It Is What It Is — And This Time, It’s AI, Cowboys, and Netflix in Teaching

A Conversation with Peter Makuła

When Peter Makuła first landed in an American high school at age eighteen, he barely spoke English. He was a teenager from Kraków suddenly surrounded by cowboys in Idaho. Survival meant immersion — and within months, English became his strongest skill.

That moment of “sink or swim” shaped a lifetime of curiosity about language, psychology, and communication. It took him to Harvard, into conversations with poet-translator Stanisław Barańczak, and through a career in business, publishing, and entrepreneurship. But during COVID, when his business failed, Peter found himself returning to the question that had always fascinated him: how do people really learn to express themselves?

His answer is unconventional. He calls it the Human Factor. Lessons aren’t lessons at all — they’re episodes of a story, where the client is the main character. Instead of drills and grammar rules, Peter creates narratives filled with drama, emotion, and surprise. A lawyer who adopted a child becomes the star of a ten-part Netflix-style series. A group of programmers learns to loosen up and laugh in English by telling jokes. Emotions drive the learning.

AI in Teaching

AI, he says, is essential to this process. It generates scenarios, vocabulary lists, and pilot “episodes.” But Peter’s role is just as essential: pushing clients into authenticity, recognizing fear, and turning mistakes into breakthroughs.

In our conversation, we explored:

• Why fear, not grammar, is the biggest barrier to fluency

• How play and storytelling unlock language in adults

• Why two women in leadership roles couldn’t assert themselves in English — until they worked with him

• How AI changes the role of teachers, and why humans may still be indispensable

• And his unforgettable metaphor: “AI is your friend. It’s not your dog. Maybe you are the dog in this equation.”

Remarkable Educator Story

Peter’s story isn’t just about English. It’s about how we learn, how we overcome fear, and what role technology should play in the most human of skills: communication.

If you’ve ever wondered whether AI in teaching will replace teachers, or how to make learning less boring and more alive, this is a conversation you won’t want to miss.

Listen to the full interview here 👉 https://youtu.be/quEcz2Yyx74