I started learning English some 25 years ago when Polish teachers did not pay much attention to pronunciation and there were no online dictionaries with pronunciation option. I’ve never had a speaking barrier, but I could not articulate specific sounds of the British English, as nearly no-one ever taught me they existed and I mispronounced many words. Very often I could not understand what non-native speakers were saying because of their strong accent and pronunciation mistakes and I realised that many people must have had the same problems with me speaking English. ‘Sometimes I could not understand native speakers either as I was used to the incorrect sound of English words. I work a lot in English and travel a lot and that is why I wanted to improve the quality of my speaking. Lessons with Paulina are genuinely fantastic and my pronunciation gets better and better after every lesson during which not a single minute is wasted. She analyses the way you speak and introduces you to many rules regarding certain sounds so that you can notice that speaking properly is not that difficult and you don’t have to be born native. She also has a method of how to teach you to pronounce English sounds correctly by showing how to position your mouth, lips, chin, etc. to arrive at the perfect sound. And she is very dedicated, so if one method does not work for you, she will come up with another one. After a year my British friends noticed that my Polish accent disappeared. After two years other people, including British, sometimes asked me if I lived in England when I was a kid as I sound British. Moreover, my listening skills have significantly improved. I do not have any problems now watching British films or TV or listening to a British radio. I can even make a distinction when someone speaks with another accent than the southern English one. When talking to a British person, I do not have to try to make out what they are saying, and I can focus on the content (and vice-versa), which hugely helps me at my work and makes private conversations much nicer.
Paulina has also taught me how to speak in a more structured manner, deal with tricky interview questions and how to deliver catchy elevator pitches. Her support resulted in me being admitted to the best European MBA programmes, and I’m sure this success would not have been possible without her.
Definitely, lessons with Paulina have been one of my best investments in my self-development.