Amir R.
Speaking Lab · C1 · PhD funding
Where they started and landed
Speaking Lab and instructor feedback stopped me from building sentences in Persian first.
Full story
I'm a software engineer aiming for a fully funded PhD in Canada. Grammar and reading were fine; speaking was always weakest — I built sentences in Persian first, then translated.
My first assessment was CEFR B2 with speaking around B1. The instructor said the issue wasn't vocabulary but thinking in English and response timing. We planned 10 weeks with three Speaking Lab sessions per week.
Each session I recorded 45-second answers; feedback focused on stress and coherence. From week five I added TED-Ed shadowing. Mocks 9 and 10 pushed speaking from 22 to 26.
On the real test I scored Speaking 26 and total 104. I have an offer from an Ontario university and still attend Speaking Lab for interview prep.
Challenges
Mental translation from Persian, short unmotivated speaking answers.
Solution with Vekna
3 Speaking Lab sessions per week, shadowing, speaking-focused mocks.