We teach adults (ages 18+) who have an intermediate (B1-B2) to advanced (C1) knowledge of the English language. We have taught hundreds of language learners from more than 50 countries across all continents and from over 100 language backgrounds.

We provide a variety of ESL tutoring services for adult learners. You can learn about the specific types of these services on our Lessons page.

We base our language levels on the CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages), an international grading system for language learning proficiency.

We do not require an official status for you to schedule a lesson with us. You can simply estimate your level based on the following generalized list:

A1: You are just starting to learn the English language. You are a new beginner.

A2: You have learned basic grammar rules and vocabulary, and you are starting to understand speech, as well as how to read, write and speak in English with the simple present tense and simple past tense.

B1: You have an intermediate knowledge of vocabulary and grammar; you are learning to communicate in English using more complex verb tenses: present continuous, past continuous, present perfect, future, etc.

B2: You have an upper-intermediate knowledge of English. You are becoming more familiar with specific vocabulary related to advanced topics. You are learning how to use more complex verb tenses: the past perfect, the conditional, the future perfect, etc. Communicating in English is starting to feel more natural, even though you make unnatural English mistakes and know that there is a lot more to learn.

C1: You are beginning to make less unnatural mistakes in the English language. You are becoming more comfortable using phrasal verbs and idioms. You understand many English accents with little difficulty. Generally speaking, you do not have much difficulty communicating in the English language.

C2: You are fluent in the English language. The mistakes you make are natural in the language. You do not have difficulty communicating; you can understand most English-speakers, regardless of their accent; you can also read, write, speak about, and understand most topics.

The length of a lesson depends on its lesson type. Lessons vary from 30 minutes, 45 minutes, 60 minutes, and 90 minutes in length. Lesson length can be chosen when scheduling a lesson.

To schedule a lesson, you must visit our Lessons page and follow the prompts given.

A Consultation is a one-time 30-minute meeting. During a Consultation, Josh will introduce himself, ask you questions related to your English language experience, as well as explain to you his teaching methodology according to your language learning needs.

Consultations are obligatory for first-time students. If you have already had a lesson with Josh before, then you do not need to schedule a Consultation.

Yes, Josh is still teaching. If you are unable to see any available slots in his calendar, then he is most likely observing a holiday, is on vacation, is sick, or his weekly schedule has changed. Please refer to your email and check our Lessons page for any notifications regarding a change to his usual schedule.

Common reasons why you might not have received a confirmation email or invoice from us include:

• it has been less than two business days since you booked your lesson; please wait two business days to receive a response from us (our business days are from Tuesday to Saturday each week)

• our email has gone to your Spam, Junk, or Trash folder; please check these locations and change your settings to allow our emails to enter your inbox

• our email has gotten lost among your other emails; please search for “breathinglanguage” in your inbox

• Josh is currently on vacation; please check the Lessons page for important information regarding his schedule

If none of these apply, please send us an email using our Contact form to notify us of your problem.

All lessons take place online using our virtual classroom with BigBlueBlutton. The link to this virtual classroom will be written on your invoice when you book a Consultation or other lesson with us. This link will be used to access every lesson you book with us in the future.

Please send an email to Josh indicating that you will be late. It is preferred that you mention how late you expect to be (e.g. 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 20 minutes, etc.).

If you do not send Josh an email about being late, then he will only wait for 15 minutes for you to arrive. If you do not show up to your lesson within the first 15 minutes of your lesson’s start time, then the lesson will be cancelled and there will be no refund.

Please wait for five minutes at the beginning of your lesson to allow Josh to transition between students. During this time, he does not need to notify you that he is going to be five minutes (or less) late.

If Josh expects to be later than five minutes, he will send you an email indicating when he will be able to arrive to your lesson. In the rare event that he does not send you such an email, we ask that you wait 15 minutes from your lesson start time for Josh to arrive. If he arrives within this time frame, then your lesson will continue as planned and you will receive a discount on your next lesson that is proportional to the time lost by Josh being more than five minutes late. If Josh does not arrive within these 15 minutes, then the lesson is cancelled and you will receive a refund.

If you forget to attend your lesson, there will be no refund.

You are welcome to schedule a new lesson.

A lesson is considered missed if you do not arrive at the virtual classroom within 15 minutes of the lesson start time.

If you miss a lesson, you will receive an email from us.

Unfortunately, there are no refunds for missed lessons.

You are, however, welcome to schedule a new lesson.

Josh will always be sure to inform you via email if he is not going to be able to attend your lesson. He will either reschedule or cancel the lesson. However, some circumstances in life might be outside of one’s control, in which case Josh might not be able to inform you before the lesson is to take place. In the rare event that this happens, Josh will give you a full refund.

Yes. You can cancel your lesson at least 48 hours in advance. You can do this by emailing Josh, indicating that you would like to cancel your lesson. In this case, you will receive a refund.

If your lesson is to take place in less than 48 hours, then you cannot cancel it. You must either attend your lesson or miss your lesson. There will be no refund in this case.

Yes. You can reschedule your lesson at least 48 hours in advance. To do so, please email Josh, indicating that you would like to reschedule.

If, for some reason, you are unable to reschedule at least 48 hours before your lesson, you must send Josh an email, indicating the reason why. It is at Josh’s discretion to allow or deny exceptions to the minimum 48-hour rule. If it is not possible to reschedule, you must attend your lesson or miss your lesson, in either case there will be no refund.

Unfortunately, no.

Josh is a strong believer in maintaining a healthy work/life balance. In order to achieve this, he chooses to work no more than five days a week, 8-10 hours a day, takes local holidays off, utilizes sick days when needed, and schedules personal vacations when appropriate. His availability reflects this.

If Josh chooses to change his availability, he will notify his students via email and we will announce it on our Lessons page (this announcement will be posted for a duration of one week).

Josh is very flexible and is open to new ideas. If you have an idea regarding the way you want him to help you with your English, then please send us a message using our Contact page.

We are terribly sorry to hear that you have been mistreated.

You can be sure that you will not be discriminated against in Josh’s lessons. We want you to know that we welcome all people from all backgrounds, languages and accents, cultures, countries, social and economic classes, political affiliations and opinions, religions, sexual orientations, gender identities, ethnicity and races, learning abilities, etc.

Josh’s goal is to create a safe and welcoming environment in his lessons so that our students feel comfortable and confident enough to naturally express themselves as they are.

We do not tolerate discrimination of any kind. We believe in treating all people with kindness and respect, regardless of any differences. We expect that all students treat Josh with the same kindness and respect, too.

We take discrimination seriously. This is why if a student acts inappropriately in their lessons with Josh, we have the right to terminate all lessons with that student, as well as reject all lesson service requests from them in the future.

Equally, if a student ever feels that they have been mistreated in a lesson in any way, we encourage them to contact us using our Contact page, describing the situation that occurred. We will do our best in collaboration with them to solve the situation fairly with kindness, patience, and respect for all parties.