Consider these two texts—identical in meaning but different in form—about the pain of being a freelancer. 📝

1️⃣
"Cafés are both a pleasant and a natural setting for work. This is evidenced by their intellectual origin, which shows that they’ve always been a place to nurture ideas. The atmosphere of a café is generative and convivial and is therefore the right place for me if I need to finish a piece of work that is moving very slowly. In addition, it reminds me that I am a member of society. Most people might not need this reminder if they work from offices; however, I do due to the fact that I am a freelancer."

2️⃣
"Cafés are not only a pleasant setting for work, but a natural one – as their intellectual origins testify, they’ve always been a place to nurture ideas. Generative and convivial, the atmosphere of a café is often just what I need to get moving with a piece of work that’s dragging its feet – but also, it reminds me that other humans exist (I believe most people get this from offices?)."

Which text reads like an IELTS essay and which one reads like an article in a magazine? Which one keeps the reader engaged? The second one, no doubt. But why?

Well, there are tools and techniques that can make your texts more engaging—and they are not secret ones. Or, they won't be if you join my brand new mini-course "Writing with The Guardian."

"Writing with The Guardian" is a writing mini-course based on articles from The Guardian. It is geared towards the C2 Proficiency exam (or CPE) articles but is also good for a variety of non-fiction and creative non-fiction types of writing.

📝 What will we do?
- read and discuss two articles from the "The Guardian";
- work with sophisticated lexis and sentence structures;
- explore the power of punctuation to enhance meaning;
- explore a wide range of writing tools and techniques that will keep the reader engaged;
- After all that, you'll write a CPE article (or a non-fiction piece if you don't need CPE).

📝 Who is the course perfect for?
- people who have taken CPE and want to stay in a good writing shape;
- people who want to take CPE some time in the future;
- people who blog, write copy, or write for pleasure—and those who want to.

📝 Deets:
- Course instructor: Irina Lutsenko
- Course duration: one month (4 classes)
- Classes: one 90-minute class a week, in real time on Zoom
- Homework: one week - reading, next week - writing (2 articles in total)
- Feedback: personalized, detailed feedback on every piece of writing
- Price: 8,000 rub a month (4 classes). Feedback included.

📆 Summer 2025 schedule:

- June: Saturday 11-12:30 Moscow time
- July: TBA

A great summer mini-course!

💌 💌 💌 @iraluts