How to Self Study English - Self Study Plan for English

welcome to today's live stream so today we are  going to be talking about a really great topic  

if you were here last week in last  week's live stream we talked about  

confidence with using english and i started  to get many questions about self-study and  

self-evaluation so if i don't have a  teacher if i am not studying in school  

how do i self-study these different skills and how  do i know what my english level is so we are going  

to talk about that today so i see some people  joining the chat yes you can always leave comments  

as we go along okay so hello to everyone  um as always please make sure to  

uh leave comments or questions about the topic as  i'm giving the lesson so today excuse me today um  

i am going to give you a lesson about self-study  and self-evaluation and then uh while you watch  

please leave some questions or maybe you have  some tips that you want to share with the other  

learners on this page so while you are watching  think about how do you self study and maybe you  

can share some of your uh study skills and  the ways you do things as well okay guys so  

let's pull up a few hellos on the screen so  i see lots of hellos coming in so let's see

we have uh there we go hello thank  you thank you so much for joining  

welcome to today's live stream hello hello  welcome thank you hello my dear teacher well  

hello my dear student thank you um so we have  hello from madagascar that's very cool thank you  

for joining us today hope you enjoyed the lesson  need hello hi thank you so much for joining today  

um so i see we even already have a question  in um hello from burundi thank you so much  

for joining us today so cool thank  you i hope you enjoyed today's lesson  

okay so we've gotten some hellos hi hi hi hi hi  thank you so much for joining today let's go ahead  

and begin today's lesson okay so i will share  my screen with you just a moment okay here we go

all right guys so hopefully uh you should  be able to see my screen now so today  

we will talk about self-study and self-evaluation  so let's go ahead what are those things  

so self-study i will answer the question how can  you effectively study by yourself so effectively  

this means in a really good  way right so using your time  

well and using good study methods right so how can  you self study very well and then self evaluation  

so how can you keep track of or how can you  know and follow your english level with no class  

and no teacher so i will share with you  some different ways that you can do that  

so let's go ahead and begin so for self study  today i will share with you self study about the  

four main english skills writing reading listening  and speaking okay so we'll go through one by one  

and talk about some different ways to self-study  each of these main english skills okay so first  

let's talk about how to self study writing  this is a question that comes up very often  

in the comments during the live streams and even  the comments on our youtube videos and facebook  

videos so today i want to begin by sharing some  different helpful ways to self study writing  

okay so let's talk about three ways to self-study  writing first keep a journal and we'll talk about  

each of these in detail so keep a journal use  english writing prompts talk about what that  

is and write a summary so let's go through these  three self-study skills or self-study methods so  

first is to keep a journal so unfortunately oh no  journal around me so a journal is like a notebook  

that we write our thoughts in so in a journal  you can write about the events of your day  

you can write about your thoughts and  feelings this will help you express yourself  

so it might not be something that you have  normally done or that you have done before but if  

you keep a journal in english this is an excellent  way to practice writing about your life right  

and all of our study skills are connected  so if you practice writing about your day  

and writing about your thoughts your feelings your  opinions in english every day or very often then  

it will help your speaking too right so you become  more skilled at talking about whatever it is you  

want to write about so for me if i try to keep  a journal in another language it i write about  

uh what i am comfortable writing about  but try to challenge myself a little so  

let's say i want to write about where's my mouse  there we go the events of my day so let's say i  

am studying english and i know how to talk about  simple things like i woke up i brushed my teeth  

i ate breakfast some simple things there so i  can also challenge myself what does this mean  

well maybe i did something and i don't know how to  say it in english keeping a journal is the perfect  

time to look up new words use them to talk about  your day and expand your vocabulary improve your  

writing and improve your speaking and confidence  okay so keeping a journal excellent excellent way  

to practice your writing and something you can see  over time your skill will improve right so also  

make sure to try and write as long as you can as  much detail as you can so not just two sentences  

right it is hard to talk about our day in just  two sentences so maybe try ten sentences or more  

okay so keep a journal our next self-study writing  method is use english writing prompts so what is a  

writing prompt a writing prompt is a sentence or  a question that we read and then write about that  

thing so for example a writing prompt might say  something like um tell me what music you like and  

there you go okay that's the topic i will  write about so english writing topics  

okay you can use google or any search engine  to look up english writing prompts there are  

so many and just choose one a day this  will help you to learn to write about  

many different topics and again make sure to  use your phone or your computer to translate  

