Борзых|Unstoppable CPD~Неудержимое Развитие Учителя

Tomorrow I'm doing a joint talk with Ekaterina Safonova at SELF-9. We're going to be questioning something that doesn't get talked about enough: is the CPD we invest in as teachers really necessary, given what we actually pay for it? And I don't just mean the literal price, as in the course fees, the subscription costs, the conference tickets that quietly eat into our income. I mean the metaphorical price too. The hours we give up. The mental load. The nagging sense that if we don't keep buying the next thing, we're somehow falling behind. We'll be sharing research we've carried out among both teachers and students: what do we feel we're getting (or not getting), and what do our clients even notice? Spoiler: the answers might make us rethink a few things. I'm really looking forward to opening up this conversation. If you're around tomorrow, will I see you in the audience?

Here are the results!! We started working together in February, and she took her first TOEFL in mid-May, scoring a 3.0 in Writing and a 5.5 in Speaking. Mind you, a 6.0 is the absolute maximum in TOEFL Just under a month later, in June, she sat for the exam again and raised her Writing score to an impressive 4.0, landing an Overall Score of 100 (C1)! 🎉 [that was the initial request] Her Speaking was on track to improve as well, but she ran into technical difficulties with her laptop during that section, which understandably affected her final mark. Given the circumstances, she handled it like a true hero. It’s been an absolute pleasure working with her, and I’m especially grateful that we got to explore the new TOEFL format together. Exams change, but adapting to them is what keeps us growing—and that’s the beauty of evolution! 🌱

So, in my last post I talked about the new things they added to the TOEFL exam. This time I want to focus on my student and her biggest struggle: stress. Honestly, she was so pressed for time. Especially in the email task. You know, you only get 7 minutes. Seven. And she said, she would just freeze. She had to do the task again and again and again and again because it was really hard for her to focus. The clock was just killing her. I was praying to gods for her assiduousness!! 🙏🙏🙏 So what we did was we made similar tasks. Like, email-style tasks. She wrote maybe ten emails, one after another. And I gave feedback on every single one. Yes, it was time-consuming. But that was so worth it!! That repetition, it really helped. She started to understand the pattern. More than that, she started to feel confident. And once she had that confidence, she could actually focus on the task. And then her writing got much better. Much. We did the same thing with the other writing part. Like the the post-submission task. Same idea. Again and again, with feedback. In the next post I’m going to share her actual TOEFL results. So, what do you think she scored? Keep in mind, she is lower-advanced. Drop your guess in the comments! I’ll be back with the number soon. P.S. the photo shows all the new TOEFL timings.

Wait, TOEFL added email writing in 7 minutes? 😳 In February 2026, I got a new student - and that’s how I discovered the updated format. Here’s what hit me hardest: 📧 Email writing – 7 min 💬 Discussion post writing – 10 min So, basically, you don’t have time to breathe. Plus, there’s Listen and Repeat task. 🤨 The test is super intense. If you’re ambitious for a high score, you’re technically beating the clock. But here’s the flip side I didn’t expect: 🔄 Lots of different tasks & fresh starts → higher test validity 🧠 Lower cognitive load → the test is checking your English, not your intelligence ⚡ It’s dynamic, fast, and it adapts — which can actually work in your favour In my next post, I’ll share what my advanced-level polyglot student struggled with most; and she speaks Russian, Dutch, and Indonesian. 🇷🇺🇳🇱🇮🇩 Stay tuned. This series is just getting interesting. 👀

Elusive as ever: I promised a podcast and then disappeared. Well, I went to Trendy St Pete and then on family vacation! Here’s the podcast 🔽 If useful, please let me know with your reactions

