TESTIMONIALS
Sooyeon Kim | General English, Business English
As an English learner who lives in virtually the-only-Korean-speaking country, it had always been hard to practice and improve my English speaking skills. Fortunately, I stumbled upon Barons English about two years ago, and it has become a routine of mine to meet the excellent teachers once or twice a week from then on.
When I first decided to take a lesson, I was not so sure if it would work well on Skype because I did some courses at a language school in the past and thus I knew how important interaction between a student and a teacher is. I also was a little nervous about if it went wrong due to technical glitches. However, the apprehensions turned out to be unnecessary. All the more, I have been able to meet teachers from various backgrounds through Barons, which not only let me learn colourful words and phrases, but I was able to see the world and exchange opinions freely, from different perspectives. As a matter of fact, just recently, I found myself speaking English in a relaxed manner, and I am even very much enjoying it.
In hindsight, it was high time for me to practice the speaking part of my English study intensely. I felt there were crevices in my English here and there, although I had dedicated a year to self-study, but I did not know how to fill them in. I am lucky to have found Barons in that respect.
I would not be exaggerating to say only taking Barons’ lessons guarantee you achieve an excellent command of English. As a long-time Barons' student, Barons will truly be your best friend on your long journey to English fluency.
Akiko Ookawa | Business English
To begin with, each of the teachers at Barons English plan my lessons for me according to my specific learning objectives, therefore the classes are extremely beneficial. In particular, I find that the practical role-playing sessions and the documents which I get sent after the classes for further study are very useful for my work and life in general. During the classes, the teachers pick up on where I am frequently making mistakes and also provide me with new phrases to use. These are also sent to me after class by email so I can then refer to and study them afterwards.
Furthermore, I think it is a very attractive point that I am able to take classes with teachers who all actually live in the U.K. and have beautiful British English accents. I would highly recommend Barons English to students who want to improve their pronunciation as the teachers always check and correct the students' pronunciation. To speak English properly in an easy to understand manner and with a good accent is not a simple matter, however the teachers create a cosy and comfortable atmosphere which makes learning easier. They really take into consideration the required pace of my learning during lessons and advise me on lots of tips to increase my English skills.
I was able to start lesson easily because there wasn’t any special preparation for the lesson and just took a class through Skype. As teachers were very friendly, I could ask questions freely and discussed the issue. I sometimes struggle to understand what the native speakers are talking, but it means I am learning lively English so it must be a great study.
Nami Ihara | Children English
My extremely shy, 6-year-old daughter, Miyu, previously joined a group lesson at an English school in my town, however, she refused to continue going. Thereafter, through a friend's introduction, we had the chance to try a one to one English class with Barons English school.
Miyu, who almost speaks zero English, appeared to be quite anxious up until the start of the lesson. However, as soon as the class started, she seemed to be enjoying the lesson which was being conducted via the computer screen. She got a mini-test at the end of the lesson and this gave her a confidence boost too.
Miyu can still only speak broken English but she is beginning to open up little by little, and this is thanks to the teacher who so patiently teaches her even when Miyu gets embarrassed and hides her face. Now, Miyu looks forward to her next English lessons.
What's more, my son, Ryo, who is just 4 years old, was watching all of this from close by and became interested. He enthusiastically said he also wanted to take lessons! Now Ryo also takes English lessons online.
I am really grateful to Barons English from who we can take lessons from very experienced, native English speakers in a fun environment.
Yoko Tsukii | Writing Lesson
At work, I often need to write in English to customers who are mostly native English speakers. I have to be careful that I not only get my message across but also communicate in the politest possible manner. For this reason, I decided to take the Writing Course at Barons English. Even though I have experienced living abroad for a number of years, can read and write English comfortably, and have attained a 970 TOEIC score, writing respectfully and without conveying any rudeness to customers was still very difficult. In particular, as I occasionally write English documents on behalf of my boss and it is my boss who signs them before we send them out to customers, I need to ensure that the writing and grammar are of senior management level quality.
I discovered after taking lessons with Barons English that British English is really elegant. The style and sophistication is completely different to that of American English. I think that American English is too casual and it doesn't match the image we wish to portray at my company to our customers.
Next, I would like to talk about grammar, which is still difficult for me despite being fluent in English. No matter how advanced my English is, it became a bad habit for me to use 'with' or 'at' all the time, going by what sounded right to me. I am really grateful that the teachers corrected this for me, they analyse my mistakes and specify how to correct them. Also, with regard to countable nouns, I sometimes found it hard to identify whether a noun was countable or uncountable and that had become a bad habit of mine too. I appreciated seeing those corrected and I became more aware of how to use both countable and uncountable nouns.
I really feel that I have learnt a lot, I am glad I used Barons and had my work looked over by native English speakers from Britain. My writing has really improved and I feel like I have reached the next level in my English skills.
In Gi Pung | IELTS Lesson
I hardly have the chance to speak in English.
Even though I had English lessons as a core subject at primary school, the things that we learnt about English were mainly related to grammar or vocabulary.
