Creating a study group

Creating a study group

Listen to the conversation about creating a study group to practise and improve your listening skills.

Do the preparation task first. Then listen to the audio and do the exercises.

Preparation

Transcript

Ali: Hey, you guys, I've been looking for you. I've got an idea – a study group. What do you think? Are you interested?

Dina: Yes! I need a study group, in a big way.

Bea: Me too.

Ali: Do you think we have enough people here for a study group? I mean, there are only four of us …

Bea: Sorry. Three of us. Chris can't do study group. Right, Chris?

Chris: Yeah, there's no way I can do a study group. I have an assignment and then I'm too busy. But I'll stay for this first meeting.

Ali: Should we try and get another group together with us for this?

Bea: No, I don't think so. I think three is fine. Ideal size, really.

Dina: Me too.

Ali: OK, three people then. Four people for the first meeting. What next?

Bea: What about a meeting place? We can't meet here in the library …

Ali: It's not too bad, especially if those other people would go away.

Bea: But we can't exactly ask them to leave, and people might get annoyed with us talking.

Dina: Can I say something here?

Ali: Sure, go ahead.

Dina: There's a study hall next to the cafeteria. It's almost always empty. Could we meet there?

Ali: A study hall?! Who knew? Well, it sounds good to me.

Bea: Yeah. I've never been there but …

Ali: So, we ought to decide how long for and how often.

Dina: I read somewhere that you should make the meeting at the same time each week. Like a seminar. That way we'd take it more seriously.

Bea: We may as well make it for this time since we're all here. Is this time OK?

Dina: Works for me.

Ali: Me too.

Chris: Hang on just a minute. I know I'm not going to be in this group, but aren't we supposed to have a seminar at this time every other week?

Dina: Umm, no.

Bea: Thursday, no? 

Ali: No, that's on Thursday. 

Chris: Sorry. Forget I said anything.

Ali: Don't worry about it.

Bea: So everyone agrees that this time is fine? Every week?

Ali: How long should we make it?

Bea: An hour?

Dina: Could we find a way of making it two hours?

Ali: Two hours seems a bit like … too much. To start with then?

Bea: Ninety minutes? Compromise?

Ali: Is that OK with you, Dina?

Dina: Fine by me.

Ali: OK, so I guess all we have left to decide is exactly what we'll do when we meet. The final exam is a way off. I guess we could review our notes, or practise learning things by heart.

Dina: I have a list of dos and don'ts actually that I got online. I could be a moderator, and we could use the ideas as a starting point …

Discussion

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Average: 4.3 (49 votes)
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Submitted by OlaIELTS on Thu, 07/05/2020 - 15:50

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Yes. I had. The tips include: - Having a number of 2 individuals and above. - Having a meeting point or venue. - Choosing time and duration of meeting. - Deciding on days of meeting. - Having someone as a moderator or coordinator. - And having some rules serving as do and don't for the group.

Submitted by jazmin marquez on Fri, 24/04/2020 - 23:46

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Yes, I created a study group when I was in college, but it was difficult because everyone has different times. I think it is very important for you to study with friends or people with whom you feel comfortable, in this way learning is more meaningful and you can be more constant in your process.

Submitted by yoyoraw on Sun, 05/04/2020 - 17:28

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hi can you please tell me if my writing is correct

Hello yoyoraw

I'm afraid we don't correct users' texts. If you have a question about a specific word or part of a sentence, we're happy to help you with that. 

But I can say that your text is quite clear and the only error I spotted was 'its', which should be 'it's'.

All the best

Kirk

The LearnEnglish Team

Submitted by yoyoraw on Sun, 05/04/2020 - 17:24

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Actually no i have not created a study group before. But, i would like to be in a group one day, because i feel its a useful way of studying. Plus, its more fun to study with a group than being alone .

Submitted by Bunga on Fri, 03/04/2020 - 10:29

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I've never created group study but i think it's a great way to motivate each other and to make us more smart. My tips : - for making group study four or five people is enough because more than 5 become more crowd and hard to get focus on. - Consistent, if we had make a deal to make group discussion then we decide the day and time we will meet. Be consistent to do the group discussion. Sometimes only on the beginning we have to do then later become stuck and finish.

Submitted by armando on Tue, 04/02/2020 - 06:56

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Hello, I haven't created a study group, not a stric group but I had been in a lot of group depending of the assignment and if we want to get a higher degree we used to have meetings in differents places. A few years ago we didn't have cellphone's and we get focused on what we had to do, not as these days how Mujtabaaman says, were all the students have mobile cellphone's and they get easily distracted

Submitted by clramosm on Sat, 01/02/2020 - 00:39

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A study group is a good idea, due to students may share ideas and improve their knowledge about different study subjects. When I was student, I created a study group with my classmates. We usually met on Monday to organize activities and homework. However, each member had other duties as sport or elective classes, for that, always someone did not attend to the meeting. The study group helped me to understand other point of view and share ideas, notes and prepare exams. I had a good experience with my study group, despite we did not regularly get together.

Submitted by Mujtabaaman on Mon, 13/01/2020 - 07:31

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No, I didn't. But I study sometimes with my friends, so I have some experience. Tip number one : try to have few people in the group, because if there were too many students in the group, it will be almost impossible to study seriously, and it will be like hanging out with your friends rather than making a studying group. Tip number two : take you phones away, because it will only disturb from studying, so just put it away or don't use it. Tip number three : take breaks, because studying for long continuous hours is unprodective.