🗞You know how news topics end up in exams? That’s exactly why I make listening to science and environment news a regular habit. A story about a dry winter and a looming summer drought doesn’t just stay in the headlines — it walks straight into Writing Task 2 and Speaking Part 3. Today, I’m sharing 7 powerful words from a piece on water shortages. These are the kinds of terms that turn a band 6 answer into a band 7+. Save this post so you’re never lost for words on exam day. 📌 💧 Drought & Water Scarcity Vocabulary (and if it shows up on American news, I guarantee they will show up in essays!) 1️⃣ Drought (n.) A long period of abnormally low rainfall, leading to a shortage of water. Prolonged drought has forced many farmers to abandon their crops, intensifying the country’s food crisis. Collocations: severe/extreme drought, suffer from drought, drought-resistant crops Word family: drought-stricken 2️⃣Water Scarcity (n. phrase) The lack of sufficient available water resources to meet a region’s demands. Water scarcity affects every continent and is listed among the greatest global risks by the World Economic Forum. 3️⃣ To Deplete (v.) To reduce something in size or amount, especially natural resources. Over-extraction of groundwater is depleting aquifers faster than they can be naturally replenished. 4️⃣To Ration (v.) To limit each person to a fixed amount of a scarce commodity. In an unprecedented move, authorities had to ration water, limiting households to 50 gallons per day. 5️⃣Food Security (n. phrase) Reliable access to enough affordable, nutritious food. Water shortages don’t just harm the environment—they directly threaten food security for millions. 6️⃣To Wreak Havoc (idiom) To cause chaos, damage, or destruction. A prolonged summer drought can wreak havoc on a region’s economy, especially in agriculture. Collocations: wreak havoc on the ecosystem/supply chain 7️⃣Bleak (adj.) Giving no reason for hope; depressing. Without immediate intervention, the outlook for global water security remains bleak. Collocations: a bleak future/outlook, a bleak picture 💡 Quick study tip: In your essay, try using two of these words together naturally. Example: “Bleak water scarcity projections and depleted reservoirs will wreak havoc on food security if not urgently addressed.” Which of these words could you use in a sentence right now? Drop it in the comments — I’d love to see your examples. 👇 And don’t forget to save this for your next writing practice session. 📎 Your future self will thank you.

НейроДрайв 2026— II международная практическая конференция-площадка для обмена опытом в области ИИ. 📚Конференция может быть интересна преподавателям, репетиторам, методистам, психологам, специалистам по корпоративному обучению, разработчикам программ на основе ИИ для образовательного контекста. 🗣️ Секции конференции: Секция 1: «Коммуникативно-когнитивные технологии и ИИ в образовании» (на русском языке) Секция 2: «Современные средства преподавания: ИИ-инструменты в преподавании английского языка» (на английском языке Секция 3: «Нейропсихология и ИИ: когнитивные драйверы новых поколений» (на русском/английском языках) 📅 Формат: очное мероприятие 🏫 📍 Место: г. Москва, проспект Вернадского, 88, метро Юго-Западная 📆 Дата: 20 июня 2026 года 💰 Стоимость участия: бесплатно  📝 Обязательна регистрация на сайте для оформления пропуска в ВУЗ: https://forms.yandex.ru/u/69d3c0eb95add5a181467457 📜При регистрации можно подать заявку на один или сразу два курса повышения квалификации (удостоверение о повышении квалификации государственного образца) на нашем сайте: www.neurodrive.org  1️⃣ «Когнитивные драйверы новых поколений: нейропсихология, ИИ и коммуникативные технологии в работе преподавателя» (междисциплинарный курс) (32 ак.ч.) 2️⃣ «Искусственный интеллект в образовании: от теории к практике» (32 ак.ч.) 📬 Контакты и полезные ссылки: 🌐Сайт конференции: www.neurodrive.org 💻ВКонтакте: https://vk.com/neurodrive_conf 📱Telegram: https://t.me/neurodrive_conf 📲Макс: https://max.ru/join/EiKiOCkTHJp6xuOGP2QwT-fF0L1CiyM-J6JasNQuW2o 📧 Электронная почта: neurodrive.conf@gmail.com 🏛️ Организатор: МПГУ 🎓, Институт международного образования

Can I really do Delta while working full time?

