About English for Emergencies
Practical English for international assignments.
English for Emergencies is a five-level curriculum built for the people your organization sends into the world. It's not a general grammar course. It's the specific vocabulary and phrases people need when something goes wrong abroad — and English becomes the common language between them and the person who can help.
When does an emergency actually require English?
Usually it's not a local emergency. It's a situation involving people from different countries — and English is the shared language between them:
- A tourist needs medical help.
- An international employee has a workplace accident.
- An aid worker communicates with a multinational response team.
- Someone is traveling through an international airport.
- A worker must call an English-speaking supervisor.
- A volunteer explains an urgent situation to an international NGO.
Every level helps — from the very first lesson.
Workers deployed abroad are usually already learning the local language, not English. English for Emergencies is designed so nobody has to become fluent to benefit. From Lesson 1, every learner gains real, usable emergency communication in English — and each additional lesson widens what they can handle. Whatever level a worker reaches before deployment, they are safer than they were the day before.
Who this is for
Groups with the highest need for practical, situation-based English:
Aid workers & NGOs
Volunteers and staff responding to disasters alongside multinational teams.
Multinational employers
Employees who report to English-speaking managers or work with international clients.
Airline, airport & cruise staff
Front-line workers who handle passengers from dozens of countries every shift.
Hotel & tourism workers
Staff who help international guests navigate everything from wayfinding to medical issues.
Healthcare workers
Clinicians and support staff treating international patients and travelers.
Mariners & offshore energy
Crews on international vessels and rigs where English is the working language.
Students preparing to study abroad
Practical readiness for the moments universities don't cover in orientation.
Missionaries & long-term volunteers
Workers deployed internationally who need to function immediately, not eventually.
Immigrants in public housing
Residents facing fire alarms, repairs, inspections, 911 calls, and housing-authority notices in a language they're still learning.
Special Unit
Housing & Neighborhood Emergencies
An add-on unit for immigrants and refugees living in public or subsidized housing — where limited English can turn an ordinary problem into a dangerous one. Like every part of the curriculum, learners gain real, usable safety from Lesson 1, without needing to reach an advanced level first.
In-home emergencies
- • Fire alarms, smoke, and evacuation
- • Gas leaks and carbon-monoxide alarms
- • Burst pipes, flooding, and no heat
- • Electrical hazards and power outages
- • Lockouts and elevator failures
- • Overheating in hot climates when the AC breaks
Calling for help
- • Calling 911 — address, apartment number, what's happening
- • Poison Control and urgent care vs. ER
- • Describing symptoms and injuries
- • "I need an interpreter — I speak ___"
- • Refusing or consenting to treatment
Housing authority & landlord
- • Reporting repairs and pest issues
- • Understanding inspection and entry notices
- • Lease-violation and eviction notices
- • Recertification appointments
- • "Please write it down" / "I don't understand"
Neighbors & safety
- • Domestic-violence resources and safe words
- • Child safety and school emergencies
- • Noise disputes and community rules
- • Suspicious activity and when to call police
- • Shelter-in-place vs. evacuate
- • Reporting a crime — victim, witness, or after the fact
Designed to be sponsored or licensed by public housing authorities, resettlement agencies, city immigrant-affairs offices, community-college and library ESL programs, tenant-rights nonprofits, and churches running refugee ministries.
First-language support
Built for learners who aren't fluent readers — in English or their own language.
Traditional ESL materials assume the learner can already read comfortably in at least one language. Many of the people who need emergency English most cannot. Refugees, migrant laborers, elderly immigrants, and people from oral-tradition communities often arrive with strong spoken skills and limited literacy — even in their mother tongue. Every lesson is designed for them.
12 first languages
Spanish, Mandarin, Cantonese, Vietnamese, Arabic, Tagalog, Somali, Swahili, Dari / Farsi, Pashto, Ukrainian, and Russian. The site auto-detects the browser's language on the first visit and remembers the learner's choice after that.
