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Hi, I’m Kasia.

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Welcome to Oxford Online English!

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Here’s a question: do you want to improve
your English vocabulary, or learn to understand

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native speakers better?

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Of course you do!

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In this lesson, you’ll see a study technique
which can help you to learn English more efficiently,

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and make real, deep progress over time.

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You’ll see a mistake which many English
learners make, and how you can avoid it.

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Before we start, don’t forget to check out
our website: Oxford Online English dot com.

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Do you need English classes?

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We have many professional English teachers,
with many years of experience, who you can

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study with in online classes.

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Even if you’re not interested in this, you
can also find many free English lessons, including

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videos and listening lessons.

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But now, let’s get back to the question
you heard before.

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How can you improve your English over time?

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How can you make real progress, so that you
don’t keep forgetting and relearning the

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same things?

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The solution is not easy or fast, but it is
simple: read more and listen more in English.

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Reading and listening in English regularly
are essential if you want to improve your

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English skills.

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OK, you say, but what about my speaking?

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What about my writing?

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I need to learn to speak in English!

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Fine, but where will your vocabulary come
from?

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Where will your sentence structure come from?

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These building blocks of language don’t
come from nowhere.

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They come from things you read or hear.

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The more you read and listen, the more tools
you’ll have when you’re speaking or writing.

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But, many English learners don’t read or
listen enough.

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Sometimes, they say things like: “It’s
too difficult to read in English.”

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“There are too many unknown words!”

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“It’s too tiring!

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I get bored!”

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You’re going to see an idea to help you
deal with these problems, so you can take

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control of your study habits, and make real,
deep improvements to your English over time.

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When you read or listen, especially in a foreign
language, there are two basic approaches you

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can take.

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Let’s call them “high-intensity practice”
and “low-intensity practice.”

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What do we mean here?

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High-intensity practice means you give 100%
of your focus.

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If you’re reading or listening, you try
to understand as much as you can.

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You repeat the same task several times.

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Low-intensity means that you relax.

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You don’t worry about understanding everything.

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You do as much as you want.

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So, what’s the big deal?

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Why think about this?

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To improve, you need to read and listen regularly.

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You also need a balance between high-intensity
and low-intensity practice.

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This is where many English learners make mistakes.

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They don’t get the balance between these
types of practice right, and this affects

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their results.

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If you do too much high-intensity practice,
you’ll burn out.

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You’ll get tired and bored; you won’t
be able to motivate yourself to study and

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practise regularly.

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Then, you won’t spend enough time practising,
and you’ll struggle to improve.

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On the other hand, if all your practice is
low-intensity, you also won’t improve much.

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You won’t learn a lot from your reading
or listening.

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Again, in the long term, this leads to frustration
and loss of motivation.

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In the rest of this lesson, you’ll see how
to apply these ideas to your English reading

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and listening practice, and how to find the
right balance between high-intensity and low-intensity

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practice.

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You’ll also see how to make a sample study
plan to maximise the results you get from

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your English study time.

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First, let’s talk about listening.

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Think about four different ways to practice
listening.

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One: you watch a film in English, with English
subtitles.

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You don’t pause it or check words which
you don’t know.

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Two: you watch fifteen minutes of a film in
English, without subtitles.

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You pause and rewind to re-listen to sections.

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You use a dictionary to check words which
you don’t know.

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Afterwards, you watch the same section again,
with subtitles, so that you can check what

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you heard.

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Three: you listen to a podcast or radio station
in English while you’re working, or maybe

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while you’re doing some housework.

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You’re concentrating on what you’re doing,
so you aren’t really listening most of the

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time.

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Four: you do an IELTS listening exam.

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You check your answers and give yourself a
score.

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We’ll ask: which are high-intensity and
which are low-intensity ways to practise?

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Hopefully, the answer is obvious.

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One and three are low-intensity ways to practise;
two and four are high-intensity.

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When you’re listening to something in English,
what does high-intensity practice mean?

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It means: you focus 100% on what you’re
listening to, you try to understand as much

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as possible, you use a dictionary to check
new words, and you also repeat the same task

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at least twice, or possibly more.

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High-intensity practice should also include
feedback; you should be able to check if you

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understood what you heard correctly or not.

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In example number two, above, you do this
by rewatching the clip with subtitles.

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You use the subtitles to check if you heard
everything correctly.

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In example number four, you get feedback by
checking your answers against the answer key.

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This is a key part of high-intensity listening
practice.

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There should always be feedback.

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You need a way to check if you heard correctly
or not.

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There’s one more important difference: high-intensity
practice is time-limited.

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You aren’t trying to watch a whole film;
you’re working on a 15-minute clip.

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Obviously, IELTS exams are also time-limited.

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By contrast, low-intensity practice can go
on for any length of time.

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If you’re listening to podcasts while you’re
cleaning your house, you can go on listening

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for as long as you want.

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What about low-intensity practice?

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What does this look like?

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Remember the criteria for high-intensity practice.

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What were they?

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100% focus, try to understand as much as possible,
use a dictionary, repeat the same task, and

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get feedback.

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If you’re not doing these things, then it’s
low-intensity practice.

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Now, can you think of other examples of high-intensity
listening practice and low-intensity listening

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practice?

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Remember: both sides are useful!

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Pause the video now and think about your ideas.

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Try to get three methods for high-intensity
practice, and three for low-intensity.

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So, what did you get?

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There are many possibilities, but here are
three suggestions for high-intensity practice:

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One: listen to a song twice, trying to hear
the words.

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Then, listen with the lyrics, check any words
you don’t know in a dictionary, then listen

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again.

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Two: do listening exercises from an English
textbook.

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Three: do a conversation class with an English
teacher, so you have to understand and respond

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to the teacher’s ideas.

