Before your study time, it’s important to make a plan of how exactly you will use your time. Making a plan beforehand has many benefits:
- It helps you remember everything you need to do.
- It reminds you of the different ways you need to interact with the language.
- It helps you avoid wasting time by sitting at your desk thinking “What should I do next?”
Your study plan should include at least some of the following: speaking, listening, reading, and writing. The skills you emphasize will depend on what is in your syllabus or study guide for that week, and the format of your course. For example, if your course includes a weekly written homework assignment, you will need to spend some of your study time writing out exercises and completing the written homework.
If your course is speaking-based and doesn’t have written assignments, you will spend much less time on writing and more time on other skills.
How should you allocate your time?
You do not have to do the exact same activities for every study session. Create a list of potential activities that you can do to practice a particular skill (for help planning your study, refer to the articles under: How to Study). Select a variety of activities to do during the week so that you’re covering everything present in the assigned material.
That said, it’s beneficial to repeat some activities more than others.
- You should be speaking as much as possible throughout the week. Speaking and listening are the main skills you will use during your conversation sessions, and the skills you will rely on most in the target language country.
- You can also cycle through reading practice, writing practice, flashcards, and other activities depending on your needs.
Some examples of one-hour study session plans are below:
Example 1 (Beginner)
- Reading textbook chapter, taking notes, making new flashcards (15 minutes)
- Repeatedly listening to audio dialogues and examples from book, repeating them aloud (15 minutes)
- Speaking aloud: using new vocabulary words in a sentence (15 minutes)
- Reviewing flashcards of new and old vocabulary (10 minutes)
- Writing: writing multiple short sentences using material learned, practicing the script (if applicable) (5 minutes)
Sample Study Plan for Beginners
Example 2 (Intermediate)
- Reading textbook chapter, taking notes, making new flashcards (15 minutes)
- Writing: writing a short paragraph, writing out exercises from book (10 minutes)
- Speaking: reading written paragraph out loud, adding sentences to it orally (20 minutes)
- Listening to a radio or watching a TV show without subtitles, taking notes as you watch (15 minutes)
Sample Study Plan for Intermediate