My answer shocked her: No. Not if you're working 40 hours a week. A super-disciplined colleague came to me with questions. And anxiety. She is a young and very smart teacher. Very curious. The thing is, she is sometimes not taken seriously by her students’ parents or her administration. And she wants to do Delta to find her footing. To finally be able to say: “I know my stuff!” She had questions about 1️⃣ the reasons of doing Delta (and it is very important to know your why) 2️⃣ the places to take it (she had done a thorough research but still wasn’t sure where to do it) 3️⃣ how to prepare for it 4️⃣ how to do application tasks when they don't make sense to you She wasn't looking for motivation. She was looking for permission to stop trying to do everything at once. After the consultation, she felt significantly calmer and ready to take on the 'Delta challenge'. I also told her that certain options are just not available, and that limitation brought clarity and lessened the anxiety. Here's what we unpacked together: ⏰ Time management – What happens if you're teaching 20 hours a week? What workload is actually sustainable? 🌍 Format & location – Which module should come first? What options make sense and which don't? 📚 Preparation – What can you start reading today? How can you retain information better? 🚀 Career outcomes – What Delta can realistically help with? What will it absolutely not do for you? My honest truth? I signed up for Delta when my older kid was 2 years old. I finished my full Delta at 7 months pregnant with the second. Was it hard? Yes. Am I crazy? Definitely. But I survived. And I learned exactly what works (and what burns you out). Delta helped me not only with career advancement, but also with confidence in class. It made me a better specialist. 👉 My favourite recommendation for anxious teachers: How to Pass Delta by Damian Williams – packed with practical tips from someone who's been a tutor, examiner, and assessor. 👉 To pass Module 1, you should prepare by taking past tests (find them on Cambridge website, they are archived and accessible to the public) - besides your prescribed reading. 👉 I did not recommend taking Delta in 6 weeks. In my experience, even part-time was a very steep learning curve, so to take to most of it, one should savour it. The book tells you what to study. My consultation tells you how to fit it into your life – with your job, your family, your brain wiring. Want a personalised 'Delta or not?' map for your situation? DM me "DELTA" and i will send you all the details. No generic tips. Just my hard-earned answers to your specific questions.

Done my second stand-up this weekend! This time, I spoke about misunderstanding because of wrong collocations. 🥱UGH - I hear you!! Loooong high-brow words again. Boo! Boring. Yeah - but let me give you an example - in Russian, for a change

Мы скажем про воду что она горячая, а не жаркая. Девушка - жаркая, ок.

Мы знаем что поезд не может быть торговым, а центр - товарным. Скорее, наоборот!

Okay, these are examples of wrong collocations, or words which go together. As native speakers of Russian, we don’t have these problems. But as learners (and teachers) of English, we absolutely need to take these aspects into account and - plan them into our lessons. Learners won’t know these until you point the wrong usage out, or ask them questions to prompt new lexical items into context and notice the mistakes. Here are two real examples from classes: ❌ “My English level is feeble” (физически слаб) ✅ Better: insufficient ❌ “I like yapping with my friends” (тявкать с корешами) ✅ She just wanted to say hanging out 🐶➡️👯‍♀️ Can you think of any wrong collocations—in Russian or English? Drop them in the comments! 💬👇 And if you’d like to join my group classes or book individual lessons, just DM me! 💌

У нас выпуск номер 4! Гостьей стала неудержимая Наталья Борзых - путешественница, спортсменка, мама и просто очень добрый человек, помогающий другим чувствовать себя увереннее вдохновляющий на вызовы 💜 Наташа, спасибо тебе большое, что пришла! А вас, дорогие гости, приглашаю к прослушиванию и просмотру 😉 Подписывайтесь на каналы - всё новое будет публиковаться там 😉 📹 Смотреть YouTube 💬 Смотреть ВК видео 🎵 Слушать на Яндекс.Музыке 🎵 Слушать на Spotify 🎙Слушать на других доступных платформах Мы будем рады обратной связи 💜

What a talk we had!! 🔥Lesha did a very thorough research into my social media background, especially into my 2006-2012, and it was so much fun to get back to my younger self. Listen to learn some fun facts about me! Many thanks to Alexej Lebedev for having me on his podcast!