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What about you?

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Did you get similar ideas, or different?

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By the way, please put your suggestions in
the comments and share them with other learners!

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Next, what about low-intensity practice?

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Here are three ideas:

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One: make a playlist of English songs, and
listen to it regularly, for example in your

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car, or while you’re on the bus or the subway
going to work.

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Two: watch an English TV series with English
subtitles, without worrying about whether

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you understand everything or not.

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Three: listen to English-language radio while
you’re working.

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Often, low-intensity practice means you listen
to something in English while you’re doing

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something else.

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That’s valuable, because you don’t need
to make time for this kind of practice—you

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can combine it with other things.

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Now, you should have some ideas about high-intensity
and low-intensity listening practice.

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What about reading?

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A question: what does high-intensity reading
practice look like?

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What about low-intensity reading practice?

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You can answer this with many of the same
ideas you heard about listening practice.

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High-intensity reading practice means: you
read everything carefully, you read sentences

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and whole texts several times, and you use
a dictionary.

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Low-intensity reading practice means you don’t
do these things: you read something once,

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you don’t worry about unknown words, you
don’t worry about whether you’ve understood

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everything or not, and you use a dictionary
little or not at all.

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So, is there a difference between high-intensity
and low-intensity practice in reading and

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listening?

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There are two small differences.

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First, you need feedback for high-intensity
listening practice, to check if you’ve heard

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things correctly or not.

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When you’re reading, you can see the words,
so this is less important.

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Second, you can do low-intensity listening
practice while you’re doing something else.

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You can’t do this with reading.

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You need to make time for all reading practice,
including low-intensity reading.

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Let’s think about another question: should
you choose different things to read for different

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types of practice?

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Or, should you read the same things whether
you’re doing high-intensity or low-intensity

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training?

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What do you think?

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Probably, you should read different things.

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When you do high-intensity practice, you should
read something that’s challenging, something

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right on the edge of what’s possible for
you.

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On the other hand, for low-intensity practice,
you should read something that’s relatively

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easy, so you don’t need to focus too hard.

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Want an idea?

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Read children’s books, or comic books.

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A lot of learners we talk to are against this,
because they think it’s childish or unhelpful,

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but we disagree!

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Children’s books can really help your reading,
especially if your English level is lower.

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In any case, find something you can read without
much effort, so that you have something you

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can use for low-intensity practice.

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What about you?

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What would you do for high-intensity and low-intensity
reading practice?

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Again, please share your ideas in the comments.

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Maybe you’ll get some good tips from other
viewers!

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Next, let’s see how you can use these ideas
to make an effective, realistic study plan

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to improve your English.

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Let’s start with some basic points.

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First, you need to make time for high-intensity
listening practice, and both high-intensity

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and low-intensity reading practice.

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Second, you need to think of ways to get as
much low-intensity listening practice as possible.

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Remember that you can do this while you’re
doing something else.

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Third, you need a good balance of high-intensity
and low-intensity practice.

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What does this mean?

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You need some high-intensity practice, ideally
a little bit every day, but not too much!

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High-intensity practice is tiring and probably
not fun.

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You need to concentrate hard.

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It’s work.

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So, schedule high-intensity practice for your
best time of day.

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Are you a morning person?

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Do it as soon as possible after you wake up.

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Are you a night owl?

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Schedule your practice late in the evening.

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Set a time limit for high-intensity practice.

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This will help you to focus.

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Start with fifteen minutes, and then increase
it slowly if you think this is too little.

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For low-intensity practice, do as much as
possible.

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A good way to do this: take things you do
every day in your language, and replace them

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with English.

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For example, do you read the news every day,
maybe while you’re having breakfast?

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Read the news in English, instead.

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Do you listen to podcasts while you’re walking
around?

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Listen to English podcasts, instead.

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Remember: low-intensity practice shouldn’t
be stressful.

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It shouldn’t be hard to motivate yourself
to do it.

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The idea is to expose yourself to as much
English as possible.

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That’s it.

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Don’t try to do more.

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Keep high-intensity and low-intensity practice
separate.

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Here’s a possible study plan for one day:

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High-intensity listening: watch a 5-minute
clip from a TV show, like Friends.

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Watch once without subtitles, then again with
subtitles, and check any new words in the

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dictionary.

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Watch a third time to ‘fix’ the new vocabulary
in your head.

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Low-intensity listening: put a playlist of
English videos on in the background while

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making dinner.

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High-intensity reading: read a short news
article on a technical topic.

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Read once, check new vocabulary, then read
again.

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Low-intensity reading: browse the comments
under a news article on a topic you’re interested

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in.

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What do you think?

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Would this be realistic for you?

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The high-intensity parts here should take
maybe 10-20 minutes each.

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The low-intensity reading can take as little
or as long as you want.

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That means you need maybe one hour a day total.

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It also means you don’t need to sit at a
desk and study for hours.

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You need to focus for maybe 20 minutes at
a time.

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That’s not so bad, right?

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Could you do this?

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If you could follow a study plan like this
regularly, your English will get better over

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time.

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Of course, you should give yourself different
things to do at least some days, and you probably

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won’t be able to do this seven days a week,
365 days a year.

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But, maybe you can do it three days a week,
or four.

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Maybe even five!

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This will still help you.

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Make a realistic study plan, and don’t get
discouraged if you don’t stick to it perfectly.

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Do as much as you can, as often as you can.

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What about you?

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Could you make a study plan for yourself using
these ideas?

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Think about your English level, your interests,
and what’s easy or difficult for you.

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If you want, share your daily study plan in
the comments.

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Sharing your ideas might help other learners,
and you can also get tips from other people!

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Thanks for watching!

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See you next time!