Teachers seldom taught us ways of comprehending works of English literature and barely anyone was willing to speak English in class.
I feel like I am more confident about learning English from the internet by myself through songs and speeches.
After using the internet, my listening and reading abilities became better but my speaking and writing skills were not the same story.
My English hasn’t improved since the graduation from high school until now at University because I became a Chinese Major student. I don’t really have any chance to keep in touch with English.
However, I am facing a dilemma recently because one of the graduation conditions of my University is getting at least a score of 6 or above for the IELTS exam. This has given me the determination to improve my English level, in order to pass the exam.
Barons English provides ways of learning English through Skype and it really fits me a lot! I can learn English via a channel that I always used without suffering any pressure since I can choose “when to learn and what to learn”.
Another benefit of using Barons English is that I am actually learning the authentic, unadulterated British accent with tutors one-to-one. I can keep myself in touch with the most standard English grammar and pronunciation.
At first, was not really getting into it and refused to speak, but the teachers from Barons English are just so patient, and also, outstanding.
They encouraged me by using simple questions, leading me to speak out my thoughts, step by step, and pointed out any mistakes in my talking.
I would like to give a special thanks to Zoe as she is such an earnest teacher.
I talked to her about my concerns with the IELTS test. She gave me a lot of guidance and suggestions on my pronunciation and grammatical errors and the unnatural structure of my sentences.
Kato Tatami | General English
I had the chance to live abroad for quite a long time for both work and study.
After graduation from college, I went to America and France and experienced some home-stays.
Ten years have passed since then and in between that time, I became confident to speak English with non-native English speakers through a variety of experiences, for example, whilst working in Hong Kong for three years.
However, when I talk to native English speakers I still cannot manage to keep up with their speed of talking and sometimes in the middle of the conversation I cannot catch what they are trying to say.
By taking listening classes at Barons English, I have found that I am improving in understanding native English speakers. Also, I have discovered that oftentimes I actually make quite a lot of grammatical errors in conversation, for example when using the past tense.
Therefore I really wanted to solve this problem too.
There are many brilliant teachers at Barons English and students have the flexibility to choose whichever teachers they wish to study with.
We can study with just one or with many of their teachers.
For instance, I chose a teacher who I have a good chemistry with in terms of conversation and we have a lot to talk about so this is great for my listening skills.
The teacher makes the class fun and as she is open and friendly, I feel really comfortable in class. I enjoy these lessons, talking about various kinds of topics.
On the other hand, for my grammar, I chose a teacher who is quite strict with and precise with checking and correcting my mistakes while we are talking and who offers a lot of grammar drilling exercises.
All of the teachers are very kind and polite and I joyfully take the lessons. I have really learnt which tense I should use for which situation.
I quit my job several months ago and decided to go travelling around the world. As Barons English is an online school, I didn't need to stop taking lessons just because I am moving around from place to place.
It is a really effective way to study English for me because I can be anywhere in the world and still join the classes.
What's more, the lesson fees are really reasonable.
Judy Chang | Business English
When I joined my company in Japan, it was a domestic company and therefore I didn't need to use English at work. However, later on, it was merged and the company is now 100% foreign owned. For this reason, I have a lot more opportunities to come into contact with English, with the senior managers of the company in Japan and also with the new head office in London.
The frequency of my needing to write English emails increased dramatically and so I gradually became accustomed to reading and writing in English.
Unfortunately, I still had no confidence in my speaking and listening skills in English.
Firstly, with regard to speaking English, as I am quite a shy person and hardly had any communication with foreigners before, whenever I needed to have a meeting with the London office I became terribly nervous and was unable to express myself.
Therefore, in order to practice more my verbal communication skills in English, I decided to try Barons English.
One of the reasons I chose Barons English is that the lessons are one to one and therefore I knew I would not be able to escape from talking to the teacher, unlike in group lessons.
When I take lessons I am really engaged and completely concentrating on the conversation. If I am not able to express myself, the teacher tactfully guides me and uses different questions to help me to say what I want to convey.
Also, whenever I make any mistakes, the teacher immediately lets me know and we practice how to say things the correct way. Thanks to this consistent study and pointing out of errors, I started to realise myself when I was making any mistakes and I am also able to correct myself too now.
I think this is great and I am seeing a real improvement in my learning.
The teachers are so professional and cordial.
In the beginning, I was pretty nervous about using English with them in lessons but there wasn't any need to be.
Because of the teachers' manner and attitude, I can always relax and take the classes enjoyably.
In terms of my listening, I really wanted to better my listening skills with regard to British English.
From since I was a child I was used to hearing American English, at school on TV.
Due to this, I had difficulty tuning my ears into the British pronunciation which the people in the UK head office were speaking.
I thought that if they said the same thing with an American accent, I would have understood, but due to the British accent, I simply couldn't catch what was being said.
Now, after lessons with Barons English, I am learning to hear and grasp the differences between the American and the British accents.
My listening is so much better than before. Before, if I missed a few words of what was being said, I would become so nervous that I would freeze up, but now if that happens, I feel comfortable enough to ask the teacher to repeat what was said, or, I can somehow guess the point the context of the conversations.