Teachers' StandUp 5! Вот и пришло время объявить спикеров пятого мероприятия! Разброс тем у нас колоссальный, от двойной жизни педагогов, до ЕГЭ! А еще мы с Юлей Столярчук впервые попробуем сделать прожарку друг друга, нежно и аккуратно, конечно 🩷 Мероприятие состоится 23 мая в 18:00 в центре Москвы. Длительность - около 3ех часов. Стоимость билета: 2000р. Забронировать его можно написав мне в личку @julie_bond_365 или оставив любую реакцию в комментариях. Безусловно, с теми коллегами, что уже заранее мне написали, я свяжусь в ближайшее время. Спасибо большое за поддержку, коллеги! Приходите к нам, на стэндап, чтобы почувствовать плечо друллеги в конце учебного года 🥰 Ваша, Юлия 💙

Hope to see you there! 🍂

We have finished the course!! My first take at international collaboration and being an organizer. Wow!! 🤩 I’m so grateful to everyone who shared the information, showed up, and learned so actively. A very special thank you to Aerial Mosley! ❤️🖤 We clicked right away, and that synergy sparked truly insightful discussions. I felt privileged to work with her and so excited to share my Russian experience and heritage. The next project is hopefully happening this fall, it will be in lighter topics, called “Teacher S.P.A.” It’s completely volunteer-run by me, so studying is totally free. 🔥🔥🔥 If you’d like to be part of it, just DM me now and I’ll add you to the waiting list. Or stay tuned, I’ll definitely post updates on the project.

Recently helped a colleague who was completely stuck on her thesis. The topic was teaching listening for exams. She was frustrated before the session and so lost... And this face with “I don’t think I have anything worth writing about”. 🫂 And yet she has so many rich cases from her own classroom, a rock-solid understanding of methodology, and — this is the bit that makes all the difference! — she knows exactly how it works in real practice. She just couldn’t see the gold she was sitting on. We talked about needs analysis and triangulation (non-negotiable, by the way — that’s the backbone of good research), and which sub-skills in listening really matter when you’re prepping students for high-stakes exams. This is my absolute happy place. I studied all of this inside out for Delta, and I will never get tired of nerding out over it with teachers who care deeply about what they do. By the end of the call her whole energy had shifted — from “I have nothing” to “oh wow, I have so much.” If you’re working on something similar — a thesis or an action research project, or just trying to turn your classroom practice into something that actually makes sense on paper — and you feel lost, I promise you’re far closer than you think. Often it just takes one conversation to untangle it. I’ve got just 3 slots left at the promo price, and one is about to be snapped up very soon — so if you’ve been hovering, now’s the time. Jump in, and let’s find the gold in what you already know. 💛

Another consultation—and this one was about lesson planning. The focus was grammar, how to explain it without turning the class into a lecture, and how to make communicative tasks from it all. I showed her several activities (she’s tried dictogloss) that can be done with minimal prep, adapted to her platform, and also updated using AI , - again, for minimal prep. Because, hey, I know you who like to spend 8 hours preparing for one class. I have been there myself!! We talked about task repetition with sifted focus, for maximum output. I was very glad to see her feedback after the class—check it in the photo. If you want to have a session with me, just send me a quick message and we can schedule a quick chat to see how I can help you. Also—I'm thinking of bringing my Happy Teacher Club back. If you'd rather study with a group of teachers, I'd be happy to have you. Just let me know in the message.

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