If you speak to a person in a language he understands, you are speaking to his mind. If you speak his native language, you speak to his heart.

Nelson Mandela

About the benefits of studying the second, third or we have written more than once. This is an excellent exercise for the brain, improves cognitive abilities, allows you to better concentrate on tasks and protect yourself from external stimuli, is the prevention of Alzheimer's disease.

But we are all busy people and the standard terms of learning a foreign language (4-5 years) do not suit us. The pace of life has accelerated, and everything else has accelerated. And a huge number of methods have appeared that allow you to cope with this task in 3 months.

In a guest post on Zen Habits, Maneesh Sethi of Hack The System blog shares his methodology. He studied foreign languages ​​for four years and now speaks English, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and German. It took Manish 3 months to learn Italian, 2 months to learn Spanish, and about 3 weeks to learn Portuguese.

Manish Seti believes that in order to successfully and quickly learn a foreign language, first of all, you need to change your approach - to become an active student who does not just allow himself to be taught, but takes part in the process and constantly asks questions.

The only "but" in this system: in order to learn a new language in 90 days, you must spend at least 3-4 hours every day on learning and study with a teacher for at least the first month. If you do not have such an opportunity, then the terms are stretched, but at the same time there are still much less than the standard terms for learning the language.

Learning Strategies

1. Find the right resources. Grammar textbooks, movies, books and programs for memorizing words.
2. Hire a tutor. At least for one month. Exercising 4 hours a day is recommended, but not required.
3. Try to speak and think in the language you are learning. Practice vocabulary every day.
4. Find friends who speak this language. Ideally, if they are native speakers of the language being studied.

90 Day Study Plan

First month

This is a period of intensive language learning and work with a tutor. According to Manish, group lessons relax and allow you to be lazy. One-on-one sessions with a teacher boost language learning and keep you constantly on your toes. Every day you have to learn 30 new words.

Why exactly 30? Because in 90 days you will know the language by about 80% and your vocabulary (a little less than 3,000 words) will be enough for free communication.

Second month

After the first intensive month of study, you are already quite able to communicate with native speakers. After all, it is communication, and not the completion of tasks from the textbook, that allows us to memorize new words and phrases well.

It would be ideal to visit the country whose language you are learning. But I think that, if this is not possible, visiting conversation clubs will suffice.

third month

By the third month, your estimated level of language proficiency should be enough to watch movies and read books. At the same time, you must learn 30 new words every day throughout the entire period.

Manish also believes that if you do not have a partner, it would be very cool to find a partner who is a native speaker. Once he met a man (an American) who was fluent in Russian. Manish asked how long it took him to study this complex language. To which he replied: "Two wives."

Useful Resources

And now the most important thing: the resources and applications that will allow you to cope with the task.

Programs

To memorize words, you can use special applications. If you prefer Apple devices, then the Genius app might come in handy. The application selects questions or words carefully using the spaced repetition method. The more often you make mistakes, the more often the program will ask you questions. Manish recommends having the program suggest a word in your native language that needs to be translated into a foreign language. Then it will be better remembered, because translating from mother tongue in a foreign language is always more difficult. And we are not looking for easy ways.

Dictionaries

In addition to the familiar Google Translate, WordReference.com (for working with most Romance languages) and dict.cc (for learning German) may be useful to you.

Conversation Resources

For speaking practice, you can look at The Mixxer - a resource that allows you to find interlocutors for speaking practice on Skype.

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I would like to add a few words of my own. I understand perfectly well that such a forced way of learning a foreign language is not available to many. Still, 4 hours of classes every day for a month for many is a much more expensive pleasure than the monthly cost of classes with a tutor.

Unfortunately, we cannot download a software package with languages ​​​​straight into the brain. But if you study with a teacher at least two or three times a week, replenish your vocabulary 30 new words every day, read books, watch movies and try to think in the language you are learning, then you should definitely succeed. And of course, talk, talk and talk wherever possible.

The beginning of the year is the time to plan the most important things. And if there has long been a goal to study of English language, then right now comes the most best time in order to engage in its implementation. In our country, there are usually two peaks in the field of education, in business and affairs - in early autumn and early January. After long vacations or holidays, there is a desire to load your brain to the fullest, especially since the holiday season is still very far away. This means that the most favorable time is coming to make your dreams come true.

