July has been a month of new doors opening. Alongside the usual rhythm of lessons, social content and a busy blog, two brand-new partnerships have landed. Here’s what’s been going on.
Where We’ve Been
The big news this month is on the partnerships side. We’ve been contracted to work with a private online high school, bringing our teaching approach to a new group of students in a classroom setting rather than one-to-one. And separately, we’ve started working with an immigration advisor, supporting their clients through the Life Skills test as part of the journey to successfully immigrating to the UK. Both feel like a natural extension of the work we already do, and I’m looking forward to sharing more as these relationships develop.
Website News
Three posts went out this month, and between them they picked up some of our best engagement yet. The standout was “English has replaced Python,” built around a student who graduated as a programmer and now spends his working life talking to AI rather than writing code by hand; the point being that clear English, not syntax, is fast becoming the real skill employers are after. That one reached 466 impressions and drew 30 comments.
Close behind was “Your English teacher might not be helping you,” which used the fork-in-the-road image of “English class” versus “Test ready” to make the case that general English lessons and exam preparation are not the same thing. That post reached 599 impressions and 22 comments – the biggest reach of the month.
The third was a look at the UK family visa English requirements, mapping out how the ladder from A1 to B2 is changing from March 2027, with a full B2 test replacing the current step-by-step climb.
Twitter/X
The @withanexpert feed kept up its usual rhythm of curated vocabulary articles, chosen for how well they feed into Speaking and Writing Task 2. This month’s themes included phone use and social issues; education versus employment, and the value of skills over degrees; AI chatbots stepping in for human emotional support; stress, burnout and cognitive performance; cities and climate action; small lifestyle changes and longevity; migration stories told through museum design; walkable cities and urban planning; reading habits and ageing; AI companionship and modern dating fatigue; and a look at 2026 travel trends built around nostalgia and authenticity rather than ticking off destinations. Sources ranged from Forbes, TIME and NBC News to the Associated Press and SUCCESS Magazine.
Blog
Three new posts went live this month. First, the Latest IELTS News round-up, covering a regulatory penalty against Cambridge English, a large acquisition in the US testing sector, tighter immigration fraud checks in Canada, and the latest on UK visa and settlement requirements. Second, IELTS Speaking: Family, covering key vocabulary and Part 1 to 3 model answers. And third, a model IELTS Writing Task 1 answer tackling a combination question – a pie chart and table on household waste – a question type that turns up less often than single-chart tasks but still needs a strategy ready when it does.
It’s also worth mentioning that the Speaking section of the website has had a design refresh, and the Family page is the first to use it: alongside the usual vocabulary and model answers, students can now test themselves with an interactive, auto-marked quiz – multiple choice, true or false, and matching questions – and get an instant score rather than just reading through the material. More pages will be moving over to this format soon.
Where Our Students Come From
This month I worked with students in Taiwan; Hong Kong; mainland China; and Colombia.
Student Spotlight
Olga – Overall Band 6.5 for Postgraduate Study in Europe
This month’s spotlight goes to Olga, an architect from Russia, who came to me needing an overall band of 6.5, with at least 6.0 in every section, to apply for a postgraduate programme in Europe.
Olga took around 25 lessons with me, the majority of them focused on Writing, working through her personal weak points one by one. She also made good use of our audio recording system, going back over lessons in her own time the way you might listen to a podcast – a small habit that made a real difference to how much stuck.
Here’s what Olga had to say:
“I took around 25 lessons, and most of them were writing classes. These lessons were particularly useful because they were based on improvement of my personal weaknesses. I also found extremely helpful this audio recording system when you can just listen each lesson again as a podcast. Finally, I got my 6.5 as overall score, with 6.5 each section and even 7.0 for reading! I’m very proud of my results because now I can realise my biggest desire to study abroad.”
Congratulations, Olga – wishing you every success with your studies in Europe! If Olga’s story sounds like where you want to end up, book a lesson and let’s get started.
When We Are Available
Lessons are available Monday to Friday, 9:00 am to 6:30 pm London time. Demand remains high, so if you’ve been thinking about booking, don’t leave it too long – the calendar fills up quickly, especially mid-week. Head to the booking page to grab your slot.
That’s all for July!
Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in July.