This course gave me a lot of perspective, new ideas, and insights. It combines theory with practical tools and I especially enjoyed the applied neuroscience explanations. Julian is kind, reasonable, s... See more
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See what reviewers are saying
MEFA is not the magic pill that can immediately change your English level, but still an amazing course I've ever had! Honestly, the 90 days is not easy! but I learned so much:) Thank you, Juli... See more
I had expectations on the MEFA course but It's been even better than expected. Forget about traditional English lessons, this is another thing. Open your mind, be constant, work hard...it works. Duri... See more
MEFA is a systematic and carefully designed course that will bring you into a brand new world of speaking English. More than "speak", MEFA provides me with a methodology on how to learn English. Plu... See more
Company details
About Doing English
Written by the company
Julian Northbrook
English Learning Expert, Aspie & Language Obsessive
About Julian Northbrook Doing English
Hi, I'm Julian. The founder of Doing English, a place for frustrated non-native English speakers who want to speak extraordinary English, creator of the infamous MEFA English course and leader of the League of Extraordinary English Speakers (the MEFA graduate programme).
Creator of British Stories.
Went to Tokyo to be an Artist and failed. Lived there for 13 years. Now I live on the beautiful coast of West Cork, Ireland.
Published author and researcher.
Contact info
Ireland
- doingenglish.com
4.9
Excellent
206 reviews
No history of asking for reviews
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That's a different way of learning…
That's a different way of learning English, which I found very engaging and it quickly became my daily routine.
It helped me to get back my confidence as I am more fluent in English language and I can express my thought easy.
Each weeks lessons were interesting and I have learned from them lots of cultural things, found of examples I could use in my day to day life. Dicatations helped me with my listening skills and spelling. I am definitely more efficient typer now. Shadowing exercises helped me with pronunciation.
So if you stuck with your English in a level you cannot get better anymore, these EES lessons might be the way out.
Thank you Julian once more, you are star !
August 2, 2019
Unprompted review
Reply from Doing English
Thanks so much, Jurate!
I really enjoyed working with you in EES :)
The course is exceptional considering…
The course is exceptional considering the fact that there are so many voodoo courses out there trying to rip you off. If you really want to transform your English level, I highly recommend that you should take on this course.
August 1, 2019
Unprompted review
Reply from Doing English
Thanks so much Dang! You worked hard on MEFA, and deserve the results you're getting.
Thank you for MEFA!
Studying English from schooldays for more than 20 years, I stuck in the intermediate level and thought I'd never see the progress. Although I understood everything, I couldn't string two words together. I have tried all methods, till eventually find Julian's MEFA course. These twelve weeks was mind-changed for me. I realised why I'm struggling with learning English and how can I fix it. Julian helped me to boost my English speaking skills and show me the way of future progress. Thank you, Julian, very much! P.S. Of course, I'm going on to further study as EES member for continuous improvement.
July 30, 2019
Unprompted review
Reply from Doing English
Thank you so much Tatiana!
I really enjoyed working with you over the last 12 weeks and can't wait to hear from you in EES, too!
I highly recommend taking MEFA
I highly recommend taking MEFA.
This is a holistic course that covers a wide range of aspects that have an impact on someone’s speaking ability: habits, mindset, learning techniques, culture, time optimisation and more.
Julian has created a system to help people improve their English. He shows his students exactly what steps to take pointing them in the right direction.
Before joining MEFA, I had no idea where to start in order to improve my English. I would watch films, read books and write down stuff randomly. I also had an online English tutor with whom I had conversations in English. However, I realised that I wasn’t getting any results at all, as there was no structure, no methodology, and the person with whom I was chatting, had never learned a second language to fluency, so he had no idea what I was struggling with (e.g. mental barriers, negative self-talk, the need for using real-life expressions and more).
Instead, Julian has firsthand experience of what learning a second language is like; not only he encourages people to work hard, but he also works hard to help his students. The lessons are very well-structured and I’ve learned several new expressions of real-life English.
I would also recommend grabbing a copy of “Fearless Fluency” and “Unchain your English”, two books that really helped me (and still help me) to overcome my negative ideas regarding my English level. I listen to the audio versions of these books every time I feel really frustrated with my communication skills in English.
Thanks to these books and MEFA I decided to do more things in English right away, such as applying for a better job (which I just got) and going to the cinema to watch films in English without subtitles. Although I still make mistakes I just focus on the purpose of what I’m doing rather than my grammar or pronunciation.
July 29, 2019
Unprompted review
Reply from Doing English
Thanks so much Roman!
Reading this review has made my day. Seriously; it's put a massive smile on my face. Partly because it's great for my ego, but mostly because I'm really happy about the success you've had so far.
Working with you on MEFA (and after in EES) has been a very satisfying experience for me, too - it's great to have someone who turns up, does the work ask (and more), asks great questions and continues to challenge himself (and me).
Keep it up!
Julian
Highly recommended for everyone who…
Highly recommended for everyone who desperately wants to improve their English.