Listen in the first language
Every translation has a speaker button using a natural voice in the target language — so a learner who cannot read Somali or Pashto can still hear the definition, tip, or scenario in the language they think in.
English words stay in English
Only helper text — definitions, phrase meanings, tips, headings, instructions — is translated. The English vocabulary and phrases being learned always remain in English, so the learner is building the real word, not a bilingual crutch.
Right-to-left ready
Arabic, Farsi, and Pashto render right-to-left with proper alignment and font coverage (Noto Sans Arabic web font), so the text looks correct even on older Android devices where the system fonts render boxes.
How a learner turns it on
- Open any lesson.
- At the top, tap Choose a language in the "Translate helper text" card.
- Definitions, phrase meanings, tips, and instructions now appear in the learner's language beneath the English. Tap the speaker icon to hear any of them read aloud in a natural voice.
- Native speakers can flag issues with a one-tap "Report a bad translation" link on every lesson — turning learners into ongoing quality control.
Organizations can request additional languages as part of a program. Translations are cached the first time a lesson is opened in each language, so cost stays flat no matter how many learners use them afterward.
What the curriculum is designed to deliver
English for Emergencies is built on a Survival First Spiral Design — 52 lessons across five proficiency levels, with the most critical life-safety language taught at every level with increasing depth. The first 14 lessons are the mandatory pre-deployment core: every worker leaves able to call for help, identify themselves, navigate a medical emergency, contact their organization, and get through an international airport. Here is what that produces:
For companies deploying staff
- • Fewer communication mistakes in the field
- • Safer employees in medical, security, and travel incidents
- • Better customer and partner interactions abroad
- • Faster onboarding — workers arrive already able to function
- • Lower training cost through self-paced digital practice
For mission agencies, NGOs, and universities
- • Workers and volunteers who can function sooner after arrival
- • A shared survival vocabulary across every deployment
- • Students prepared for real international life, not just the classroom
- • Take-away Survival Cards for the 3–5 most essential phrases per lesson
- • Consistent readiness whether learners attend regularly or sporadically
Every lesson is designed so no student needs to have attended the previous one — irregular attendance in the field is planned for, not penalized.
Three ways to use English for Emergencies
Self-study — no tutor required
For individuals and organizations without access to a tutor. Each lesson's nine-step Learning Path — story, vocabulary, flashcards, match, quiz, listen, dictation, scenario, and a Mastery Check the learner must pass to finish — is enough on its own to build real, usable English at the learner's pace.
Blended — Model A: Practice first
The flipped classroom. Students work through the online Learning Path before meeting the tutor, then spend the whole live session on what a screen can't do: pronunciation coaching, real questions, and dialogue role-play.
Blended — Model B: Tutor first
The traditional model, best for true beginners. The tutor introduces every word and phrase live using our printable lessons and PowerPoints, and the student reinforces it online between sessions.
Tutor training for company volunteers
For the two blended models above, organizations can enroll their volunteer tutors in our training program. We prepare them to teach the curriculum effectively — no ESL credentials required — so a company can build internal capacity to keep deploying prepared workers year after year.
Built for organizations
Progress monitoring
See who's practicing, who's stuck, and who's ready to deploy. Company leaderboards keep teams engaged.
Custom vocabulary
Add your organization's own terms — product names, safety procedures, ministry vocabulary, role-specific phrases — to any level.
Duty-of-care fit
Complements travel-safety, medical, and security briefings with the language layer that ties them together.
Works in any language
Learners can translate the entire site into their own language with one click, then switch back to English.
Digital certificates
Learners earn certificates as they complete each level — proof of readiness for HR and program files.
Volunteer-tutor friendly
Downloadable PowerPoints and lesson plans mean any volunteer can run a session — no ESL credentials required.
Ready to prepare your people?
Tell us how many staff or volunteers you're sending, which levels you need, and whether you'd like the blended (tutor) or self-study option. We'll follow up with pricing.