You can start from Monday, with the receipt of the next salary, from the new year. And the last option will be the most correct, because by planning your training by months, at the end of the year it will be possible to take stock and understand how successful the progress was in this matter.

Set the bar

Everyone knows the fact that without a clear goal there will be no result. This also applies to the study foreign languages. For those who are just starting to learn English, you can set yourself the goal of achieving elementary level. Moreover, the simplest level of language proficiency can be mastered on your own. But at the same time, you need to understand that theoretical English. But in order to learn practical English, you still cannot do without a teacher.

Testing

There are a million tests on the Internet that will allow you to check your starting level of English. But when passing such tests, it is worth paying attention not only to whether they take into account not only knowledge of grammar and vocabulary, but also the ability to read, understand and listen. Usually good tests have a large number of questions of different formats, sometimes there may even be interactive questions that offer to listen to an audio track, watch a video, or tell the hero the correct solution to the situation. Those who seriously decided to start learning English should still spend their time on such a serious test. After all, this is like a “before” photo for those who are just starting to lose weight. At the same time, it cannot be said that express tests show incorrect results. Rather, these results will not give the student a complete picture of knowledge and gaps in it.

Check list

In order to check yourself daily, you can make a checklist for 31 days. A regular sheet of paper with lined margins will do, where you can write down the date, the topic of the lesson (type of activity), for example, Present Simple or watching a series in English, and then indicate the amount of time spent on this lesson in the appropriate column. The pillars should be: Grammar, Reading, Writing, Speaking, Listening, Vocabulary. Such a checklist helps to keep track of how much and what time is spent on, and also with the help of such a table at the end of the month it will be possible to quickly restore all the topics of the lessons in memory and see what the most time was spent on.

Making a plan is of great importance for both beginners to learn English and advanced learners. Therefore, in order not to go astray, you can plan lessons in advance.
1-2 months- this is the most important period, because at the very start the habit of learning English is only being developed, the foundation and foundations are being laid. During this period, it is very important to serve yourself in English: listen to music, chat with friends, watch movies, etc. A prerequisite at this stage is the expansion of vocabulary, because further study of the language will be difficult without a sufficient amount of vocabulary.
3-4 months is a stage of progress and development of skills in all areas of the language. By this time, the student already knows about 1000 words and can keep up a conversation on an everyday topic. It is time to decide whether to continue independent learning and then, or seek help from a teacher, since further stages require high self-organization and a great desire to learn.
5-6 months- time for practice. By this time, students usually already speak English quite well, so it's time to break down language barriers. Friends from other countries, TV shows, interest blogs and books can help with this. Just don’t worry, because speech from a TV is much more difficult to perceive than a live interlocutor, so if everything seems incomprehensible at once, then you should add Russian subtitles.
6-12 months- the time for self-improvement is coming, because by this time, “blank spots” in knowledge have accumulated, which should be eliminated. In addition, it is necessary to in-depth study language. For perfect knowledge of the language, it is worth giving lessons at least 2 hours a day.

Of course, each student may encounter the most popular Russian mistakes in learning English, but do not give up and despair. If self-study is beyond your power, motivation and desire to study disappear, then it is better to turn to professionals who will help revive interest in learning and craving for knowledge!

Learning a new language is hard and painstaking work, including the study of vocabulary, grammar, acquisition of language perception skills, writing and reading. In order to make the learning process more efficient and somehow facilitate it, it would be nice to outline a training program for yourself that will help you purposefully follow the intended path towards knowledge and distribute your time with maximum benefit.

What is a lesson program?

It's simple. The lesson program is a plan drawn up in advance, which indicates exactly what time is allotted for the English lesson and what needs to be learned during this time. And so day after day, week after week. This is especially recommended for those students who study online, because such a plan helps to organize their day so that there is time for both work and personal life.

How will it help?

Google shortcode

Whether you're attending a tutor, giving lectures, or studying online, a class plan like this can have a number of benefits. By creating a program that you need to stick to, it will be easier for you to tune in to your studies, set goals for yourself, and monitor how successfully you achieve them. A program like this will help you become more organized, manage your time more effectively, stay on course, and stay motivated to study.

