30-Minute English

Study Routine
KEITH O'HARE
 About the Author

Keith runs The Keith Speaking Academy. He has

been working in international education for over
20 years as a teacher, teacher trainer, and
education manager.

He has helped over 40,000 students prepare for

their IELTS Speaking test with his online courses.
Ok, you’ve got your new book, and your new course, you are ready to
study English - but what do you actually do now?

You need a plan and an English study routine

This PDF will guide you by showing you

How to create a study habit

The biggest mistake about language learning

Some tools and technology to help you study

A 30-minute study routine

This is the same study routine I have used to learn French, Spanish and
Chinese.
1. How to Create
a Study Habit
The most important thing is to first commit and plan

Make a decision to study English in the coming weeks.

Ideally, tell a friend about your plan, so they can hold you accountable.

Next, decide how many weeks you are going to study for.

Make this a realistic number for you.

It can be anything from 2 weeks to 12 weeks.

After that, decide the days, time, and place you can study.

For example,

Mondays and Thursdays, at 7am (when everyone is asleep), at my

kitchen table.

I recommend every time you study that you do it the same days, same
time, and same place.
 TIP
If somedays you feel lazy or have no time, just try studying for 5
minutes. That is better than nothing at all.

Studying is a bit like a long distance relationship, the longer you go

without contact, the harder it is to make contact. So stay in regular
touch with your English study!

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 2. The Biggest
Language Learning
Mistake

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You see a word or grammatical structure and you think you now know it.

In reality, after studying a word once, you do not really ‘know’ it.

It’s like a bird landing on a tree in your garden.

You may think, 'Great, I have a bird!’

But you don’t!

Just like vocabulary you have just studied, it will quickly fly away, and
you will forget it.

So, how do we learn a new word?

Well, to learn and ‘know’ a new word, you need to

Understand the meaning

Know the form
Be able to pronounce it
Know how it’s used
See it in 3 or 4 contexts
Use it in 3 or 4 contexts

Then you are on the way to really ‘knowing’ a new word.

However, learning vocabulary and new grammatical structures is a

long-term process.

The key to learning new language is to review, review and review.

Learning new words is a bit like going out with, or dating, a boy or a girl.

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The process of going out with someone can look like this

1. See them
2. Somebody introduces you
3. Learn how they sound, see who their friends are
4. Talk to them
5. See them in a different context
6. Get married
7. Years later you discover something new about them!

The process of learning a new word can look like this

1. See the word (e.g. A TABLE)

2. A teacher introduces you to the word
3. Learn about them (pronunciation, form, collocations - friends!)
4. Practice talking
5. See the word in a different context (e.g. TO TABLE AN IDEA)
6. Get married!
7. Years later you discover an idiom (e.g. THE TABLES HAVE TURNED)

Learning words and grammar, just like relationships, is a long-term

process.

The more time you spend together,

The more you listen and try to understand them,

The better your relationship will be!

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3. 30-Minute English
Study Routine

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This study routine has 3 simple steps.

1. DISCOVER (10 mins)

2. PRACTICE (10 mins)

3. REVIEW (10 mins)

1. DISCOVER

First of all we are going to discover some new language.

It’s important to learn new language in context, so try to avoid word

lists, or lists of synonyms.

To start, find a short text and read it. You can search for a text with
Google, based on a topic you want to study, for example ‘Photography’

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You can also use ChatGPT to get some ideas

If you find a long article, just choose 1 to 2 paragraphs.

Read it without stopping or looking up any new words.

Just try to get the overall meaning.

Next, note, highlight or write down just 5 key words.

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Choose topic-related words, as we are focusing on improving our ability
to talk about this topic. For example,

Check the meaning so you understand the words.

You can use an online dictionary like Collins or Cambridge.

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You can also use a Chrome extension like Google Dictionary. This tool
lets you click on any word on a website and check the meaning and
pronunciation right there.

Next, for the 5 key words, make a note of the Word Form

Is it a noun, adjective, adverb, verb, preposition…?

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For example, we have the word ‘shoot’ in the article. This can be a verb
and a noun.

Shoot (v.)

I like shooting landscape photos

Shoot (n).

I have a photo shoot this afternoon for my university graduation

Also note the Collocations

These are the other words that often go together with a word.

For example, if we take the word ‘portrait’ we can see in the text it is
used together with ‘self’ and also the verb ‘to take’

Portrait
a self-portrait
taking a self-portrait

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Next, for the 5 words you chose, underline or highlight the complete
collocation phrase.

Like this:

The final step of the Discover section is a preparation step for reviewing
later.

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Make a gap-fill (often called a Cloze) of the text.

Copy and paste the text from the website onto a document, and then
blank out some of the key words, especially words or collocations you
are learning.

It can look something like this:

We will come back to do this in the third stage, the review.

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2. PRACTICE

In the practice stage, we are going to start repeating and using these
new words and phrases.

First, listen to the text.

To do this, you can use any text to speech software. The one I use is
Speechify.

It is also available as a Chrome extension tool.

You can choose the voice, accent, speed and even extracts of the text
that you want to be spoken.

So, once you have set up the software, close your eyes, and just listen.

Next, use the Google Dictionary Extension to click on the 5 key words
and repeat them aloud.

Then, use speechify to highlight the collocation phrases and repeat

them aloud

After that, take the collocation phrases and this time repeat them out
loud, but changing one word.

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For example,

Spark your creativity

Spark my creativity

Spark his creativity

Spark their creativity

Finally, make a new phrase with the collocation and speak it out loud

For example, for the collocation ‘spark your creativity, you might say,

I use classical music to spark my creativity

Drawing on a piece of paper helps spark my creativity

As a final step, make some new phrases that are true for you, and write
them out. In my case, the following is true;

I actually use rock music to spark my creativity

I always use my phone to shoot photos when I go to a party
I don’t really like taking self-portraits
It’s hard taking a photo whilst holding the camera at arm’s length

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3. REVIEW

Now, it’s time to review everything you have studied so far.

So, first, remember the Cloze you made?

Well now, go and fill in the gaps.

When done, check your answers with the original text.

Notice any mistakes you made, and learn from them.

Next, write out the 5 key words from memory, and try to explain the
meaning.

Again, check your answers with the original text.

Thirdly, write out the 5 collocation phrases from memory.

As above, check your answers with the original text.

Finally, take the title of the text you have been studying and copy and
paste it into Youtube.

See what comes up.

What you are looking for is a related video in Youtube that discusses
the same topic and so may have some of the words you have been
studying.

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Listening to new words in new contexts and new media is an important
part of deeply learning new vocabulary.

If you can find a video related to the topic you are studying, just listen
to it, or a part of it, for a few minutes.

Just expose yourself to the language. No need to note or write down

anything new.

And that is the end of the third stage!

So, in summary, this 30-minute study routine has 3 parts

1. DISCOVER (10 mins)

2. PRACTICE (10 mins)
3. REVIEW (10 mins)

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KEITH SPEAKING ACADEMY

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