From freezing in client meetings to running them in English

Background

Sofía manages marketing for a Madrid agency whose clients are increasingly international. Her written English was strong — she'd passed school exams and read industry blogs daily — but speaking was a different story. In meetings she understood everything yet rarely spoke, and when she did, she translated sentence by sentence from Spanish and lost the thread.

The challenge

The problem wasn't vocabulary or grammar knowledge; it was retrieval under pressure and pronunciation confidence. Sofía needed to stop translating and start producing English in real time, and to be understood the first time without repeating herself.

What we did together

1. We placed her with a short CEFR assessment that confirmed a solid B1 with a much weaker speaking sub-skill — so the plan targeted speaking specifically, not 'general English'.
2. Three 20-minute speaking sessions a week with Marco, each ending in immediate, specific correction — the timing that actually changes habits.
3. Pronunciation work on the three sounds that were costing her clarity, plus sentence stress so she sounded decisive, not hesitant.
4. A bank of ready-made chunks for her real situations — opening a call, disagreeing politely, summarising next steps — practised until automatic.

The results

• Moved from B1 to C1 on the CEFR speaking scale across eight months of consistent, spaced practice.
• Now opens and leads client calls in English without preparing a script.
• Stopped translating in her head — she reports 'thinking in English' for routine work topics.
• Was asked to present at an international campaign review, something she'd previously avoided.

I always knew the words. What changed is that I can find them while someone is looking at me, waiting. That confidence came from being corrected the moment I made a mistake, again and again, until the right version was the natural one.

— Sofía, Marketing manager, Madrid