How to create a lesson program

Step one - think ahead

If you want to maximize the effectiveness of your planned classes, you need to think about why you are actually learning English. Set specific goals for yourself that you need to achieve for each session or for a certain period of classes, say, for a month. Once you decide on this, you can create a plan or program that will help you achieve your goals. If you have tests, an interview or an exam ahead of you, this will be a great incentive to work hard.

Step Two - Be Realistic

Don't set yourself unattainable goals and make an overly saturated training plan. If you are determined to practice for six hours in a row without breaks, you will very soon realize that this is simply not feasible. Also remember that it is not realistic to start studying right after a long and tiring day at work, a hard workout in the gym, etc. In addition, it is necessary to take into account the individual biorhythms of a person. Someone has the highest performance in the morning, and someone cannot wake up until noon. You need to start classes with a bright head and full of energy- then they will be fruitful, so try to plan classes taking into account these recommendations.

Step 3 - Review your to-do list

You need to create a detailed schedule of your daily activities. Think about how long it takes to get home from school or home from work, and when you usually eat and sleep. This will help identify free time, which you can devote to your studies and cross off unnecessary things from the list that you don’t have to do.

Step four - your training program

It remains to correctly distribute the free time indicated in the schedule of daily affairs, but you should not take on everything at once on one day - and in the end do nothing really: on Monday, do written work(exercises, tests), on Tuesday, take up reading, new words and retelling of the text, etc. - this will be more productive and interesting.

Step five - take a break

As already mentioned, you should not practice for several hours in a row - this will not be effective at all. In fact, we absorb information better at the beginning and at the end of classes, so it is better to study for periods from 20 minutes to 40, with small breaks, which are enough to reflect on what has just been learned, do a five-minute exercise, have a snack and drink a glass water, call a friend, or listen to some music. Five to ten minutes of changing classes will help you start learning the language with renewed vigor.

Step Six - Run Tests

At certain stages of the course of study, you will have to deviate a little from your program in order to make time verification tests, so for some time, instead of regular classes, plan to review the material covered and the one that will be included in the exam.

Step Seven - Use Special Applications

Of course, you can create a study program with pen and paper, but in this advanced age of smartphones and tablets, no one does this anymore, because there are special applications like MyStudyLife, with which you can create beautiful programs for your classes, set goals and follow how successfully they are achieved, and to identify weak spots. Try downloading an app like this on your computer or phone and all you have to do is fill it out. Electronic applications are suitable not only for students, but also for teachers who want to make their work easier, because. they can save the schedule, homework, list of exams and much more.

If you decide to study English on your own, then the very first thing to do is to prepare a plan. We decided to help you with this by providing at least an approximate algorithm and explaining what and when to do. Our rough plan It is designed for 6 months, but, again, someone will cope faster, someone will need more time. In any case, you will already have something to build on.

Before moving on to the plan, you need to decide on a set of tools that will help you learn English on your own:

• grammar reference (the thinner the better);
• dictionary (the most convenient, of course, online dictionaries);
• study guide (to your taste);
• phrasebook;
• aids for language learning (eg).

choose educational materials based on the level of your knowledge and do not be lazy to spend a lot of time on this part.

Plan for self-study English:

1 - 2 month

The first two months are the most difficult and important for those who study English. You build a system, develop the habit of learning a language.

The main thing here is to surround yourself with English: books, songs, communication.

Of particular note is the expansion of vocabulary; every day you need to learn 15 new words (for example, co). To communicate fluently in English, you need to know about 2500 - 3000 words. By studying 15 words every day, in six months you will expand your vocabulary to the desired level.

At this time, you should devote at least 2 hours a day to studying the language.

3 - 4 month

This is where you will start getting the first results. Consistency will be achieved easier and more comfortable. If you did everything right, you will already know about 900 words and will be able to maintain conversations on certain topics. Find yourself an interlocutor (live or via Skype), a native speaker, this practice is simply necessary.

You also need to devote at least 2 hours a day to learning, but already practicing and developing speaking and listening skills. Start reading simple books in English, highlighting unfamiliar words. Also force yourself to think in English. Every time you think about something, mentally translate all thoughts into English.

