Anita is in her late 20s, knows she is good at her job and is ambitious. The company where she works has a lot of important foreign clients. Also, many of her colleagues are from different countries and work remotely. As a result, a lot of the communication is in English: e-mails, presentations, video calls, etc.

Anita knows she has problems communicating in English. She also knows it would be a huge benefit to her career if she improved it.

She had heard of IELTS, TOEFL and CEFR but she didn’t know what they all meant. After reading a comparison of the English language test scores she understood what they all meant, and which one was the best for her.

She hasn’t studied English since she was at university, so she wasn’t sure of her present level. That evening after work she sat down and took an English level test.

The results showed that she was a low B2. A little lower than she thought but she hasn’t used her English much for a couple of years and has forgotten a lot of what she knew. Probably the same as most people in her position she thought.

Anita has always set goals in her life. She knows how important they are for motivation. She had set the goal of getting into her chosen university, had set the goal of graduating with a good degree, and had set the goal of getting a good job. All had been achieved.

Anita has long dreamt of what she could do if she could comfortably and naturally communicate in English. She decided that reaching C1 in English would be her next goal.

After reading about how long it takes to learn English she estimated that it was going to take her 12–14 months to achieve this goal. She wasn’t afraid of the time nor of the work, because she knew anything that has value takes time and takes work.

Then Anita thought about teaching herself. She was a low B2, surely she knew enough to get to the next level without a teacher? After reading that even the best need help she decided that she wanted to do the job properly and that a teacher was going to be a big help.

She had seen my profile on LinkedIn, liked what she had read, and so booked a free assessment lesson with me.

The free assessment lesson took place yesterday and took a little over 35 minutes. During it we assessed her present level of English, discussed her goals, and her study plan. We agreed that she will have two 60-minute lessons and do 30 minutes of self-study per day.

Today was Antia’s first lesson.

I have spent more than 20 years helping numerous Anitas. This is what I do, and the type of person I help.

Are you like Anita?