In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, many schools and educational institutions in Vietnam had to be closed and transformed from traditional learning to virtual classrooms. In the same move, teachers and students in Lang Son had to combine and employ online platforms such as Zoom, Google meet, or Microsoft Teams to teach and learn online for about two years of the pandemic. Despite the supposed benefits of virtual learning to mitigate the impacts of the pandemic, whether the students really perceived this new type of learning remains unknown. We conducted a research into the actual situation of online learning and teaching English from high school students’ perspectives with the aim to address students’ attitudes, levels of satisfactions and expectations towards online lessons they attended. 1822 students in 16 schools in one city and 9 districts of Lang Son took part in the research’s online questionnaire through Google Forms. The findings show that most students hold positive attitudes towards learning English online. Especially, those who are self-confident in their technology skills and knowledge tend to find it much easier and more enjoyable when learning virtually. Besides, it is revealed that the biggest problem among students is the lack of technology and stable internet connection, and the support they most needed is the instruction of effective online learning strategies. Finally, an online lesson with interactive games and attractive presentations as well as a user-friendly platform allowing students to upload homework and review lessons is what many students highly appreciated.