But just like Julian always mentioned in his website and books, the MEFA course is not for everybody who wants instant success and improvement. Julian will provide great insight and right mindset including excellent materials and methods for improving English. However, all these things are useless if you are not willing to put effort on your part. Julian can only do his best to guide and teach and perhaps criticize in order to learn from our mistakes. Having said that, I have never ever regret in joining Julian's MEFA course and buying his books because it's not only improved my English big time but also my personality and behavior which I think are most important. In addition, I will always support and follow Julian's future program as improving English is not a one time endeavor but it's a process. So, KUDOS for Julian Northbrook and his team and more power.
July 29, 2019
Unprompted review
Reply from Doing English
And KUDOS to you, too, Gary. You've been a real pleasure to work with you in MEFA, and I can't wait to see more from you over the coming weeks and months in EES.
I had a good time during the MEFA…
I had a good time during the MEFA course. It certainly has helped me overcome those struggles which have been bothered me for too long and holding me back from improving English.
Also, I am a member of EES and all the studying materials, and weekly Q&A call is really useful.
I probably will not recommend the course to everyone but people who have determinations and willingness to improve their English. It is not a traditional (and easy) English course and could be too intense for some people. However, I believe those who determined to make a change in their life and are bold enough for taking action will be a benefit of the course.
July 26, 2019
Unprompted review
Reply from Doing English
Thanks so much, Mei!
As you say, MEFA is certainly not an easy course (neither am I an "easy" person to work with), but it's been fantastic watching your progress during EES, MEFA and now EES again.
Keep it up!
Julian
Julian's coaching was a game changer for my English
I took Julian's coaching course last year, and it was a game changer for my English.
Julian is not only an English teacher, but a specialist who understand English learners problems inside and out. He teaches how to build the correct mindset to be able to speak English in the real world, not just in classes.
Before I struggled with speaking and English small talk even though I live in the US and use English at my job. I obsessed with grammar so much that I was always only cared about grammatical errors and never focus on the meaning. I thought I just had to study more grammar rules and I could speak natural English. But Julian made me think deeper about everything I was doing helped me reinvent my learning.
Julian teaches a good method that is easy to follow. I definitely would recommend his course to someone who wants to improve his level and enjoy English conversation at ease.
July 24, 2019
Unprompted review
Reply from Doing English
Thanks so much, Shunji!
You put in a tremendous amount of effort into your English during the months we worked together - you deserve the success you've gotten since!
Keep it up!
Julian
great teacher, great course
In conclusion, I must give 5 stars. Julian is the best teacher I've ever had. The "3M" ideas exactly work, not only in English, but also in a lot of other ways, just if you do it. Through the course, I realized that language must be combined with culture and knowledge. And I learned how to improve my English effectively. To be honest, it's not for everyone, because it's a hard work and you must change a lot. (mindset, behavior, habits, etc.) But if you do it exactly, you'll find that the expensive course is worth the prize.
-----Blake
June 27, 2019
Unprompted review
Reply from Doing English
Thank you so much Blake!
Blake is an ideal student - he is coachable (that is, listens to advice with an open mind) and works hard. Thanks for joining MEFA, and for taking the time to write this review!
My MEFA experience was great!
I did the first MEFA and it was great. It's not a "normal language course" (there are plenty of them everywhere, and nothing really worked for me in the past!).
MEFA has given me a method, answers, the motivation to keep on learning and much more.
I can honestly say that I got more than I had pay for.
It was not easy and it took efforts (I work full time and I have children...my free time is not much!).
But in the three MEFA months I built my path for learning a second language.
I will always be grateful for the possibility Julian gave me, for his honesty and kindess.
June 27, 2019
Unprompted review
Reply from Doing English
Wonderful - I'm so happy reading this, Patrizia. Thank you so much for writing, and or course, for taking MEFA.
I must say, though: I can't take all the credit for Patrizia's success. She worked really hard on the course, was open to advice and critical feedback and asked a lot of very, very good questions (many of which were challenging even for me and my 13 years of doing this). In a nutshell, Patrizia was (and continues to be) an ideal student :)
Brilliant in misleading!
This review should be read as 0 stars. but unfortunately trust pilot does not allow for this, however I have to give him one star.
Bought his MEFA course at a price of 397 euro with a promise of a rocket learning. In the first week I saw his willingness to teach something by missing to send links and not actually doing nothing. Second week again he forget to send the so called homework and when I complained he put his wife to send an email saying this course is not for me and I am going to be fully refunded. This is where it is coming his "brilliant" in play and I will tell you why. He refunded me using his bank account rather than paypal directly as it needs 5 working days to make the payment. On the day I should be refunded, guess what, he cancel my refund, "brilliant" isn't it?
I complain to paypal and I got my money back eventually.So be careful with this "brilliant" guy....
June 27, 2019
Unprompted review
Reply from Doing English
Note: George posted this review in the wrong place. I asked Trustpilot to move it here, to the www.doingenglish.com Trustpilot page for him.
