How to Talk About Your Studies in English - Learn Spoken English

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Welcome to Oxford Online English.

In this lesson, you can learn to talk about your studies in English.

Are you a student?

Do you study at school or university?

If you’ve finished your studies, can you describe what you studied, when and where?

Talking about your studies could help you in conversation, in an exam such as IELTS

or in a job interview, so it’s good to be able to talk clearly about your studies in

English.

Let's start with the basics.

Look at a simple sentence:

I’m a student.

I study at __________.

What could you put in the gap?

You could say:

I study at high school.

I study at university.

I study at vocational college.

What’s vocational college?

It’s a kind of college where you can learn practical skills to get one specific kind

of job.

For example, you can study hairdressing, plumbing, or cookery at vocational college.

You can also put the place before the word student, like this:

I’m a high school student.

I’m a university student.

I’m a vocational college student.

Of course, you can also say:

I’m an English student!

What else could you say here?

You could also add what year you’re in.

Look at some incomplete sentences:

I’m in __________ of high school.

I’m a __________ university student.

How could you complete these sentences?

You could say:

I’m in year 11 of high school.

I’m a first-year university student.

For school, we normally talk about year 1, year 2, year 3, etc.

Because different countries have different school systems, different numbers can have

different meanings in different places.

In American English, say grade instead of year.

In the UK, year 1 is for children who are 4-5 years old, and the school system finishes

with year 13, when students are 17-18 years old.

For university, you can say first year, second year, third year and final year.

For example:

I’m in my final year.

I’ll graduate in June.

It’s my second year.

I’ve got two more years to go.

What about you?

If you’re a student now, can you make a sentence to say where you study, and what

year you’re in?

Pause the video.

and practice!

Next, let’s see how you can talk about what you study.

Again, let’s start with a simple sentence:

I’m studying for __________.

What could you say here?

Look at some examples:

I’m studying for an International Baccalaureate. I’m studying for a bachelor’s in economics.

I’m studying for an MA in English literature.

Instead of I’m studying for…, you can also say I’m doing…, like this:

I’m doing a PhD in cryptography.

I’m doing an FCE course.

If you’re taking a professional certification, you can also say I’m studying to become…

For example:

I’m studying to become a cardiology nurse.

I’m studying to become an accountant.

What about you?

What are you studying?

Pause the video and make a sentence!

Okay, you can say a couple of basic things now.

Let’s see how you can make your answer more detailed.

Look at some of the sentences we saw in part two:

I’m studying for an International Baccalaureate.

I’m doing an FCE course.

I’m studying to become an accountant.

Our job is to add one more sentence to each example, giving more details.

To help you do this, think about these questions:

What do you have to do for this course?

Why are you doing this course?

What do you hope to get at the end of this course?

Can you think of a way to make our examples more detailed?

Pause if you want to think about it.

Let’s do some examples together:

I’m studying for an International Baccalaureate.

That means I’m doing English language and literature, maths, history and philosophy.

I’m doing an FCE course.

I wanted to improve my English because I’d like to work in Australia or New Zealand in

the future.

I’m studying to become an accountant.

I’m hoping to get my CPA qualification so I can start working.

What about you?

Think about our questions again:

Can you answer these questions to make your speaking more detailed?

Pause the video, and try to say as much as you can about your studies, using the three

questions to help you.

Hopefully, now you can talk about where and what you study and give some details.

But what do you think of your studies?

How could you describe your course or whatever you’re studying now?

Do you like what you’re studying?

Why or why not?

To help you, think about these ideas.

Is what you’re studying interesting or boring?

Why?

Is it difficult or easy?

Again, try to explain why!

Let’s do some examples together:

I’m studying for an International Baccalaureate.

I like it but it’s hard work, because we have to do five different subjects and there’s

a lot of work for each one, so I don’t have much free time.

I’m doing an FCE course.

It’s quite interesting because I have to use my English in new ways, and having the

exam to prepare for gives me the motivation to study more than I would otherwise.

I’m studying to become an accountant.

To be honest it’s very easy and I find it quite boring.

I can already do everything—I just need the qualification!

Do you think you could make an answer like this?

Here’s a basic template you can use:

I’m studying __________.

I find it __________, because __________.

Let’s do one more example, so you can see how to use this template:

I’m studying engineering.

I find it quite hard, because there’s a lot of maths and things you have to remember.

See?

Easy!

Now pause the video and make your own answer.

At this point, you should be able to talk about what you study, give details about your

course or subjects, and give your opinion about what you’re studying.

Now, let’s put everything together and make a longer answer.

Just use the sentences you’ve practised in the previous sections, like this:

I’m in my last year of high school.

I’m studying for an International Baccalaureate.

That means I’m doing English language and literature, maths, history and philosophy.

I like it but it’s hard work, because we have to do five different subjects and there’s

a lot of work for each one, so I don’t have much free time.

That’s an answer only using examples you’ve already seen in this video.

Let’s do another longer answer with original examples:

I’m a second-year university student.

I’m studying psychology, because I’ve always been interested in how people think,

and I’m hoping to work as a psychologist in the future.

I’m really enjoying it and I find it quite easy, because everything’s so interesting

that it doesn’t feel like work!

Now, what about you?

Can you make a longer answer like this?

It should be easy: just put together the example sentences you made at the end of each section!

If you want, put your answers in the YouTube comments and we’ll give you feedback on

your English.

That's the end of the lesson. I hope you learned something new.

You can see more of our free English lessons at Oxford Online English dot com.

See you next time!