use a dictionary use tools to help you learn the  words and phrases you need to write about these  

many different topics so here's an example  i just searched english writing prompts  

so let's take a look at some that would be  easy uh or at least good starting questions  

to write about maybe could be difficult could  be easy so your favorite childhood vacation wow  

so that one topic you could write so much about  right you could write about your favorite teacher  

right describe them what they are like in writing  so many things you could talk about write about  

your first job right so there are hundreds and  hundreds and hundreds of these kinds of questions  

out there so all you have to do is search for  them and then write about them each day okay

uh okay so the next way we can self-study  writing is to write a summary so a summary  

let's talk about what that means first a summary  is like let's say i have a long long long story  

or a long movie or something long and i want to  tell you just the most important information about  

that thing let's say i watched a great movie  and my friend asks me what was the movie about  

well i'm not going to tell them the whole story  right maybe just the most important information  

so if someone asked me what happened in the  avengers end game movie i could say something like  

oh um they all came together to fight thanos  in the end well i don't want to ruin it for  

you if you haven't seen it but i would  just give some simple information right  

this is a great way to learn how to  talk about big ideas in a short way  

sometimes when we are trying to express  ourselves in another language maybe there  

are so many things we're thinking about and so  many things we want to say it can be hard to  

just say what we need to say right so  practicing writing again helps our speaking too  

you can write summaries about anything  you like okay so this is always  

important write about what you  like right anytime you self study  

you should enjoy it so you can write summaries  about movies books tv shows things happening  

in the news and so on anything that you like  okay so remember writing a summary keeping  

a journal and using english writing prompts  are all excellent ways to self-study writing

okay let's talk about our next self-study skill  

reading this is another very common  question oh teacher how do i self  

study reading well let's look at a few  skills first choose a story you know already

use an online dictionary for meaning  and pronunciation while you read  

and lastly write synonyms next to new words

so let's go ahead and go through these

first choose a story you know already  

read a story in english that you know very  well in your native language for example i  

know the story harry potter so so so well i have  read the books in my native language many times  

so when i want to practice reading in another  language well a great place to start for me  

is harry potter because i know the characters i  know the story and this helps me to understand  

or infer which means guess the meaning of words in  sentences right because i already know the story  

so it could be any story for you just think  what's a story you know very well and then find  

that in english find that book in english this  helps your comprehension or your understanding  

and your language development because you  learn slowly how to infer the meaning of  

words in sentences or in a paragraph or in a story  right so because you know it it is a little easier  

to understand and maybe more interesting  because it's a story you know and like

the next self-study skill for  reading is use an online dictionary  

while you read so maybe you're reading a book or  maybe you like to read on a kindle or a tablet  

you can always have your phone nearby to  use an online dictionary while you read  

of course when you read there will be words you  don't know phrases you don't know things that will  

be confusing right so always have a dictionary  nearby when you see new words when reading you  

can look them up in an online dictionary so  one of my favorites is cambridge dictionary  

this is dictionary.cambridge.org something  like that just search cambridge dictionary  

it will go from language to language  there are many different languages  

and you can see meanings what does the word  mean and how do you use it in a sentence  

you can see the translation what is the  word in your language and you can click to  

hear how the word sounds and practice your  speaking as well right so this is very useful  

i think when you are reading remember all  of our language skills help each other  

when we get better at writing we get better  at speaking in reading and even listening  

and when our reading gets better  it helps our other skills too  

so don't be afraid to write the meaning or  translation above the word and read the sentence  

out loud a few times to help your speaking and  your reading comprehension or your understanding  

of what you're reading it helps to do it maybe  three times to really help your understanding  

right so make sure to use a dictionary while you  read and don't be afraid to write in your book  

if you are uh maybe you are  reading on a computer or tablet  

just keep a notebook and write the  words on on there as you go along

all right our last self-study method for  reading is write synonyms next two words  

so what is a synonym a synonym is a word  with the same meaning as another word so  

if i see the word big some synonyms or  words with the same meaning are large  

and sizable and we can use these all in almost  the exact same way in most sentences right  

synonyms are a great way to improve our reading  comprehension and again also our speaking as we  

learn different ways to say the same thing  this is even uh as a native english speaker  

something we learn as we grow up uh as as we  go from kindergarten all the way through high  

school and so on we learn how to expand our  vocabulary and use more words and bigger words and  

