How to Make a 2021 Study Plan to Improve your English

okay cool rolling hi everyone and

welcome back to our weekly

live stream my name is alicia and in

this week’s live lesson we are going to

talk about

how to make your own 2021

study schedule i like to start every

year with a lesson like this one

for those of you that want to make it

your new year’s resolution

or even just your regular goal to learn

of the language you’re studying so in

this week’s lesson we are going to talk

about

goal setting how to set uh good goals

for yourself we’re going to talk about

how to decide what to study

and we’re also going to talk about how

often

to study so i hope that those three

categories

cover many of your questions so in

today’s uh

live chat or in today’s comment section

too you can send

your goals for the year uh as well as

your study

plan ideas okay cool so

as you join please don’t forget to hit

the like button

and share this video so that other

people can find

today’s lesson that would be very very

cool that would be awesome

uh as we wait for other people to join

while we wait for other people to join

as always a couple of quick

announcements first this banner at the

bottom of the screen says free

pdf cheat sheets you can get free

free pdfs about many different

topics so that you can study vocabulary

so this might be good

for some of your goals as well depending

on your goal your vocabulary and

expressions you need to study you can

pick up

some downloadable pdfs that have

conversational phrases like phrases for

a meeting

for example on the back you can find the

link for this

uh if you’re watching on youtube below

this video it’s in the description

or above this video if you are watching

on facebook so check that out

uh you need your name and your email

address to get that

okay that is announcement number one

announcement number two as always if you

have questions for me

if you have vocabulary grammar culture

questions you think of something later

uh and you just want to send it off send

it to me for

this series this is the uh question and

answer series

ask alicia i will read your question i

will read your question i will maybe

answer your question uh this is a

screenshot you can find the link for

this

from uh the youtube description so check

the youtube description if you’re

watching on facebook

please check youtube i can’t update the

facebook one

okay uh also if you want to find me on

instagram the link is in the youtube

description there that’s where you can

find me

online cool okay so that is what we’re

going to talk about

today uh i think we are live hi youtube

i see youtube is live welcome youtube

uh sunwai and babna and khanwal great

and someone whose name i can’t read

great okay lupe hello hamza hi

hi everybody great facebook are you with

us it looks like facebook is here as

well

fantastic facebook hey facebook hi guys

hi everybody i’m going to share the

video uh

and then say hello to you all hi julian

raquel

petya hello md great everyone’s here

let’s look quickly at today’s lesson

boards i’ll show you

what we’re going to talk about today

today uh

you can take a screenshot real quick

this is today’s

lesson content today how to make a study

plan we’re going to start

with smart goals what is a smart goal

and how do you set one second we’re

going to look at

what to study many of you ask me like i

don’t know what to study what should i

so this is how you can a way that you

can uh figure out

what to study finally how often to study

so let’s get started and also if you

have not

please make sure hit the like button it

helps it helps other people find the

lesson

okay let me move my pdfs out of the way

and we’ll get started with smart goals

if you have been

uh watching my videos for a couple years

you are probably familiar you probably

know this topic

but it’s very important to cover i think

about this

for my goal setting a lot uh it’s good

to it’s good to refresh

the mind so smart

goals this is the first step for making

your study plan

why because we need a target we need

something to achieve

a problem and i see many of you write

this to me

in comments uh you send it to me in

messages sometimes

many of you uh or many many people write

uh just i want to become fluent in

english

how do i do that okay that’s a great

uh long-term goal to have but we need to

think smaller like think about the steps

you’re going to take to reach that goal

that’s what a smart goal is for helping

you to set

well big and small goals to achieve

the bigger goal i’ll move this a little

okay so let’s look at this

so this smart this is called this is an

acronym

so s-m-a-r-t each one of these

refers to a different word so the first

part of a smart goal is it’s specific

your goal is specific for example

i want to be fluent that’s not a

specific goal

you need to choose something very clear

okay second your goal is

measurable measurable you

can measure your goal so that means

how many vocabulary words did you study

how long was your conversation how many

minutes

or how many sentences did you write

or how many presentations did you give

for example can you

measure your goal okay

third achievable achievable

so able to achieve yeah is it possible

in other words so for example if you say

okay

i’m going to learn 500 vocabulary words

by next week probably not

like you can study a lot yeah but

you are probably not going to remember

all those words

your goal should be achievable

realistic realistic so is your goal

realistic for you

and your life and your needs now so is

it something that’s

possible for your schedule that’s

important to think about

if you have a busy schedule is it

realistic to study for three hours a day

oh maybe not so make your goal

realistic finally

time based time based what does time

based mean

that means you have a time period or a

deadline

for your goal so maybe it’s a one week

goal

or a one month goal or a one year goal

maybe all of those

so your goal should be time based

so again specific measurable

achievable realistic and time

based this is a smart goal so your goal

should be

all of these things so let’s look let’s

look at this very common message you

send me

i want to become fluent in english okay