5 - 6 month

By this time, you should already be able to speak English well. Now practice and only practice: with friends, colleagues, partners. TV shows, films and books (already more difficult) in English will also help.

Stock up on a few films in English. And don't worry if you don't understand something while watching. It is much more difficult to perceive speech from a film than to understand the speech of a real interlocutor.

Continue to give the language 2 hours each day (at this stage, this will be especially easy).

If you continue like this, you will very soon be able to freely carry on any conversation in English, the main thing is not to reduce the practice.

In my last year at the university, I started working as an English tutor (I studied at the Dobrolyubov National State Linguistic University, majoring in theory and methods of teaching foreign languages ​​and cultures). But my lessons did not seem to me as successful as they could be, and I did not have a clear answer why this was happening.

After graduation, I started working in language school, where she began to devote much more time to the methodology and for the first time thought about the importance of planning. Then I realized that by doing sosecretingredient needed for a successful lesson islessonplan.

Now I can definitely answer the question why plan a lesson:

• The lesson takes on integrity. It's sort of a journey from point A to point B. Without a plan, you'll be tossed about like you're on a ship on the high seas in a storm, and students will wonder, "What was that?"
• Lesson control. You know where to start, how to move from one activity to another, what questions students may have, what to do if you finish early, etc.

Before planning a lesson, it makes sense to develop template, a template that is visually convenient for you (I use), which will include all the elements of the lesson you need.

Include the following elements in the template header:

1. the date
2. Lesson duration
3. Student name / group number + level
4. Lesson topic
5. The purpose of the lesson
6. Materials to be used (textbook, additional materials, question cards, photographs, etc.)

In the main body, enter:

• Introduction
• Main part
• Conclusion
• Homework
• Comments

This form will help you not to forget anything when planning a lesson.

Stages of working on a lesson plan

Target

The first step is to define the purpose of the lesson. The goal is always the answer to the question “What new knowledge will my students leave the lesson with?” So the lesson acquires meaning, and all its elements are tied to one goal.

Introduction

Having determined the goal, you can proceed to the introductory part of the lesson - warm up. It serves to get students talking, arouse their interest, intrigue and smoothly lead to the topic of the lesson.

What is important to remember:

• The optimal warm-up time is 5-10 minutes
• Variety - each lesson should have a different warm-up, so try not to start all the lessons the same way with the mundane "How are you?"

Main part

The key component of the lesson, which is aimed at the presentation and development of new material.

The content of the main part should be directly related to the purpose of the lesson - then each task becomes meaningful. Remember, the main thing here is not the number of tasks, but their quality. Despite the variety of materials, books, textbooks and activities, it is important to dose assignments and make the most of what you give your students.

The second thing to keep in mind is the variety of tasks. Whether you are working with children or adults, it is important to make the lesson as varied as possible to keep students interested and engaged.

Alternate gap filling with flashcards, work in pairs with work in groups, move students around, let them write on the board for you, create a dynamic and stimulating learning environment.

Conclusion

Give the final part of the lesson 5-10 minutes. Do not plan anything new, do not introduce new grammar or vocabulary. By this point, the students (no matter how interesting the lesson) are already tired.

This is the perfect time to play a little, summarize the lesson, give homework, and answer the final questions students have left.

8 hacks for planning your dream class:

# 1. Enter an approximate amount of time, which will take to complete each task.

# 2 . Think and write down in the plan how you will present the rules to students completing tasks. The explanation should be clear, concise and understandable.

# 3. Write down what questions/difficulties students may have. Think about how they could be solved

# 4. think and write down how you will move from one task to another. The transition should be smooth and logical.

# 5. Opposite each task indicate the source- page and exercise number in the textbook; if it's about additional materials, specify the order number of the task, for example, activity 1)

# 6. Is always keep the plan handy.

# 7. Prepare an additional task in case the lesson ends early.

# 8. After the lesson Analyze your plan and note which tasks worked and which did not. Consider how you can avoid similar problems in the future.

Planning a lesson is necessary and very important! At the beginning of a teaching career, lesson planning can be time consuming and very detailed. There is nothing wrong with this, on the contrary - if you are just starting out, write everything down! Over time, lesson planning as well as its content will be given much faster.