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How To Create An English Study Plan

Dani introduces a 4-step method for creating an effective English study plan. Step 1 is to define goals that are specific, realistic and measurable. Step 2 involves ranking English skills by difficulty and importance in order to determine focus areas. Step 3 provides a list of activity ideas for each skill to choose from to include in the study plan. The document guides the reader through creating an organized self-study plan to achieve their English goals.

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dayana

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100% found this document useful (3 votes)

601 views

How To Create An English Study Plan

Uploaded by

dayana

We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.

Available Formats

Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

You are on page 1/ 17

English

with
Dani

How to create
AN ENGLISH
STUDY PLAN
A complete guide
Table of contents

Introduction ............................................................................................. 03
Step 1 - Define goals ............................................................................. 04
Step 2 - Choose focus areas ........................................................... 06
Step 3 - Select activities .................................................................... 08
Step 4 - Create your plan .................................................................. 15
Extra resources ........................................................................................ 16

02
INTRODUCTION
Hello! My name is Dani. I’m an English
Confidence Coach and I really love
my job. Let me tell you why.
When I was a child, my parents and I
immigrated to the United States from
Colombia. When we arrived, my
parents didn’t speak any English, but
they had a dream. They had clear
goals, and they were willing to work
hard. I watched them learn English,
succeed in their careers, and create a
life that they love.

I understood from a young age how much learning English can empower
people and give them incredible opportunities.
That’s why I love my job! I have the chance to be a part of my students’
journeys toward achieving their goals.
So, I want to ask you - what are YOUR goals?
Maybe you are planning to take an English language exam like TOEFL or
IELTS.
Maybe you want to work in English and advance your career.
Maybe you have friends or loved ones who speak English, and you would
like to communicate better with them.
No matter what your English goals are, an organized self-study plan is a
great way to achieve them.
In this workbook, I provide a 4-step method (plus resources, tips, and
strategies) to help you create a personalized and effective self-study plan
that will motivate you and help you accomplish everything you want!
Let’s get to work!

03
Step 1 Define your goals
Step 1 is to define your English goals. I recommend setting 2-4 goals.

The best goals are specific, realistic, and measurable.

Measurable means that it is easy to identify when you are

TIP! making progress.

Goals should always be in the affirmative. Avoid words like
“not”, “can’t”, “don’t”, and “stop”.

I’ll give you some examples of strong goals and weak goals. Can you
see why?

Strong goal Weak goal

Write clear and polite emails with

Don’t make mistakes writing emails.
professional vocabulary and phrases.

Learn and use 10 new words per week. Learn new vocabulary.

Communicate effectively in English. Speak like a native speaker

Understand main ideas when listening to

Understand spoken English.
American English speakers.

Feel confident and relaxed with native Don’t get nervous with native
speakers. speakers.

Create a resume and apply to 3 jobs. Get a job in English.

Take some time now to write 2 - 4 specific, realistic, measurable goals.

1.___________________________________ 3.___________________________________
_____________________________________ _____________________________________

2.___________________________________ 4.___________________________________
_____________________________________ _____________________________________

These goals are the foundation for your study plan.

04
Now you will decide how much time per week you will commit to
improving your English. Remember that CONSISTENCY is the most
important part of a plan that works, so choose a realistic amount of
time.
In general, I recommend studying a minimum of 3 days per week. The
more days per week you study, the better (even if it’s only 15 or 20
minutes).
Write your time commitment for your study plan below.

Circle the days you will study.

Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun

What time of day will you study?

Morning

Afternoon

Night

It depends ____________

REMEMBER TO REST!!

05
Step 2 Choose focus areas

Step 2 is to identify your priorities and determine what skills you want
to focus on.
First, consider the four main skills:

READING WRITING LISTENING SPEAKING

Rank the skills from most Now, rank the skills from most
difficult to least difficult for you. important for your daily life to
least important.

Most
Most important
difficult

Least
Least important
difficult

Of course, all the skills are necessary every day. However, some skills
may be more important for you than others. For example, if you need to
write a lot of emails for work, improving your writing skills might be
your priority now. If you study in university, listening and reading might
be the most important skills for you now.

06
There are three more areas of study you can choose to focus on.

VOCABULARY GRAMMAR PRONUNCIATION

How difficult is each of these for you?

VOCABULARY GRAMMAR PRONUNCIATION

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

How important is each of these for you?

VOCABULARY GRAMMAR PRONUNCIATION

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Reflect on your answers for the questions in this section. In the space
below, write about what you want to focus on for your self-study.
Explain why you are choosing to focus on those things.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

07
Step 3 Select Activities

Step 3 is to decide the specific activities you will use to improve your
English.
Below you will find lists of ideas for each skill. You will notice that many
activities are helpful for more than one skill. For example, many
activities that are helpful for improving your reading skills are also
helpful for improving writing skills.
Of course you can bring your own ideas and I encourage you to! Be
creative with how you study, and most importantly, study in a way that
feels good for you. I only offer these ideas to help you get started.

I recommend: For the areas you want to focus on most, choose 2-3
activities to do per week.
For other areas, choose 1-2 activities.

LISTENING

Make sure you are listening On youtube, Don’t try to

to a variety of speakers: ted.com, and most understand

TIPS male and female, formal and

informal, and different
streaming platforms,
you can slow down
every word or
detail. Focus on
accents. the audio. main ideas.

