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
more
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
do
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
so
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
or
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
it
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
do
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
like
english news for learners something like
that
you can also google audio to listen to
like
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
other topics you can choose from too so
take a look
uh i need to i need to print some new
ones i think
the team is making more all the time so
check that out
and we’ll go to part three and part
three
how often to study everybody wants to
know how often to study
uh here we go also if you have not
please make sure to hit the like button
so other people can find this lesson
yeah that would be super cool
uh okay let’s see
kais said i hope i said your name right
on facebook said i can read an easy book
and google when i find words difficult
yes
that’s what i do when i read actually
reading
is my favorite way to pick up vocabulary
so actually i’ll tell you one of my
study strategies so i have been studying
japanese for many years
i use books books are my favorite way to
study vocabulary usually
so i when i read a book i mark a
highlight
in the book the word the first time i
read it
i don’t know this word and then i check
it later
like after i finish reading i look up
the word
like review it and then i read the page
again
later so that’s one of my study
strategies okay
all right so let’s go to part
three part three how often
how often do you study the short answer
is a little bit
every day a little bit every day so
10 minutes of vocabulary study for
example
or one minute or one minute one video
lesson
or maybe you read one news article in
english
or you write a page in a journal the
best thing you can do
is spend a little time every day
a tip studying a little bit
a few times a week or every day
is better than studying for hours
once a week there have been res there’s
research and studies
about learning about studying
not just language but learning in
general learning other things
so it’s better to study regularly
like maybe three to five times a week is
also great
so make a little time every day
that’s better than like going crazy like
studying
three hours or five hours every saturday
you give your brain time to remember
every day
and refresh every day that’s better to
do
so make some time for yourself every day
so in my case like
uh earlier today i said like i have
exercise goals for next month
so i i spend 10 minutes every day like
doing
some physical activity to
reach my goal so and i notice
the small improvements every day
maybe like every week in my case but
those small everyday activities
really add up over time
okay uh yamina says any strategies for
reading
yeah i shared one the one strategy i
have for reading
i use reading for vocabulary to pick up
vocabulary but i also use
reading to work on my grammar so
sometimes i notice a grammar pattern or
that’s a little
confusing to me so i again i google it
i just i google like the base grammar
pattern
and look at other examples uh and
yeah look at dictionaries whatever
online to
help me understand that grammar pattern
okay
um other questions
okay i don’t see it so a couple more
ideas
if it’s hard for you to start your
studies
this is something i’ve been doing
because it’s hard to stay motivated this
year at this time right
so set a timer for like in my case like
5 or 10 minutes
and study for that time period so you
say okay i’m going to
read for 20 minutes and you set a timer
and do it for 20 minutes that for me
is really really helpful because when
you think about studying
you’re like i don’t want to do it it’s
not fun it takes so long
but when you realize you’re like oh it’s
only 10 minutes
then it’s easy at least for me that’s
really helpful for me
so i do this i set a timer for the
period i’m going to study
you can also build a habit in your daily
routine
build a habit that means make a new
habit
in your daily routine for example when i
go to work
i listen to a lesson so in the car or on
the train
uh something when you’re walking maybe
you can listen to a lesson or in my case
i studied vocabulary on an app on my
phone
when i went to work and when i came home
from work so 15 minutes in the morning
and 15 minutes in the evening
that was 30 minutes every day for me on
my work days which was super super good
for my vocabulary studies a couple years
ago
so try to make a habit inside your daily
routine
that’s a good one to do all right
um some people are asking about like the
101 app you can check that out
the one-on-one app is free on the app
store
uh and then you can add some other
things on
later so uh i’m not going to spend
the live stream i’m already late talking
about the app so you can check it out
for free and see what you think
um alicia how long have you been
studying japanese
uh
for 13 years i don’t know
like sometimes i’m very active in my
studies
and lately not so active i think
yeah it’s been a long time okay
uh that is everything for today wow
that was a lot so oh i’ll show you
today’s lesson board so you can take a
look
if you want to take a screenshot and use
this for your study plan
please feel free but um here’s what we
talked about today
smart goals deciding what to study
and how often to study smart goals
great great we love our smart goals so
we’ll end there for today next week i’ll
be back
of course next week next lesson come on
next
next lesson oh next lesson oh my gosh i
typed january i’m still in january mode
january no
february can you believe it it’s going
to be february next week
this time it just goes by so fast okay
next week
february 3rd will be the next lesson
february 3rd 10 p.m
eastern standard time that is new york
city time
please google it if you don’t know your
local time
or uh set a notification on youtube
facebook if you follow me on instagram
you probably know that i also share a
link
and a reminder every week that you can
find in my story so follow me on
to get that the link is in the youtube
description
next week we’re going to talk about how
to talk about
something you’ve been working on
or studying so there’s a big grammar
hint right here
how to talk about something you’ve been
working on that’s right present perfect
continuous
so very exciting so please join me again
next week
for this topic uh how to describe
uh your ongoing work
and projects i’ll say goodbye there so
uh thanks very very much
for joining me again live this week that
was a lot of fun and it was great
to see your goals oh hey rocio one of
our members rocio suarez great um
yeah people say what’s your instagram if
you’re watching on facebook you can find
the link in the youtube
description for this video sorry
facebook i can’t update the facebook
link
uh so i’ll see you next week don’t
forget to check out your pdf
free pdf stuff from the link below or
above the video too
i’ll stop there so thanks very much for
joining me again this week have a good
day