is it specific well sort of english is

the one thing you want

to do is it measurable fluent is not

measurable right it’s like a feeling

yeah and

we learn new words all the time i still

learn new words in

english like it’s always continuing

is it achievable well yes but

when we don’t know is it realistic

in the future depending on you maybe

is it time-based no i want to become

fluent is not a time-based goal

so this is not a helpful goal i want to

become fluent is not a helpful goal

of course we want we want that we want

it in our minds yes

let’s look at some examples of goals

that are good smart goals

so for example if you know you need to

study vocabulary

you can say my goal is to learn 300

new vocabulary words by the end

of march learn 300 new vocabulary words

by the end of march this is a smart goal

it’s specific 300 words it’s measurable

i can count how many words i learn right

it’s achievable so it’s possible to

study

this this many words in this period

it’s realistic so i can make a schedule

for myself

it’s a good pace and it’s time based so

my deadline is

the end of march okay so you can send in

the chat

uh what your smart goal is yeah let’s

maybe you can give some ideas to the

other people watching wow there are lots

of people watching that’s super cool

so you can set your goal in the chat and

maybe you can give

some other people some ideas yeah okay

here’s another one

if your goal is speaking you can say my

goal

is to be able to speak about my work

and hobbies for three minutes

by the end of july my goal is to be able

to speak about my work and hobbies for

three minutes

by the end of july so again this is

specific

so my work and my hobbies is the topic

it’s measurable three minutes right here

i choose this time you can make five

minutes maybe ten i don’t know

that’s a long time to talk about

yourself it’s achievable

so that means it’s possible to do this

in this case it’s realistic

so this goal is not a crazy goal

and it’s time based so my deadline

is the end of july okay

lupe says tell us some of your smart

goals ooh

my smart goal i have an exercise smart

goal that’s true

so i wanted to let’s see

my goal was to improve

my some of my like personal best times

for this year so i wanted to improve my

times

by i think the day is february 17th

i forget i forget exactly the day it’s

on my calendar so i have

personal uh like exercise times like

running times

i want to improve by next month so

that’s my

that’s an example of my smart goal

okay uh let’s see

i’m looking for your examples uh evelyn

on facebook says so learn

500 more words by the end of march great

great great okay nice examples um

brian says what is the difference

between achievable and realistic good

question

these are they can be some overlap some

parts that are similar

so achievable means it’s possible to do

something

like if you say uh like i’m going to

learn 500 new vocabulary words by next

week it’s like that’s really probably

not achievable

and it’s also not realistic but this

comes into play which means this is like

this is important when uh your schedule

is super busy that’s what i think about

with realistic like maybe the goal is

achievable

for someone with a lot of time like if

you say

i want to learn a hundred vocabulary

words by next week

maybe for some people that’s achievable

but is it realistic like can you spend i

don’t know

10 to 15 minutes every single day or 30

minutes

every day really studying so for me

realistic is about your personal

schedule a little bit

is it realistic for your time the time

you have

okay um all right let’s continue to the

last goal

one more for writing if you are looking

for a writing goal

write a short essay by the end of next

month

write a short essay by the end of next

month

so you’re choosing something specific

always so not these big vague goals

okay uh so elder says my smart goal is

to learn the arabic language so

again in your goal so that’s a big goal

make it more specific

so how are you going to measure your

goal is it learning the alphabet of the

language

like what’s the deadline for your goal

so again

it’s really hard to start if your goal

is huge you need to give yourself a step

what’s the next step for your goal yeah

okay

all right um let’s

take a break that was a lot okay so

let’s take a short break and then we’ll

talk about how to decide

what to study yeah okay so if you missed

today’s topic is how to make your own

2021

study schedule we just talked about

setting goals

now we’re going to talk about deciding

what to study

so basically how to check your own

level this is for those of you that

maybe don’t have a teacher

or are studying alone okay all right

so if you haven’t also please make sure

to hit the like button

please like and share this video so

others can find

today’s lesson okay uh oh i forgot as

well

if you missed it earlier uh below the

link below the video

has free pdfs for you to download you

can

check them out you can print these and

put them on your

refrigerator you can uh put them on your

desk you can put them on your phone

or your computer to practice vocabulary

and

expressions here’s a good one this is

the talking online one

that has some good conversational

phrases on the background so check this

out

if you’re working on your vocabulary

especially there are some new ones also

i don’t have printed

there are new uh conversation practice

worksheets too so

uh i don’t have it printed so check the

link and you can find those so

that’s from yeah below the video or

above the video

check one of those okay part two

let’s go to part two what to study how

do you decide what to study

okay so basically in other words

how do i know my level so don’t think

about

for this step don’t think about my level

my level beginner beginner beginner

intermediate whatever

again let’s think about it in a slightly

different way what to study

what do i study how do i know so

ask yourself some questions can

i something something something

and give yourself three answers yes

a little and it’s hard or no

for example can i introduce myself

or can i introduce myself in english or

the language you’re studying

can i talk about my hobbies

yes a little no can i

write an email can i order food

