Alexander Popov

My sessions are for C1–C2 speakers who want something their grammar book never offered: the ability to think on their feet and express themselves with genuine originality. I draw on Grandomastery, a creativity and language platform I’ve built since 2004, using structured randomness and bisociation across 70+ human-crafted activities. I also work with professionals on pitching and conference prep. No preparation needed. The work happens live, and that’s exactly the point.

Expect to be handed something strange and asked to do something intelligent with it. My sessions are built around Grandomastery, a platform I have been developing since 2004. It generates randomised prompts across 70+ activity types: abstract reasoning tasks, improvisational pitches, philosophical dilemmas, paradoxes, creative storytelling, lateral problem-solving, and more. All activities are human-designed and updated regularly. None are AI-generated. A session might involve defending an unexpected position, interpreting a nonsensical proverb, pitching an absurd startup to imaginary investors, or building a coherent narrative from five unrelated prompts. The common thread is spontaneous, coherent speech under conditions that make safe and predictable language genuinely insufficient. I use audio spectrograms to help students monitor speech flow and pause patterns. Materials and activity links are shared directly in the virtual classroom. No preparation is needed before sessions: everything happens live, which is the point. I also work on conference preparation, professional self-presentation, and high-stakes pitching, where fluency and thinking have to operate simultaneously in real time. Students leave sessions with a clearer sense of what their English actually sounds like when it is under pressure, and with more confidence in their ability to produce original, coherent language on the spot.

I have been teaching English for over 20 years across a wide range of settings: universities, language schools, corporate training days, online one-to-one sessions, and group webinars. My students have included professionals at companies like JetBrains, Volkswagen, EPAM, and AB InBev, as well as startup founders, university faculty, and independent learners from 45 countries. I specialise in advanced learners, C1 and C2, who have plateaued at functional fluency and need something more demanding: spontaneous expression, abstract reasoning, creative thinking in real time. I also prepare students for IELTS, academic English, conference presentations, and professional pitching. My sessions require no preparation and are entirely activity-driven.

In 2004 I founded Grandomastery, a CPD-accredited creativity and language platform now active across 45 countries, built on structured randomness and human-designed activities. I have worked as an instructional designer and EdTech coach, developing training programmes for corporate clients. I also founded ESL Treasures, an award programme for under-recognised digital resources in the ESOL community, and run a 300-hour TEFL/TESOL professional development course for educators. I hold certifications in instructional coaching from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, systemic coaching, and health and life coaching. I am a two-time Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert and recipient of the HundrED and Pearson ELT Award in 2024.