Have you ever seen a rocket take off ?
It takes a massive explosion of energy—3.5 million kilograms of thrust in fact—to fight gravity, and get up, off the ground, and into space.
But once it’s there?
The space shuttle just glides along easily, with no resistance.
This is what the MEF Accelerator course does for your English speaking
Over the last several years I spent a lot of time working one-on-one with coaching clients. I helped them to speak amazing English. Overcome their problems and really use their English in their work and everyday life. All while also perfecting my methods.
And what I’ve found is this —
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.
The First 90 Days
What matters for the rocket is the first push off the ground. And that’s the same for you. Get the first 90 days right, and from there speaking English is easy.
But if you try to skip this?
You’ll be working from the wrong foundation, and you’ll struggle.
Create the right habit now
In the Accelerator course, we’ll create a daily English learning plan that is structured, consistent, easy to do, customised to you personally and based on methods that work.
You’ll create an English learning habit so that you get everything right now… then put your learning on autopilot.
Yes, it’ll be hard work and the process is very intense.
But the idea is to get you as big a boost in proficiency as possible, as well as get you absolutely clear about what you need to do after the first 90 days.
Then you just have to keep implementing what you’ve learned over time to get better and better and better.
Here’s how it works
MEFA is highly interactive.
The course is delivered as a combination of training sessions once a week that you study in your own time, homework tasks to complete (which you’ll need to submit for feedback each week – there are strict deadlines for this), and weekly live Group Coaching Calls in case you get stuck. This is also where we customise what you learn in the sessions to you and your personal situation. Don’t worry if you can’t make each one live – I record them.
This is not an automated course. There's no course website or account to access like most other online courses (other than for some bonus supplementary materials taken from my Extraordinary English Speakers programme).
I run everything manually via an email group and weekly Group Coaching Calls on Zoom, working directly with you.
Here's what you'll do:
In the first week, we’ll look at the most important change you need to make, as well as implement a “Quick Proficiency Booster” series of exercises and routine changes to get you going as fast as possible.
In week 2 we begin the process of reconditioning your behaviour – it’ll take more than the week to do this, but the work we do here provides the framework.
In week 3 we’ll get you set up with a structured plan for daily improvement that will get you the results you need, and look at the different types of learning exercises you’ll need to do (and the exact balance for optimal improvement).
In weeks 4, 5 and 6 we make changes to what you learn so that by the end of week 6 you are totally clear on not only how you should be learning, but exactly what materials you should use and what you should focus on.
Week 7 is all about fluency building – you’ll understand the 5 elements of fluency (most people think fluency is one thing… but it’s not. Fluency is actually 5 multiple processes that need to be trained in different ways – this is why typical methods fail to improve your fluency).
Week 8 is dedicated to removing your first language from your English speaking so that you (1) speak on autopilot without thinking or translating and (2) speak naturally, without what linguists call ‘negative transfer’ form your first language.
In Week 9 I show you how to stop making mistakes in English and speak accurately and naturally.
In week 10, 11 and 12 we go deeper into your goals, and connect them to your English learning so that you’re not just learning randomly… but actually using what you learn in the real world and improving as you go.
Requirements
To join MEFA you need to meet the following requirements:
You understand around 80% of English, even if you can't speak it well yourself (you should be able to understand the English in my YouTube videos at about 80% or more).
You need English in your life or have a clear future need. It is best if you are living, working or studying all or some of the time in English, or teaching English as a non-native English teacher. You can still do the course if you're preparing for living, working or studying in English, but you must be willing to do things in English (right from Week 1 I'll have you build English into your daily routine).
You need to be thick skinned (meaning you can take harsh feedback and criticism). I am blunt and have very little tact. I will do everything I can to ensure you get great results in English - but I will give you brutally honest feedback (often even if you don't ask for it).
You must be willing to forget about how you think you should learn English... and follow the programme. My methods work, but they are unconventional.
The weekly Group Coaching calls are optional, but highly recommended. Each one is recorded and goes in a bank of past questions for future MEFA members to learn from. If you are not comfortable with this, either you don't join the calls or you don't join the course.
If you don't meet all of the requirements, MEFA is not right for you.
How to Join MEFA
If you want a place on the next run, you need to be on the Notification List. Because I teach MEFA to each and every new group, the course only opens periodically.
Places are strictly limited to 15 places and the fee is expensive.
The last group enrolled at €750 for the course, and this price may (and often does) go up.
Also, because places are limited, there are strictly no refunds on the course and all sales are final (I only want people serious about doing the work to join).
The next enrolment day will be: November 24th 2020 @8 am Ireland time.
If you want a place on the next run, you need to be on the Waiting List. You also need to understand that places fill fast - last month all 15 places filled in just 1 hour 8 minutes.
Add yourself to the waiting list:
Common Questions
Here’s a common question about MEFA:
Hi Julian,
A quick question. How much time should I allocate to this course, including all the classes and assignments, per week?
Thanks,
Majid
I ask you to commit to a minimum of 30 minutes a day.
That’s normally enough for all the MEFA tasks. Some people may need a little more time (particularly if your comprehension skills aren't good - though we'll improve that over the first few weeks). Others may need less time.
You'll also need extra time for the English study that I’ll ask you to do (this isn't advertised on the course page, but I also give you weekly lesson from my EES programme to supplement what you learn in MEFA).
The live sessions themselves are about 60 minutes each, depending on the week. Some are a little longer (but not much) some a little shorter. You can split them over two or three days if you want to, though (I send the sessions out every Monday). The homework is different each week. Some weeks will take you a while to do, others no time at all.
Basically, you don’t really need that much time.