on the phone so these are just four

examples there are so many can i

questions you can ask yourself about

your daily life

and your work and your school your

professional life

there are so many questions from

like very basic topics very basic things

to do

to advance things to do so ask yourself

these if you’re like i don’t know what

kinds of questions

to ask myself here’s a tip google

google can do lists

in english a can do list is a list of

questions

like these so you can check the list and

say yes

or a little or no so

ask yourself these questions

or google a list of questions okay

then look at your answers if your answer

is yes

great for example can i introduce myself

yes i can great okay spend your time

studying something new this is one

problem many learners

fall into they study the same thing over

and over and over and over again

uh hello my name is like hi it’s nice to

meet you

they practiced the same things over and

over

you have to move to the next step

so if your answer is yes can i talk

about my hobbies

yes okay great move on move to the next

thing okay so

this one a little it’s hard if your

answer is this

good that means it’s your next step the

next thing to look at

for example can i write an email you

might think

a little i think i can but it’s

difficult it’s kind of

hard for me so why is it hard

is it vocabulary is it grammar is it

listening

is it writing so what’s the thing that’s

difficult for you this is a question you

know for

yourself you might think uh everything

so if

you think everything try just choose one

to start with

for example can i write an email oh

a little it’s kind of hard why

maybe it’s vocabulary maybe it’s grammar

maybe you don’t know the format

like how to write an email the different

parts

you can google all of these things and

we have lessons

of course on our website too so

look for this answer for your questions

to yourself

it’s okay sort of but it’s a little hard

for me

you want to study the things that are

challenging for you you have to

challenge yourself

with new things to move forward you

can’t

make progress if you study the same

things again

and again and again finally

if your answer to the question is no

like can i

order food on the phone or can i give a

business presentation

if you say no that’s okay just keep it

for the future so don’t worry about that

like right now you can think in the

future

that’s a goal for me but right now

no so this is something like

for example a business presentation

maybe you

think oh i can’t do it at all no it’s

not possible

that’s okay just keep it in your mind

for the future

and work on the next step for you

so i know this is a process like and you

have to do this

again and again like maybe once a month

or once

every three months you have to always

check your level but it’s so helpful

to understand the next thing you need to

so again if you don’t know like how to

make these questions for yourself try

this so just use google

to find can do lists or like english

language can do lists and

try to answer those questions for

yourself

and you can find maybe the topics or the

parts that are

uh challenging for you okay

cool okay so

uh again another tip down here

a tip down here uh is when you decide

your next step like you decide i need to

study vocabulary or

grammar or listening you can use google

to look for resources so like a

vocabulary list

resource just google like like a email

vocabulary or email

english vocabulary or like i don’t know

um like boating vocabulary whatever

so use google to find the things you

need you

don’t have to find like the perfect

textbook right use google you can

find so much there for free

so you can goog you can google for short

essays

to read and news

like you can find uh news in english

for learners for learners again google

english news for learners something like

that

you can also google audio to listen to

podcasts or radio shows there’s so much

to find out there

so when you find the challenging point

for yourself

use your google skills to find resources

you need and of course we have many

lessons

you can check our our lessons and our

courses

uh we have lots of different topics and

vocabulary lists

so much to study so there are many many

resources

that you can choose from okay

someone i’ve yvonne i think says how

much time do you think is necessary for

a day oh i can’t see the end of your

comment

for a day to be fluent yeah we’re going

to talk about how often to study

in part three today okay um

all right people who are saying uh

please make a list of this vocabulary

please make a list of that vocabulary

google it google it or use

your uh or use our website these lists

already

exist don’t wait for me i’m going to

take a long time there are many

questions and many requests

google it google it don’t wait for me go

go for it

okay all right let’s take a break

so that was part two how to decide

what to study how to find uh the part

oh actually great question miguel uh

sepulveda on facebook says when do you

start with your no

list items great question this part

these things

when do you start with these things when

they become

these so that means when you study

and like for example you study your

challenging thing

this thing that’s hard that’s a little

bit difficult you’re going to learn

extra grammar and extra vocabulary right

you’re not going to use just old stuff

always you’re going to pick up new

things

and gradually you’ll move forward

someday

this uh no i can’t do it at all becomes

your

uh it’s a little hard so that’s the

answer

okay phew that was a lot

okay let’s again take a break i said i

was gonna take a break

and then we’ll go to the last part how

often

to study how often to study if you

missed it

i will quickly show you again i have a

bunch

a ton so many pdfs here

like i said i don’t have uh some new

ones printed out the team made some new

ones

about uh they have yeah it’s a

conversation you can practice

for talking on the phone i know that’s a

big uh big one for many people

if that’s your goal you can check that

pdf there’s another one

about survival phrases so like just the

minimum

like the basic stuff you need for

everyday life

in a city so check those out of course

there are many