Another benefit of studying with Barons English is that I can freely take lessons at any time I choose.
I finish work at differing times every day and some days I do not get home until rather late.
I can book lessons just a day before and I find this flexibility really works well with my schedule.
I usually book my classes for after 11pm which I wouldn't be able to do if I took lessons at an actual physical school, therefore this is extremely convenient for me.
TESTIMONIALS
The testimonials are based on the following questions which we asked the students after they had taken lessons with us.
Questions
1. Are you satisfied with the quality of the lessons?
2. If yes, which part of lessons are you especially satisfied with?
3. Is there anything about the lesson that can be improved?
4. Are you satisfied with the services provided y Barons English?
5. Is there anything we could do to improve the services we currently offer our students?
Youra Seo
1. Pretty satisfied.
2. As I mentioned before, it was great that teachers corrected my English in order to make my pronunciation, phrases and sentences more accurate.
3. I studied with high-quality learning materials and Michelle's lessons on the subjunctive were very impressive. Actually, I have learned it from grammar textbooks in Korea though I couldn't apply it to the real conversations, however after Michelle's lessons, I can use it naturally with clear understanding how and when I can use it. She taught me with various examples using sentences with clear and confident explanation and it was very helpful for understanding and made my English improved a lot. I hope I could get more opportunities to learn grammar through speaking based lessons especially next time.
4. I was pretty satisfied with Barons English services. They took care of me and encouraged me to inquire freely whenever I have questions or inquiries.
5. It looks like the lessons reservation page needs to be improved. I refreshed the page several times when I made reservations.
Barons English
Errors occurred in the lesson reservation page sometimes as a few applications were heavy. We revised the website with lighter applications thereby reducing errors significantly.
Hanseok Kim
1. Kit's lessons were great and I was so satisfied with his lessons.
2. Kit made good teaching materials for me; e.g. when I asked him about British culture, he made a great material to teach me. He spoke slowly whenever I couldn't understand and rephrased with several different expressions for my better understanding. He explained easily by the consideration of my English level and helped me to understand his words well.
3. No.
4. Yes, I was satisfied.
5. Sometimes I was curious whether studying with Barons English could improve my English as I couldn't review after lessons. Therefore if I can get textbooks that teachers have, lessons would be more efficient as I can review with textbooks.
Barons English
For members who want to review after lessons, we have chosen some of the textbooks that students can buy in Korea. If students don't require specific textbooks, Barons English Teachers use their own textbooks and share these with students during the lesson.
Yoori Song
Our family have lived in the UK for 2 years previously and we are live in Korea now.
I was so glad to find the UK based online English school and could start lessons happily.
Already 2 months have passed since my daughter started lessons with Barons English and my daughter really enjoyed lessons as teachers are kind and she liked lessons & teachers a lot therefore, she is attending lessons 3 times in a week constantly now.
However, at the beginning of lessons, teachers used a lot of drawings to teach her. She was interested in that and enjoyed that kind of lessons though, lessons can be different from teachers?
I feel like that if Barons English follows textbooks, it can help my daughter's English fluency with confident speaking attitude.
Therefore, I would like to ask for Barons English to use unified textbooks for the long-term teaching perspective.
Barons English
We focused on topic conversation as the student's English level was close to the native speaker's than improving grammar or pronunciation in the beginning, however, after discussion with the student's parents, we changed the direction to improve the speaking skills and logical expressions by using drawing expression and sentence composition textbooks.
Sumi Lee
Becky's reaction during the lesson was good and it made a comfortable studying atmosphere to make cheerful conversation.
Even though I lost words during the conversation, she suggested several available words to express my ideas in English and repeated keywords for my understanding.
Therefore, Becky was good whenever I would to study English conversation in the fun mood.
Katherine pointed out parts where I'm weak and her preparation for lessons was excellent.
As I'm weak in reading, she used BBC articles to use contemporary issues for my interests.
And her lessons for idioms and comparison between British and American English were impressive as well.
There are many teachers in the evening classes, but I only can make time with morning lessons hence, please help to introduce available teachers in the morning.
Barons English
For students who can't make time for evening lessons in Korea, we additionally opened lesson schedules for early morning time (evening time in GMT) to give more choices in terms of teachers and times.
Heylim Kim
This is Heylim who I studied with Barons English at the end of 2014 and hope you still remember me :)
When I prepared Cambridge Test, I chose Barons English, as Cambridge Test is based on British English, before 1 and half months from the test date.
I have gotten the result of the test and I have passed it!!
Thanks to Ritz's great lessons, I could pass it on the contrary of my assuming - failing to the test. She teaching was very helpful to prepare the test.
It was not easy to find British English online schools but luckily found Barons English and studied with Ritz. I appreciate Ritz's teaching again and please pass my thanks to her.
I hope many students who are studying British English can find Barons English and Barons English can help them in return.
Looking forward to studying with Barons English again!!
Barons English
We informed the teacher of the student’s news and passed on his warmest regards.