Feedback — Maksym

1 · I know the words and don't use them

The single biggest note, repeated for months. The gap isn't knowledge, it's retrieval under time pressure — asked to use the odds are that, I could recite it and not build a sentence round it. On 20 Aug the same thing happened with at the eleventh hour and in the nick of time: both are in the glossary under Time pressure, and "in the last minutes" was the best I produced. 8 Oct: a full trip story in small talk, activation phrases unused for the third lesson running — and aptitude, taught 13 Aug, missed for the third time.

Fix: Pick two phrases from the activation list before class and force them into small talk. On 20 Aug this didn't happen — twelve minutes of small talk, both chosen phrases unused. The drill only counts if it's said out loud in the first five minutes.

2 · I invent a collocation instead of routing around the gap

tired knees, knee fatigue, SUP boards, sub boards. On 20 Aug: "boring, lifelong discussions" for long-winded, "relaxation" for a relief, "track the delivers" for deliverables.

Fix: When the word is missing, describe the thing — "the pain you get a day after training". That also gets the right word handed back to me.

3 · Corrected, I reach for a stronger word instead of a different one

Told big experience was wrong, I offered huge, then extremely big. The answer was extensive.

Fix: A rejected collocation needs a different adjective, not a bigger adverb.

4 · Word class slips — adverbs parked in adjective slots

"It's undoubtedly that you have to present" · "It's significant that we need to do work".

Fix: If it ends in -ly, it can't be the complement of it is.

5 · Articles vanish when I improvise

"I'm kind of detective" · "real assets to your company". Not a knowledge gap — a fluency-cost gap, always the same slot. 8 Oct: "Dasha is positive person."

Fix: a/an before a singular job title or role noun. Slow down one beat at the noun.

6 · I double up obligation and intensity

"super vital" · "It's absolutely essential that you have to watch".

Fix: When the adjective already carries the force, keep the rest of the clause plain.

7 · A word I already know blocks the meaning the text is using

Andriana asked for the colloquial occasional; the answer, the odd comment, was on the page. Recognising odd = strange shut the search down, and I spent three minutes arguing that odd couldn't mean that. Same shape as the be down to hunt in the same lesson: I had because of and due to, so I stopped looking for the informal one. On 17 Sep, the same shape again in reverse: elevate felt close enough to alleviate that I reached for it twice (boredom, then a personal example) without checking the two actually mean different things. 8 Oct, three more: exaggerate for exacerbate, cut and dried for cut out for (not caught in class), manifest for manifesto.

Fix: When a familiar word sits in a slot that doesn't fit, the word is right and my meaning is wrong. Assume a second sense before rejecting it — and when asked for colloquial, don't offer anything I'd write in an email. Same discipline applies to near-miss word pairs: check the meaning matches before reaching for the word that merely sounds close.

8 · Tense drift when converting active → passive

Converting active to passive, I don’t always map the exact tense — under time pressure I reach for a “stronger”-feeling form instead of the matching one. On 21 Sep: given a present simple sentence (“they take the photos”), I answered with continuous (“are being taken”); given a past simple sentence (“they took the photos”), I answered with present perfect (“have been taken”). Same shape again in a sequential past narrative (“the security department was informed… and used…”) that needed plain past simple but kept pulling toward present/past perfect.

Fix: Name the active sentence’s exact tense out loud before answering — the passive keeps that same tense, it doesn’t add perfect or continuous aspect for emphasis.

9 · Ukrainian false friends

A Ukrainian word with an English lookalike gets used with its Ukrainian meaning. On 8 Oct: "in their cadence" (from «каденція») for term of office. In English, cadence is rhythm, like steps per minute in running.

Fix: When an English word comes to mind because it sounds like the Ukrainian one, treat it as suspect — check it, or describe the thing instead ("the four years they're in power").

1. Five minutes before class beats an hour after it — the quiz is always first and always the previous two units.
2. Log during class, not after — words get dropped into the chat in real time.
3. Two phrases per lesson, forced — chosen from the activation list, used in small talk.
4. Binomials deserve rote drilling — arbitrary and unguessable, and the worst category in the quiz.
5. Ask for the collocation, not the word — "do we say X with Y?" is the highest-value question in the lesson.
6. The four-day test is the real test — produce yesterday's new words out loud, in a sentence you invent, the next day.
7. When writing: one requirement per paragraph, one concrete example per requirement.
8. When a text is set to scan, scan it — then go back for the real read. On 20 Aug neither of us did, and the comprehension answers showed it.
9. When asked for a colloquial equivalent, reject anything you'd put in an email before saying it. Because of and due to cost five minutes on 20 Aug.
10. When drilling active → passive, say the source tense out loud first — a wrong passive usually means the tense was never identified, not that the passive rule is unknown.
11. In a debate, paraphrase before you argue — "So what you're basically saying is…" has to check their meaning, not add your own view.