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About Us

How SET Started

In early 2020, Speak English Together President, Sandra Effron, was taking in-person Spanish classes in New York City. When the pandemic forced classes online, she discovered American Tree House, a language school in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. The school not only offered Spanish lessons over Zoom but also paired Sandra with an English learner for weekly virtual language exchange conversations, which continue to this day.

Sabrina and Jimmy, Sandra’s teenage children, saw how meaningful her experience was and suggested trying something similar with peers in the U.S. and abroad. They recruited other New York City high school students to join them for weekly Zoom conversations with underserved advanced English learners at American Tree House. What began as a small experiment quickly grew into SET Students. The program now connects high school students from various independent schools in the U.S. with teenagers at English language schools in several countries around the world.

Building on this success, Sandra launched SET Adults, which pairs fluent English speakers with adult English learners abroad for virtual one-on-one conversations. In the early days, she had to search for English learners, but now they find SET through word-of-mouth, social media, and the organization’s website. Volunteers also come by word-of-mouth, outreach, and through many university TESOL (Teaching English as a Second Language) programs. 

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