ACTIVITIES

1. Listen to podcasts about subjects that truly interest you. If you

have time, take notes while you listen.

2. Listen to free audios and answer the questions on esl-lab.com

08
ACTIVITIES

3. Watch series and movies you already know again WITHOUT

subtitles.

4. Choose a TED talk on TED.com that interests you. Watch it two

times - the first time WITH subtitles, the second time WITHOUT.

5. Watch new series and movies with subtitles.

6. Listen to the radio in English when you are in the car

7. Listen to audiobooks.

8. On TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, etc., follow accounts in English

about things you are personally interested in.

9. Listen to music! Listen to a song three times. First, just listen. The
second time, listen while you read the lyrics. And finally, listen again
without looking at the lyrics. See if you understand more.

SPEAKING

ACTIVITIES

1. Practice imaginary conversations in your mind. Imagine different

situations and think about what you would say and how the other
person would respond. Include new vocabulary you have recently
learned.

2. Do imitation practice. Watch a video of a native speaker talking.

Pause the video and repeat what they said exactly how they said it.

09
ACTIVITIES

3. Join our conversation group, Let’s Talk on Thursdays! More

information on my instagram page @englishwith.dani

4. When you share an idea, add “because…”. Challenge yourself to

explain why.

5. Practice telling anecdotes (short stories of a personal

experience) from your life in English. You can practice alone or with
another person.

WRITING

Avoid the translator as

TIPS much as possible.

ACTIVITIES

1. Text people you know in English.

2. Read! A lot! Read about things that interest you. Read examples
of what you would like to write about (website recommendation-
see pg. 16).

3. Write down everything you plan to do that day or that week.

4. At night, write a few sentences about everything you did that

day.

5. Watch videos and take notes while you watch (website

recommendation- see pg. 16).

10
ACTIVITIES

6. Watch videos and write a short summary of the information after

you watch.

7. Answer academic writing prompts (website recommendation-

see pg. 16).

8. Send your writing to me! I will review your writing and give you
feedback on word choice, grammar, organization of ideas, and
spelling. (For more information, DM me @englishwith.dani)

READING

One part of reading Use context to understand

Effective
comprehension is having a new vocabulary. Read
reading skills
big vocabulary. If your goal before and after the word
TIPS is reading, you should also you don’t know. Try to take
are very
similar in all
work to increase your a guess about what the
languages.
vocabulary. word could mean.

ACTIVITIES

1. Practice focused (intensive) reading: Choose texts that will

challenge you, like books and magazines. Take your time to
understand the ideas and understand new vocabulary (website
recommendation- see pg. 16).

2. Practice relaxed (extensive) reading: Choose easier texts that

you will enjoy reading. Reading can be fun! This activity can boost
your confidence (website recommendation- see pg. 16).

11
ACTIVITIES

3. Annotate! This means write on the text. You can use a special
highlighter marker or you can just underline and circle important
parts of the text.

4. Do a practice TOEFL reading section (website recommendation-

see pg. 16).

5. Re-read. Read a text completely more than one time. Each time
you will understand more and more.

6. Read out loud. This will also help you improve your pronunciation
and speaking skills.

7. Change the language on your phone to English.

8. Read a book while listening to it as an audiobook. Listening and

reading to a text at the same time is extremely effective.

VOCABULARY

You don’t need a huge

TIPS vocabulary to
communicate effectively

ACTIVITIES

1. Make vocabulary flashcards. Check out my post on instagram

about how to create them and what to include. You can tape a few
cards per week to your bathroom mirror, microwave, or
refrigerator.

12
ACTIVITIES

2. Collect verbs or nouns or adjectives. Decide that every day you

will “collect” 1, 2, 3 or more words in a specific category. Look for
words everywhere (music, tv, social media, etc.)

3. Study and learn the most common suffixes and prefixes in

English. Suffixes and prefixes are groups of letters that add
meaning to a root word. EX: patient / IM-patient ; read / read-ABLE

4. Think about words you use a lot in your native language.

Translate them into English. Then, if you can, ask a native speaker
how that word is used in English.

5. Practice imaginary conversations in your mind. Imagine different

situations and think about what you would say and how the other
person would respond. Include new vocabulary you have recently
learned.

PRONUNCIATION

ACTIVITIES

1. Watch videos of native speakers. Pause the video and imitate a

sentence or two exactly how they said it in the video. This is great
for practicing intonation and rhythm.

2. Do karaoke.

13
ACTIVITIES

3. Do pronunciation exercises. You can find many exercises on YouTube.

4. Practice tongue twisters.

5. Review all the vowel sounds of English; there are 15! Focus on one vowel
sound every few days.

6. Practice with minimal pairs. Minimal pairs are two words that are
identical except for one sound (website recommendation- see pg. 16).

7. Study linking and reductions. Practice them by reading easy texts out
loud.

GRAMMAR

ACTIVITIES

1. Watch grammar explanations of specific topics on YouTube. Take

notes.

2. Do practice exercises. (website recommendation- see pg. 16).

3. Take classes with me! I especially love teaching grammar.

4. Study verb + preposition collocations. Use them in sentences to

practice.

5. Read! You will see grammar in use and develop your language
intuition.

14
Step 4 Create your plan

Step 4 is to finalize your study plan.

Use the calendar on this page to determine when you will do each
activity.

Day Time Activity

___________________________________________________
Mon