This said, I will point out though that a big part of what we're doing in the course is saving you time. Several years ago one of my clients worked in an international company in Japan and consistently had trouble at work because of his English. He wasted a lot of time because of misunderstandings and mistakes made and ended up having to work a lot of overtime (often unpaid) and obviously, his incompetence made him very, very unpopular with his boss and co-workers. The solution was both simple and obvious: fix his English.
Another thing I do with coaching clients (and will do in the MEFA course) is help you engineer your routine so that you're using time that'd normally be wasted because being "busy" is often just a form of laziness.
In the case of another one of my clients, a tiny change to his day-to-day routine created a ton of time, removed something that caused him a lot of stress and eventually got him a significant pay rise...
I can’t promise you’ll get the same dramatic result, but you CAN make the same kind of tiny change to your own routine.
Best,
Julian Northbrook
Question ー
Hi Julian!
And thanks for your videos on your youtube channel!
Can I Join MEFA if I do not speak English at all?
I understand a 75/80% of listening (youtube videos etc) but I have zero or 5/10% fluency.
Kind Regards
Konstantinos
Answer ー
You're exactly the kind of person the course is for, so yes.
If you can understand 80% of what I say, you’ll be fine. And by the end of the course, expect the “fluency” level to be much, much higher (and closer to your comprehension level).
It won’t be easy, but it will be enjoyable.
Best,
Julian Northbrook
Question:
I can understand your videos 60%...but I have big motivation and time for hard work with your method. What do you advice to me? Enroll tomorrow or wait to understand your videos 80%?
While I do say understanding 80% of my YouTube videos is ideal, as long as you:
- Can get the main ideas...
- Are willing to work extra hard to compensensate...
... you should be fine.
When I created the main sessions (that get sent out every Monday), I used slides: so all the main points are written as well.
BUT: you just might need to give yourself more time to do the sessions and fix homework tasks if they're not right. And it's also extra important that you ask in the group if there is something you don't understand.
We'll start working on building listening skills right from Week 1, anyway, where we'll build English into your daily routine and also with an exercise designed to build listening skills. So it should get easier as we go through the course.
Best,
Julian Northbrook
P.S. If you're unsure, email me: julian@doingenglish.com
A quick question from Rita:
"Do I have to pay just once for the total course or for every month during the course?"
It's just once.
And because I know someone will ask, yes, you do need to complete the course in the 12 weeks. Each week you’ll have assignments to submit for feedback, and I need to be quite strict about deadlines (this is a very good thing though - how many times have you bought a course, book or some kind of product and then never used it because you thought you’d do it “later”? If you’re anything like me, loads of times…).
If you have a question of your own, let me know.
Best,
Julian Northbrook
Here’s a good question about MEFA:
Hi Julian,
Will MEFA also help for improving my writing in English? Or is it better to search for a different course for that?
Kindly,
Rick Claassen
My answer:
Depends on what you mean by "writing". What is it you need to do in English?
Julian
And the reply:
Blogging, better said translating my ideas in understandable and digestible English.
Rick
And mine:
OK, there's a short answer and a long answer.
The short one −
Yes.
The longer one −
I'm not a writing expert, and asking me about writing is like asking a cat owner for advice about looking after your dog. I won't help you with specific styles, composition or anything like that. And if you want that, don't join, because I'll just tell you I don't know. I specialise in speaking, conversation and helping people use what I call "high quality" English (i.e. English that sounds amazing and is effective for the person you're talking to based on their culture, thinking, etc.). Ultimately what you want to do is sound good in English and communicate effectively, in a way that is going to engage your audience. And in that sense writing (for a blog, or even emails, anything like that) is no different to speaking. The fundamentals of everything we do in the course are the same.
Anyway, yes, it'd be worth you joining. But no, don't join if you're not sure.
Julian
And that’s it.
Best,
Julian Northbrook
Comes a question:
Good evening,
Quick question,
May I pay by monthly payments?
Thanks in advance.
Regards,
Luci
Normally, no. It’s just too much hassle.
Best,
Julian Northbrook
If you’re on the fence about joining MEFA…
… let me try and put you off.
If you join, I have quite strict expectations about what you need to do, and I expect homework done, submitted on time and carefully considered.
And when I give feedback, if you HAVEN’T done that... I will criticise you for it and make it very clear that I’m not impressed. Of course, if I can see you’ve tried hard and simply made a mistake or misunderstood something? That’s fine. But there’s a world of difference between trying and failing and not trying and failing.
So to be clear, if you join, here are my expectations ー
- I expect you to do the homework and will be (very) disappointed if you don't. We do keep a record of everybody's activity, and I have told people they’re not welcome on future courses because they didn’t participate. Harsh? Perhaps, but you have been warned.
- I MUST have your homework by every Sunday Morning @10 am Ireland time. That's the deadline each week. If you submit even 1 minute after that, you won’t get feedback.
- If you get stuck or have any questions at any point you must ask. My goal is for you to be completely clear about what you do with English, how to use it in the real world and how to improve your English. There will be an optional live Q&A session every week (shared with Extraordinary English Speakers members, and normally Fridays @11:15 am Ireland time, though the time does change) and you can also ask questions in the group any time.
In a nutshell…
I take my work seriously, and if you aren’t going to take your English-improvement seriously as well, you shouldn’t join.
See, MEFA always fills up.
And I really, really don’t want to mess around with people who make excuses, don’t do the work then piss and moan because they don’t get the results they need.
If you have a good work ethic and can stomach my brand of blunt-reality you'll benifit from this course.
If you're going to make excuses or your a senistive flower and easily offended, you shouldn't join.
Best,
Julian Northbrook
Got a different question? Hit me up here: julian@doingenglish.com