Hello friends,

Thank you so much for downloading one (or more!) of my worksheets. I really hope it’s been useful for you in your journey to mastering the English language.

I want to help you even further.

Every week, I write this newsletter for people just like you. I share useful articles and other resources to help you improve your English. As a teacher who’s highly interested in the science of learning, I also include study tips that will help you maximise the effort you put into learning English.

In this week's newsletter:-

How I can help you improve your written English even more
Article of the week: Nigeria's blue economy ministry
Study tip of the week: Why you are NOT a visual learner

1. How I can help you improve your written English EVEN more

Today, I want to share with you another way I can help you improve your written English, especially if you are preparing to take a Cambridge English exam.

I am an experienced teacher with a special interest in teaching students how to write well.

I can mark your written exam tasks (i.e. essays, articles, proposals, reports etc) for the Cambridge B2 First, C1 Advanced and C2 Proficiency exams.

I will use the official markbands the examiners use for this paper and give you useful feedback, such as the example below. And I'll give you an estimated mark so that you know how you would have done if you’d produced this piece of writing in a real exam.

And I’ll do all of this in 48 hours.

Take a look at what some of my previous students say about me.

"Now that I’ve passed the Proficiency with flying colours I must say that thanks to Andy, my writings have reached a level I would have never imagined".

Pepe (passed C2 Proficiency in December 2022).

"(Andrew) kindly corrected my writings in no time and gave me a very thorough and effective feedback that actually helped me on the exam day. I really appreciated his preciseness and professionalism."

Medià (successful C2 Proficiency student June 2023)

For an investment of €20, I’ll mark your written English and give you concrete feedback on what you need to do to improve your mark. Click the button below to take your writing to the next level.

Click here to take your written English to the next level!

2. Article of the week

Have you heard of the blue economy?

It means using the ocean and coastal resources to generate economic activity.

I’ll admit I’d never heard of it until I read this article on The Conversation this week.

This fascinating article is short enough for you to read in 10-20 minutes.

It contains a wealth of climate and environment-related vocabulary you would do well to learn if you’re studying for a Cambridge exam.

The writers of these exams simply love climate change and the environment as topics, so it really is worth making a strategic decision to learn vocabulary related to these areas.

As always, this article has been written by an academic expert, who also has the ability to write in an appealing way.

If you’re looking for something a bit different to read in English this weekend, why not give it a try?

3. Study tip of the week - Why you are NOT a visual learner

It’s a common myth, but a myth nonetheless, that individual learners can be classified as either visual, auditory or kineasthetic. The idea states that by matching instruction to your preferred learning style (e.g. watching videos if you’re a visual learner, or listening to a podcast if you’re an auditory learner) you maximise the effectiveness of the instruction.

Unfortunately, there’s simply no evidence that this is true.

What is supported by academic evidence (and common sense!) is that by matching the modality of learning to the task itself, you do maximise learning.

Obviously, it’s best to learn how to knit by watching someone do it and, ideally, getting feedback on how well you do. Likewise, the only good way to learn how to ride a bike is to get on a bike and try to ride it.

No one would ever suggest you could learn to ride a bike by listening to someone tell you how to do it.

It’s the same with learning English.

If you need to improve your ability in reading comprehension, you need to read. That doesn’t necessarily mean practising official reading questions although that can be useful.

Instead, read an article and practise summarising it to a friend.

If you need to practise writing, get into the habit of writing every day, just for five minutes. Write sentences that use the latest vocabulary you’ve learned, or look at your last piece of writing and try to improve one of the paragraphs e.g. by structuring it differently.

Don’t forget you can follow me on X where I post daily content helping you master your English.

Have a great week everyone.

Andrew

Bonus vocabulary:

Did you know the meaning of these words/phrases used in the email?

take something to the next level: a colloquial way of saying 'improve'

kinaesthetic : related to bodily movements.

modality: the particular way in which something exists e.g. visual versus auditory, or words versus images

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