more descriptive words so you can do that too  right this is a natural part of learning a  

language and you can make it happen for  yourself by writing out some synonyms  

so maybe you see a big word or an unfamiliar word  which means not familiar don't know it right we  

are we don't recognize it so write synonyms maybe  you see a really a word oh what is that so yes we  

can look up the meaning in translation and it's  helpful to write down synonyms for that word  

so let's say you're reading and you see the word  sizable and you think what does that mean sizeable  

so you look it up and maybe above the word you  write the words big and large and this helps  

you make the connection this is another word  i can use for big or large you can also write  

synonyms for small common words to expand your  vocabulary so let's say you see the word large  

and you look up a synonym above it you write  sizable you can go both directions with this  

but this is a great way to expand your language  and improve your vocabulary and your reading and  

of course because all of our skills are connected  read the sentence again with each new synonym  

maybe you write three synonyms for a word well  read the sentence switching out with each new  

synonym most of the time as long as it's the same  part of speech so all adjectives for example then  

we can often use them in the same way but  we might need a different ending right okay  

let's move on to study skill number three  listening so how can you self study listening

you can use dual subtitles on netflix and  youtube you can watch ted talks with transcripts  

and subtitles and you can use language  apps like memrise duolingo or rosetta stone

so let's talk about oh did i skip one nope okay  ted talks with transcripts and subtitles you can  

go to ted.com to find thousands of interesting  videos about many many many many many many topics  

and these videos are teachers and professionals  from all around the world talking about really  

interesting things many of these videos  have subtitles in many different languages  

and full transcripts that you can read so a  transcript is all of the things said in the  

video when you watch maybe you just see one  line of speaking show one sentence at a time  

right on the transcript you can see the whole  speech and they have transcripts in english and  

korean and chinese and russian and so many  other languages so you can listen along  

watch practice right read and listen this is  very important to developing your listening  

make sure to read along while you listen it helps  us to understand and make the connection between  

the sounds we hear and the words they  represent so make sure to read the transcript  

or read the subtitles in english and  your native language while you listen

you can also do this on things like netflix and  youtube with something called dual subtitles  

dual means like two so you can download  something called netflix dual subtitle  

for learning languages or youtube dual  subtitle these are the exact names and  

these are things you can download on google chrome  that allow you to see two language subtitles  

at the same time this is very useful and the  netflix one the netflix dual subtitle you can even  

pause highlight words put your mouse over a  word and see the meaning you set the language  

so this is very useful for studying and you can  do it with your favorite shows and movies and you  

can even do it on youtube so this is a great way  to study listening again reading while you listen

and of course you can use apps like  memrise duolingo and rosetta stone  

these are very convenient right  we can do them any time of day  

on your phone at your convenience right of these  and of the many i recommend the rosetta stone  

app because it takes an acquisition approach  what this means is from the beginning you only  

hear things in that second language so it  starts very simple you practice your speaking  

listening reading and so on uh from in in a more  natural way that you would learn a first language  

in so rosetta stone is a great app okay guys  let's talk about our last self-study uh methods  

self-study skill speaking oh this one many of  you think what how can i self-study speaking  

we often want feedback for our speaking or we want  to be in conversation to practice our speaking  

but this is not always necessary to practice you  can do self-talk which is like writing a journal  

but we do it out loud we speak it instead of  write it you can do something called mirroring  

so you can watch our july 13th live  stream for a whole lesson on how to do  

mirroring or you can join an online language  exchange so let's talk about these three methods  

self-talk which is like journaling out loud  so this is something you can do in the comfort  

of your home you can practice describing your  day maybe pull up pictures on your phone and  

try to describe them in english or describe  what you see around you out loud to yourself  

so this of course is something we do when we're  alone and we just want to practice speaking one  

of our viewers last week recommended doing this in  a mirror so you can practice things like keeping  

eye contact and using gestures while you speak  so that's great but you can always start by just  

describing your day and practicing your english to  yourself if you are thinking well i am not alone  

often maybe you live with other people or you're  very busy you can also practice thinking in  

english and practice internally when you're in  public or around other people so you can still  

do these things but just think instead of speak  right if you like this method and you want to use  

it but you are around other people very often you  can try doing it with your thinking as well right  

okay next is mirroring so i'm only  going to talk about this for a minute  

but if you watch our july 13th live stream you  will see a whole lesson about how to do this  

