only see one
lesson day one the next day another
lesson gets released so on day ten you
have ten lessons so in that respect it
is dripping you content daily so if you
don’t look at it for ten days then there
are those ten days they’re going to kind
of back up now the thing about the daily
plan course is it’s not actually how do
I say this
the lessons in there are not only in the
daily course the daily course each day
it suggests lessons to go work on so it
takes all of the other lessons and all
of the other courses and then suggests
how you would work through them the
they do this this day do that so you can
work with the daily plan but if you
don’t want to if you miss 10 days or
something then you can just go back to
maybe you are working on the basics
course and you decide you want to work
through the whole basics course then you
can come back to that the content isn’t
going away it’s just more is being added
and to be honest I expect most people
are going to be working on it that way
they will be in there they’ll be finding
the courses they really like they’ll
work through them and when they don’t
have time to work for a couple days or a
week they won’t and they’ll come back
and maybe a little review some of what
they already did and they’ll find oh
there’s this new course module I love
this kind of lesson I’m gonna go to
study that but I do suggest the daily
plan it’s suggesting about 20 maybe 30
minutes a day of work that you can do
and it doesn’t just take one course
start to finish another course start to
finish I like to jump around a little
bit and we always tie things back into
each other and we also in the daily plan
into a lot of repetition because if I
just gave you a lesson and I said watch
this and you watched it and that was it
then you know how to talk about
something but you probably don’t know
how to actually do it and I don’t want
this course to be something where you
just get a bunch of information I want
it to be something where you get better
at speaking and so to do that there’s a
huge practice element and so practice is
a lot of repetition so the daily plan is
big on that work on this lesson again do
this again and so it’s looping back so
it’s not just the information it’s the
training as well if you were to get
behind if you were to take a week off
but you’re going through the daily plan
and you want to keep doing that then
when you come back just go back to the
where you left off and maybe try to do
two a day for a while but it’s okay if
you’ve been in the course for
a hundred days but you’re only on day
eighty that’s fine you don’t have to do
do it every day though I will say the
more consistent you are with it the
better your results will be so I hope
that you’re in there
ten minutes a day you know before you go
to bed and maybe you pull out your phone
you look at Facebook you look at
Instagram snapchat whatever what if you
decided I’m gonna take ten of those
minutes and I’m gonna look at the
Rachel’s English Academy I’m gonna watch
a video I’m gonna spend ten minutes
training an audio I’m gonna take one
quiz whatever maybe that can be your
commitment ten minutes of my end of day
phone time goes to Rachel’s English
Academy something like that okay enough
preaching about working every day let me
go on to some other questions that came
in okay someone says Rachel how will you
judge the level of learner well I’m not
actually going to be judging you I’m not
going to be giving you evaluations
that’s not a part of this Academy at
this time so within and the Academy
there are certain things that are going
to be for people who are more advanced
and it says that and but that I was
thinking about this and I want to say
that every lesson does work for every
person your level will determine what
you can take away from it but I would
never say hey you shouldn’t look at this
because it’s not your level you’re still
gonna learn something from it with the
Ben Franklin conversation analysis even
if you’re just watching and absorbing
but you’re not able to repeat it back
it’s not making sense with your mouth
whatever you’re still getting the you’re
still absorbing the information you’re
getting the concepts and that’s the step
one if you’re really advanced and you
get it and you’re pretty fluid with the
language it’s you’re pretty good at you
know flapping your tongue and th sounds
and this kind of thing then you’ll be
able to work with the audio and and
really integrate the phrases into your
body so you’ll have that benefit but if
you’re still not at that if you’re not
at that level yeah it doesn’t mean
you’re not going to benefit so still use
it and that’s one thing that I want
everyone to know is that I do say this
is easier this is harder but if you
think you’re really advanced don’t skip
the easy stuff you’re still going to
learn from that there’s you’re gonna
learn a new phrase for something you’re
going to notice something that oh how
did I miss that before so everything is
for everybody I know that that sounds
like an easy answer to that but I’ve
been teaching pronunciation only for
close to 10 years and it’s true this is
how I’ve been working with people people
at a different level will get something
different out of the exercise but the
exercise isn’t limited by who can see it
okay there’s that okay someone says how
do I join from the u.s. versus somewhere
else doesn’t matter it’s all online so
as long as you have an internet
connection it is an online class so you
have to have a pretty good internet
connection you can download the audio
but you can’t download the video so you
have to be able to go on there and be
able to stream video in order for this
class to be worthwhile for you but if
you have internet access then you can be
anywhere the videos are not YouTube
embeds or anything so you don’t have to
worry about YouTube being blocked or
anything like that all you need is an
internet connection and I know that
that’s not nothing my Wi-Fi in my house
sucks and you know I pay a ton of money
for it and live in a place where it
should be easy to get it so I don’t mean
to say that all you need is an internet
connection I know that that’s that’s not
easy for everybody okay someone said I
signed up for the VIP list but I didn’t
get an email so if you do sign up for
the VIP list which I hope you do link
above it’s a bitly link if you do sign
up for the VIP list
you’ll get one email right away that
says you’re in
and then you won’t get anything until
October 25 so October 25 when the school
opens is when you’ll start getting the
