Case Study — From Pre-Intermediate to Business Fluency

01 — Client Background

A Creative Director expanding her studio from Moscow to London

I started working with Anna in 2018, just after she arrived in London to expand a Moscow-based architecture and design studio where she was a Partner. To live and work in the UK, she needed to achieve an IELTS Band Score of 5.5, a hard requirement for her visa, and therefore for her business.

Anna told me that English was "not her cup of tea." She had a creative mind and little appreciation for traditional grammar. She struggled with written English, and her mild dyslexia did not help.

02 — The Challenge

From IELTS to business fluency, finding the right learning style for a visual, dyslexic learner

Anna's journey wasn't a single goal but a sequence of increasingly demanding ones, each with their own obstacles:

Initial level of pre-intermediate, corresponding to an IELTS band score of 3.5, yet she needed to reach at least 5.5 in less than a year to secure her UK status.
Mild dyslexia and a strong preference for visual rather than traditional grammar-based learning.
After IELTS, the next barrier: a Russian way of structuring thoughts, a Russian accent, professional emails written in Russian business style, not appropriate for business communication in English.
Years later, learning French from absolute zero, with the additional challenge of learning a Romance language for the first time: unfamiliar grammar concepts, difficult spelling and demanding pronunciation.

Each of these challenges required a different approach. A generic course at any stage would not work.

03 — The Solution

A long-term, visual, project-based approach across two languages

Anna and I have been working together since 2018, in three distinct phases. Every stage of the work was designed around how she actually learns: visually, through projects, and embedded in her real professional life.

Phase 1

IELTS preparation (3.5 → 5.5+)

We got straight to work on the four core IELTS skills and on building vocabulary. Anna read dozens of texts on biology, geopolitics, and psychology, and we made them stick using vocabulary maps. I also asked her to analyse and share her opinion on every subject we read, which gave her a strong foundation for the writing and speaking sections.

We brainstormed constantly. She emailed me daily to discuss current events, her business, and newspaper articles. We also held several lessons over the phone, which improved both her listening skills and her professional confidence.

Phase 2

Business English fluency

Once IELTS was passed, we moved to high-stakes business communication. We adopted a project-based approach: whenever Anna had an upcoming presentation, panel appearance, or collection launch, we analysed similar industry presentations together before building a brand-new one from scratch. Language learning was embedded directly into her professional output.

Phase 3

French from absolute zero

After founding her own interior design company and partnering with a French team, Anna decided to start learning French from scratch. The early stages were difficult: French writing and pronunciation are demanding, and it was her first time learning a Romance language structure. I tested several materials before settling on the Édito A1/A2 book, which combines classical grammar with carefully chosen audio. Once the basics were in place, we added short readings on design, fashion, architecture, and decoration to build professional vocabulary directly relevant to her work.

04 — The Results

From visa-blocking English to a second professional language

Over several years of work, the results stack up across both languages:

IELTS Band 5.5 passed within a year.

Full business fluency in English: Anna now delivers presentations and launches textile and furniture collections in English.

Now learning French and progressing steadily toward being able to work directly with her Paris-based business partners in their language.

05 — What Anna Said

In her own words

"Anna is a great teacher. A few years ago she successfully prepared me for the IELTS exam, which was extremely important for my business success in England. Now we have started a new adventure: learning French from zero, and I am sure I will be speaking French with our business partners in Paris soon!"

Anna A., Founder, Interior Design Studio, London

How I took Anna, a Creative Business Partner, from pre-intermediate to business fluency, and then onto a second language