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 …

Task 1

MultipleChoice_MjMzMDM=.xml

Task 2

Matching_MjMzMDQ=.xml

Discussion

Have you ever created a study group? What are your tips?

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Language level

B2 Upper intermediate

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To be honest, I have created a study group. We often met in early days before we had examinations. I prepare materials and knowledge for the terminal sufficiently . It was very effective and salutary for each of us. By the way I can not find any lines in the text that they said about they had another seminar every two weeks on Thursday.

Hello Giahaitruong,

The part of the conversation where they mention this is the following.

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.

Dina and Ali say that it's on Thursday every other week, not today. Chris realises he was wrong and apologises for the confusion.

Does that make sense now?

All the best,

Kirk

The LearnEnglish Team

Hi Razan Mahairy,

No, there's no problem at all. Thanks for your comment!

We check all comments first before they are published, so they won't appear immediately. You can find the full list of House rules here: https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/house-rules

Best wishes,

Jonathan

The LearnEnglish Team

yes i have created a study group with 3 people. It's quite effective to get focus on. We make the motivation to study better and if we have assignment or any problem, we'll exchange together and it's solved faster. there are some tips for u to create study group: Make a decision about the place and time to meet. Before meeting, you have to prepare what would we discuss? it will be better if you can come up with some idea for the problem.

no,i haven't been in study group before,but i think it great way to study for tasks!

I think study group may waste my time and make less concentration but if it’s organized well this could lead to having good results and if I decide to make study group, my tips will be, firstly The meeting should be at the same time every week to feel more seriously. secondly it should be not more than four persons in order to be more focus and finally it shouldn’t take more than two hours. Study group may help in exchange point of view and get knowledge to new ideas of others . Pls is there any mistake in writing ?

No, i haven't And i think it is not good idea. It may waste your time. In addition, you may not concentrate when you study in a group

Yes, I took part in a group for while. There was nobody in charge, we decided what we were going to read and we had meetings regularly. The meetings lasted for hours, like three hours.