The Coronavirus is here and unfortunately, it will be a while before things get back to normal. As a school we have a responsibility to our students; to keep them safe, monitor their wellbeing (including financial), as well as making sure they continue to make progress in their English language learning journey.

At Zoni we were fortunate enough to already have a Virtual Presence Program (VPP) up and running. So rather than scramble to create a new lesson delivery system, we only had to increase what was already in place.

Since 2019, we have implemented and fine-tuned our Virtual Presence Program and have rolled it out to thousands of students around the world, including the Colombian military. Students in our VPP have achieved higher active participation and 100% English level-skills improvement. These results are much higher than those of other online courses.

As the Coronavirus became a harsh reality, our focus became helping students maintain their visa statuses. Especially those with applications already underway. With thousands of students across our campuses this was not easy. For this reason Zoni gave students a two week break to prepare and organize their agendas according to the new educational and financial realities created by the coronavirus.

As of March 30, our entire international F-1 visa student community of over 6000 students resumed their ESL studies virtually. Students wanting to leave or who left the United States, are able to continue their studies virtually and will still comply with the requirements of their student immigration status. This means that they will be able to return to Zoni once travel restrictions have been lifted as long as they have kept up with their classes online.

We understand that this situation has caused financial difficulties for some students. Therefore, we have set up an office to help students with extreme financial hardship. Economic Hardship Aid is provided on a case-by-case basis to students, according to their degree of financial need. Zoni is offering students full and part scholarships to the Zoni Virtual Presence Program, payment plans and assistance with things like Wi-Fi access.

Every Zoni employee is dedicated to assisting students to remain healthy, feel supported and achieve success in their studies. We are all working together to find solutions to the personal challenges we are facing – challenges that none of us could have never imagined.

We would like to reassure our agents, partners and of course our students, that although things are hard now, we will get through this. Zoni Language Centers wishes you all good health and strength.

For more information please contact [email protected] or visit our website, www.zoni.edu