Sample English Self-Study Agenda

This is just an example of one student's learning agenda for a month. You should make your own personal agenda. Make sure to use the appropriate level of materials. It is useful to write a 7-day agenda before you go to bed every Sunday night. Most importantly, make sure to study a balance of skills, including listening, speaking, reading and writing.

Week 1

Sunday	Read an English children's story. Do exercises. Summarize story in my journal.
Monday	Write a journal entry about my weekend. Review some English spelling rules.
Tuesday	Study prepositions of place.
Wednesday	Read the useful phrases used in a telephone conversation. Write out a simple conversation I would have with my best friend.
Thursday	Review the prepositions of place that I learned. Practise talking (out loud) about the placement of objects in my bedroom. If there are any objects in my room that I don't know the name for, look them up in a dictionary. Record them in my own personal dictionary.
Friday	Listen to one hour of English radio. Don't write anything down. Just listen.
Saturday	Review all of the new vocabulary I have learned this week. Write a story using as many of the words as I can.

Week 2

Sunday	Try a telephone English practice session and quiz. If I have difficulty doing them, review the telephone language I learned last week.
Monday	Go to the grammar section of EnglishClub.com. Choose one part of speech that I have difficulty with (for example: adjectives). Read the lesson and do the quiz.
Tuesday	Watch an English video. Watch the movie without writing anything down.
Wednesday	Read the English proverbs on EnglishClub. Look up (and record) any of the vocabulary I don't know. In my notebook, write out as many proverbs from my own culture that I can think of and try to translate them into English.
Thursday	Schedule a partner practice session on the telephone. Talk for at least half an hour using only English. Keep notes in front of me and try to use the telephone phrases I've learned.
Friday	Watch the English movie again. This time stop and start the film when I don't understand something. Look up and record at least ten English words and try to understand them in context.
Saturday	Read EnglishClub's say OR tell page. Do the test.

Week 3

Sunday	Review all of the vocabulary I learned last week. Write a letter to an English friend or teacher using as many of these words as I can.
Monday	Listen to the radio for one hour. Choose a song I like and try to find the lyrics online by typing a key phrase from the chorus, or the musician's name into a search engine (exampe: Google : lyrics elton john)
Tuesday	Read the short biography of William Blake. Look up and record any words that I don't know. Write a biography of a famous person in my culture. Use the Internet to help with research.
Wednesday	Read the lesson about English word stress. Try the word stress test.
Thursday	Spend an hour or two doing online listening exercises such as the questions at Listen to News.
Friday	Begin the small talk lesson. (Read the WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, WHY.) In my notebook, summarize the points in my own words.
Saturday	Do a small talk practice session and try the quiz.

Week 4

Sunday	Test myself on all of the vocabulary I have learned in the past three weeks. Write out 25 words/phrases from my personal dictionary on slips of paper. Put the slips in a hat and pick out one at a time. Try to make a complete sentence using each word. Speak out loud.
Monday	Spend one hour trying vocabulary games and puzzles. Record any new vocabulary that I learn.
Tuesday	Work on some dictation exercises. Write out 20 words that I often have difficulty spelling. Review them before bed.
Wednesday	Read a short story (out loud) such as The Winepress. Do the exercises and quiz. Record 10 difficult words.
Thursday	Listen to English music for at least one hour. Use the radio or Internet. Don't write anything down. Just relax.
Friday	Convert my favourite recipe into English. Invite a friend over to enjoy this meal (speaking in English only).
Saturday	Study conjunctions on EnglishClub.com.