information about getting into the
school for the low price getting that
extra lessons and that kind of thing
someone says will there be a mouth
position videos with the up close stuff
yes there will be so this sounds course
that I’m working on that is partially
complete I’m making videos for the
course that have never been seen before
but I am also using some videos that
have been seen before
why because last year I spent hours
making the set of videos that has
instruction on the mouth illustrations
slow motion up close and eye
those are my best way to teach a sound
right now so there felt like no need to
remake those just for this course what
I’m doing is I’m using those in the
course when I’m adding a bunch of stuff
to it to make what you get in the course
different from what you get anywhere
else in the course you will get extra
videos that are talking about the sounds
and answering questions that I often get
about the sounds and then there’s also
back to what I said earlier the training
aspect in the audio in the vowel and
diphthong course and in the consonants
course there’s an incredible amount of
training audio to work with as I said I
do not want you to take this course just
to learn information I want you to be in
the Academy because you’re going to get
better at speaking and that’s only gonna
happen with the training so it’s on me
to be providing you with all of the
training material that you need and that
is what I’m doing so yes there is that
video of the up-close slow-motion speech
in the Academy okay someone says when
are the Goliath classes so the first one
is November 2 this is the extra one the
bonus one that I’m doing
people who sign up in the first week
it’s at 9 p.m. Eastern Standard Time and
I’m not sure what time we’ll end up
choosing for the the monthly life class
I think that’s gonna depend sort of on
who’s in the class and what time zones
and time slots work for the Academy
members someone says okay paying
month-to-month is there an option to pay
for like a whole year at once no not
currently and that’s you know the good
news is you can cancel at any time the
the reason why I’m doing that is because
one other time I offered people a one
month subscription or a six month
subscription and in 6 months when those
people got billed again they were like
what the heck Rachel they forgot that it
was a subscription and so I decided just
for ease of use there is just one option
it is a monthly subscription your credit
card will be charged every month also I
just want everyone to know that I know I
can sit here and answer questions and
explain things but there’s no really
getting it until you’re in there and so
if anyone gets in there and spends time
in there and feels like this isn’t
actually what I wanted there is a 30-day
money-back guarantee so if you’re in
there for 30 days or less you decide you
don’t like it you just let me know and
I’ll cancel your subscription and I’ll
refund your first month so you will not
have paid anything okay that’s all of
the questions that I had on my little
note card from previous videos I am just
glancing down through the comments and
if I see anything that’s related to the
to the school I’ll answer it
and I also just wanted to say I posted a
new video today did you check it out
it’s about the elections in the United
States which are happening very soon the
last debate is Wednesday that’s tomorrow
yeah anyway check out the video I
explained how to pronounce Trump and how
they pronounce Clinton if that’s
interesting to you and then I also ask
you guys to make a video talking about
your thoughts about the election if you
care to share I think that that will be
really fun to see everyone’s videos yeah
okay Lucas says there will be no
students winning their money back
because the school rocks Lucas I love
you Lucas as I said at the beginning of
this live video is one of just a handful
of students who I gave access to the
school early to and I did that so that I
could get feedback they could see what
was like tell me what they thought about
it yeah
so I think that I’m seeing some
questions come in that are related to
things that I’ve already said I don’t
want to make this video too repetitive
so I think I’m gonna cut it off and I
will go live again later this week and I
will read all of these comments and I’ll
be answering questions that have come in
in in another live video but for now I’m
gonna sign off but first I just want to
say aside from Rachel’s English Academy
how are you guys how’s life it’s a
beautiful day here in Philadelphia we’ve
had three days in a row of just gorgeous
weather you just want to be outside all
the time I unfortunately have been
inside most of the time I’ve been
planning ahead for this course for
months and I’ve been working on stuff
but still always towards the end of a
project there’s so much to do and I’ve
been up working until 10:00 or 11:00 at
night which is actually not unusual for
me I’m a night owl I love working at
night it’s when I really get focused but
since I had my baby in January that has
not been an option because if I don’t go
to bed early
I don’t sleep he’s up early he’s up in
the mill then I blah blah blah anyway
the point is all I’ve been doing
is either working or taking care of the
baby for the past few days so I haven’t
really been able to enjoy the sunshine
too much which is sad but you know I’m
yeah I just
I’ve been over these past couple months
as I’ve been working on the course and
I’ve been getting really excited about
what’s in there I’ve just been feeling
really thankful for for you guys and you
know there’s no point in making a school
if there’s no one to be in it so I’m
just I’m glad that you found me it’s
awesome yeah so I just wanted to add
that there at the end make this video
not all about business okay so that’s it
guys thanks for sticking with me a
hundred and thirty-one people watching
this that’s pretty exciting
this video will stay on the Facebook
page so if you joined at the end and you
wanted to see some of the answers to
some of the questions you can go back
and watch it don’t be afraid to share it
and definitely get on that VIP list the
link is above the video it’s free to
become a VIP you are not obligated to
buy the Academy’s subscription when it’s
available it’s just a way for you to
know when it’s available and what all
you get so that’s it guys great chatting
with you love seeing the hearts and the
likes go across the screen love reading
your comments after the video that’s it
okay here’s a little height of Raziel
high fours ill okay that’s it guys see
you