mirror ring is a study practice that  involves studying and mimicking or  

copying a good english speaker's speech  which means their words intonation and rhythm  

and their body language so gestures facial  expressions and so on so make sure to check  

out that live stream this is a great study  method that can help you feel more confident  

in your speaking in your pronunciation and so  on and last is join an online language exchange  

there are many apps and websites for online  language exchanges here you can chat with  

native english speakers anytime for practice  for example try speaky this is one that  

is a typing chatting app but you can chat with  native english speakers for practice it's very  

comfortable because it's just again on your  phone typing so you have time to think there's  

no worries about making mistakes or anything like  that so you can use an online language exchange

all right so now that we have talked about  some study methods some self-study methods  

for each of the main language skills  let's talk about self-evaluation

there are many online english level  tests you can take again and again to see  

what your english level is for example  cambridge english has a general english exam  

there's also an online english level test  from british council and again you can just  

search these things online and they'll pop  right up there are also grammar quizzes and  

vocabulary quizzes for free online to test your  skills and see where you need to improve so you  

can just search for these things right there are  so many resources all you have to do is search  

so maybe you are trying to self study some  new grammar maybe you have a textbook that  

you're using or some study book and you  can look up um a simple present quiz or

english vocabulary quiz just test yourself see  what you know and this will help you see where  

you need to improve if you get many questions  wrong about some certain grammar point well  

that's something to study and work on if the  vocabulary quiz gets too hard with certain  

words certain level of words okay well i know this  is my vocabulary level and i can work to improve

so let me recommend to you some reliable or very  good english evaluation websites again cambridge  

english they have an online dictionary they  have level tests really great resource i also  

love british council again many great resources  for students and teachers alike duolingo has an  

excellent english test it is not free but it's  a good one and if you pay for it you can take it  

as many times as you want over time so it's  a very good way to measure your progress  

ielts has a good online test and  so does ef ef standard english test  

the key here is to choose one and take it maybe uh  three or four months apart so take it a few times  

a year to see how your study skills are working  right are my methods working am i improving  

and if not then it shows you you need to adjust  or change and do things a little differently  

but choose one and take it over and over again  that's why i really like the duolingo english  

test it is very comprehensive so many topics  many skills and you can take it every day not  

that you should but you can take it many times a  year and track your progress see how you improve  

so what else can you do to self-evaluate well this  goes back to our mirroring so you can choose a  

native speaking sample or maybe a video or short  clip maybe one minute or two minutes whatever  

is comfortable for you you can find it on  ted.com netflix youtube any any resource study it  

and i don't mean study for five seconds and  repeat i mean study and memorize for a week or  

so or at least several days practice it a lot  until you feel like i know these words i know  

uh i really feel like i am saying something very  similar to the native speaking sample maybe it's a  

clip from a movie or a tv show and i learn it and  feel okay i now i know it very well maybe it took  

me two weeks to really study then record a video  of yourself you can just use your phone you can  

use your computer and record yourself repeating  the same words saying that native speaking sample  

then compare how is your video  different than the original video  

notice things like pronunciation or certain words  or sounds that are hard for you or that aren't  

the same or aren't similar enough  to be understandable and study them  

and practice those things intentionally this is  a really it can be difficult to self-evaluate  

but repeating and comparing yourself to native  speakers can be a really useful strategy  

and before we end remember that enjoyment  and consistency are extremely important so  

what does this mean you must have enjoyable study  methods if you want to study but you hate studying  

uh the usual way the normal way well don't do  that there are so many ways to study there are  

as many ways to study as there are people so  find what works for you and what you enjoy  

you also must have a specific realistic schedule  so this means that you should uh maybe every  

monday for five minutes at 10 a.m and it should be  realistic so if you are very busy don't say i will  

study one hour every day that's very difficult  right and maybe not realistic maybe if you study  

one hour a day you will very very quickly  not want to study so find what works for you  

and you must stick to it so this means  continue find what you enjoy doing to study  

have a specific realistic schedule and stick to  it you probably will not figure it out right away  

so be patient allow yourself to change  and adjust maybe your methods change  

your schedule changes that's okay keep  doing that and find what works for you  

okay guys so thank you for watching so now  let's go over and see your comments or questions

this class is dope in terms of teaching thank  you that is an amazing compliment thank you

so let's see paper english  page thank you very much  

yes thank you so much for joining on today's  live stream i hope you enjoyed the lesson