To George:
Thanks to George for taking the time to review. I'm sure it was done to piss me off in this instance, but I do appreciate it anyway. I want potential students to fully understand what they are getting into before joining one of my courses (which while effective, certainly won't be all strawberries and cream).
To future readers of George's review:
Please read George's review carefully and use it to judge me, and make a decision before you decide to work with me.
There are some factual inaccuracies. I don't think George is lying; I'm sure he believes everything he's written (and that's fine). But I’ll outline what is (and isn’t) accurate bellow.
What is true
---------------
◾️“Second week again he forget to send the so called homework”
This is true.
In the last run of MEFA I forgot to send out the links for Week 2 on time. Or rather, what actually happened was I scheduled the email to be sent at 9pm instead of 9am. This was rather stupid of me, and when I checked my email that afternoon several people had sent emails asking where the links were (still unsent in my outbox). I sent the everything out with a note saying: "Apologies for sending late! Apparently, I’m an idiot because I wrote the email then left it unsent in my outbox."
George’s reply to this was: "we are expecting to be on time but again comes after complaining. not really professional"
And here there is an important point: "Professional" or not depends on your personal definition of professional. I’m not perfect. Neither do I plan to try and be.
If you want to work with someone on your English speaking who is 100% perfect and never makes mistakes, I’m not going to be a good fit for you (or you for me). I'm only human.
I didn't really understand the "complaining" part of the comment (but I guess this is subjective, too).
◾️“He refunded me using his bank account rather than paypal directly”
This is also true.
I’m a real business, with business bank accounts that all transactions pass through. So I use PayPal (also a business account) only as a payment processor: all PayPal activity goes through my bank.
Note: officially I don’t offer refunds on my courses to discourage people who “aren’t sure” from joining (this is part of the agreement people make when they join). But sometimes I do anyway to get rid of someone when I can see they aren't a good fit.
◾️“as it needs 5 working days to make the payment”
Yes, it would take 5 working days:
https://www.paypal.com/us/smarthelp/article/where-is-my-refund-faq1212
Because he hadn’t got his money back in that time, I called PayPal on George’s behalf (this was Monday 17th June). The PayPal agent I spoke to (Tracy from PayPal support Ireland) simply said that sometimes it takes a while for the money to be taken back out of the bank and processed, and there was no problem or anything I could do.
What’s not true
------------------
◾️“Bought his MEFA course at a price of 397 euro with a promise of a rocket learning.”
The price has now gone up (though yes, this was true at the time).
The reference to “rocket learning” isn’t accurate, however: I use the concept of a rocket launch as a metaphor for effective long-term learning.
For detail see: https://doingenglish.com/mefa/
In particular:
"The best results come from a short, very intensive period of training… followed by a longer, more relaxed (but consistent) period of learning and practise" (just like the blast of energy it takes to get a rocket into space, from where it can glide along without resistance).
◾️“In the first week I saw his willingness to teach something by missing to send links and not actually doing nothing”
I’m not completely sure what this means… but the above mistake didn’t happen the first week. I checked my email history and all emails, links, content, etc. went out on time.
I’m not sure why he said this.
◾️”he put his wife to send an email saying this course is not for me and I am going to be fully refunded”
My wife has nothing to do with my business. It was one of my staff who contacted him.
◾️“On the day I should be refunded, guess what, he cancel my refund”
This isn’t actually possible to do.
For obvious reasons, PayPal don’t provide the kind of functionality that would allow someone to process a refund then cancel it (my guess is it would be illegal to do so). There are plenty of posts about this in PayPal’s support community. See for example:
https://www.paypal-community.com/t5/Refunds-Archive/How-to-reverse-cancel-a-refund-already-made/m-p/370928
The only option given is to click a button that says, "Issue a Refund".
◾️“I complain to paypal and I got my money back eventually”
While I’m glad, this is not something under my control.
============
Again, please read George's review carefully and use it to judge me, and make a decision before you decide to work with me.
My courses, while effective, are hard work. I’m also very frank in my approach to working with people and if you’re sensitive and the kind of person who gets upset easily we’re unlikely to work well together.
Ultimately, I gave George a refund and removed him from the course for a simple reason:
I didn’t like him.
And I hated working with him.
He didn’t ask for a refund or say he wanted to leave (and even if he had, he wasn't entitled to one as I don't offer refunds: those are the rules you accept when you join). But certain things he said right from his initial introduction email made it clear he wouldn't take critical advice (he said as much, though not in those words) and that 12 weeks working with him would just be painful for me. My only regret is that I didn't kick him out sooner, and this Trustpilot review with all of its factual inaccuracies just tells me I did the right thing.
See, I simply don’t care about the money. It's not important to me. And I have no desire to work with difficult people or deal with their bullshit. For every difficult person, there are many more who will flourish and have a lot of fun while doing it.
Judge both his and my comment however you will.
If it puts you off joining my course, great. There will be plenty of other people to take your place.
Best,
Julian
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