Project details
Global IELTS Mentorship
IELTS Speaking Group
When I began my IELTS journey, I faced a significant hurdle: a total lack of English speakers in my local area to practice with. For weeks, I searched social media to find practice partners, but most candidates were either below my level or lacked the persistence I was looking for. 1-to-1 calls often felt repetitive or lacked the depth needed for a high band score. Realizing that the local academic system wasn't designed for true fluency, and having learned primarily through English media myself, I took the initiative to build my own ecosystem. I started to collect and add motivated students from around the world—Pakistan, India, Indonesia, Yemen, and Equatorial Guinea—to create an international circle where we could practice without the limitations of our local environments.
As the group grew, I noticed a recurring pattern: most members were seniors older than me, yet they struggled with fundamental fluency hurdles like intonation, coherence, and tense consistency. Although I wasn't an official teacher, I couldn't refuse their requests for help because I knew exactly what it felt like to have no one to learn from. I began dedicating three hours daily to the group, conducting sessions on reading strategies, writing, and mock speaking tests. I chose a non-traditional path; instead of dry grammar lessons, I encouraged them to speak in any way possible—even "broken English"—to overcome their hesitation. I diagnosed their specific hurdles and recommended they "shadow" English shows to make their speech more natural and comfortable.
Even after I completed my own IELTS exam, I continued managing the group for a total of eight months. Correcting their mistakes and diagnosing their speech patterns actually became the most effective way for me to master the language myself. I was incredibly proud when members began reporting their results, with some achieving scores of Band 6.5, 7.0, and even 7.5. This project proved to me that cooperation is more powerful than being a "lone wolf." While I eventually had to divert my efforts toward my Data Science projects and Scouting, the 8 months I spent leading this group remain a foundational lesson in how to create a high-functioning system when the resources you need don't exist yet.