oh how many times do we take ielts per  year um well it depends what the so  

again they do have a self study or a  english level test for personal use  

and whether it's ielts or any of the other  level tests out there find one you like  

and i recommend taking it every three months or  four months so three or four times a year spaced  

out this is long enough maybe every 12 weeks  or 16 weeks helps you to see how you have grown  

and where oh you know i still need to practice  this thing oh i got this wrong last time too  

i need to work more on this so every 12  to 16 weeks every three or four months  

okay i'm gonna pick up toefl later on kind  uh and sort out what score i might get yeah  

absolutely it's a great way to uh can  be confidence boosting too oh i got that  

question i did a good job so yeah that's that's  great i'm glad to hear that you will do that  

thank you very clear explanation and  pronunciation thank you very much i'm  

glad that you enjoyed it and i hope that  you use some of these methods in your life

lecture the lecture is very good and i like it  so much thanks well thanks to you for watching  

thanks guys let's see so here we have a question  talking in front of a mirror is it a better way  

to improve english speaking skills um i would  say that um it is it can be useful so we had  

a one of our viewers do this recommend this last  week and i think it can be a good strategy it is  

not better or worse than other methods maybe it  will work for you maybe it won't unfortunately  

this is the way with study methods right i might  like to do something someone else might not but  

the benefit of practicing speaking in front of a  mirror is you can really be aware of your gestures  

your body language your pronunciation even you  can see how you are making certain sounds and  

again maybe where you might need to improve so if  you think it will help you to be more confident  

and be more aware then definitely practicing  in front of a mirror can be very useful

oh okay great question so how much vocabulary  should i memorize each day well great question  

for vocabulary again this goes back to what i  said in the lesson about being specific and being  

realistic so i would say don't maybe not every day  maybe have 10 words a week because if you try to  

study too many words these things we only remember  for a short time study study study study study  

what is better instead of studying more in  a short time is to study fewer things for  

a longer time so instead of 10 words a day try 10  words a week and try to use them in your whatever  

your study method is if you are practicing  writing try to use those words when you write  

and then review them the next week this is  very important choose a smaller amount of words  

over a longer amount of time and make sure to  review so let's say this week i study 10 words  

and i really get to know them very well so much  that i'm so ready for new words well next week  

i'll start 10 new words and maybe every few  days i'll review my words from the week before  

and then the next week 10 more words well  now i have 30 words that i'm reviewing  

so it adds up really quickly make sure that  you are studying a smaller amount for a longer  

amount of time okay that's what i recommend how  to memorize vocabulary oh and now a new question  

um should we study sentences oh thank you  please tell us how to memor how to memorize  

vocabulary um well again why are we we're  going back and forth between two questions  

what is happening oh okay well i'll answer one of  those um how to memorize vocabulary um you can uh  

what again different methods so for me i like to  write the word in uh my language and then write  

it in the second language and maybe cover it up  and do speaking practice how to remember them it  

helps to use it in sentences when you're speaking  try to write using the words and for other people  

maybe studying vocabulary in in that kind of way  list of words memorize maybe that doesn't work  

this is why reading and watching shows can be so  useful you can learn some words from an episode  

and then maybe watch the episode a couple  times and learn or listen rewind and listen  

and repeat and help yourself to learn  the words so find what works for you okay  

should we study sentences or vocabulary  which one is better they are both useful so  

vocabulary can be good but i recommend learning  vocabulary in context if i just learn a word  

that's that's good maybe when i read and i see  the word or i hear the word i will understand it  

but maybe i don't really know how to use it  if i am just studying the word this is why  

things like an online dictionary like cambridge  dictionary are useful because you see the word  

the meaning and about three sentences with the  word in it used correctly so that's why online  

dictionaries can be a great resource you can  study the word and practice pronunciation see  

how it is used in a sentence and then try to use  it in your own sentences so learning in context  

is better in my opinion okay i totally agree with  you you can also try to use it in a sentence yes  

exactly make sure to use vocabulary in  sentences to really really learn it for sure  

okay let's see any other any other questions  i'm gonna do a quick scroll through

maybe that might be

maybe that might be it okay looks like that's it  guys thank you so much for your questions i really  

appreciate everyone saying hi sharing uh your  questions and talking to each other um so thank  

you so much uh for tuning in today so remember  there are many ways to self study find what works  

for you and you can definitely do it okay guys so  i'll see you next time bye everyone see you next