Rainy Day Study Tip: Your Most Overlooked Study Resource

Rainy days are often a good opportunity to stay indoors and spend a little time on English. However, studying does not always mean opening a new textbook or starting a new course. Sometimes the most productive thing to do is revisit material from previous lessons.

Many students build up a surprising amount of personalised learning material over time. This may include lesson summaries, language feedback, corrected sentences, vocabulary notes, chatbox notes, handouts, or optional homework activities.

Some conversation lessons have a clear focus. We might discuss an article, work on listening skills, explore a vocabulary topic, or use a photo narrative activity to develop speaking skills. In these cases, students often leave the lesson with notes and materials that can be reviewed later.

Other conversation lessons are much freer. Even so, useful language often emerges naturally during the discussion. A more natural expression, a grammar point, a pronunciation issue, or a useful piece of vocabulary may come up and be included in the lesson summary or feedback notes.

When reviewing previous lessons, I recommend looking at three things:

• The original sentence or expression
• The corrected or improved version
• The explanation or note that accompanies it

Rather than simply reading the correction, try to understand why the change was made and how it could be used in future conversations.

If a lesson included optional homework and there was never time to complete it, don't worry. The opportunity has not disappeared. A rainy afternoon can be an excellent time to return to an older lesson, review the material, and try some of the activities.

Once you have completed the homework, simply send it to me through a direct message on CafeTalk together with the lesson title or a reminder of which lesson it came from. I will be happy to check it and provide feedback, even if another lesson is not currently booked.

Language learning is often less about constantly adding new material and more about revisiting useful language until it becomes familiar and natural.

So the next time the weather keeps you indoors, consider opening some previous lesson notes. You may find a great deal of useful English waiting for you there.

Useful Vocabulary

revisit (verb)
To return to something and look at it again.
I revisited my notes from last month's lesson.

personalised (adjective)
Created or adapted for a particular person.
The teacher provided personalised feedback.

emerge (verb)
To appear or become noticeable.
Several useful expressions emerged during the discussion.

accompany (verb)
To go together with something.
Each correction was accompanied by a brief explanation.

reinforce (verb)
To strengthen knowledge or a skill through practice.
Reviewing old notes helps reinforce new vocabulary.

familiar (adjective)
Well known or easy to recognise because it has been seen before.
The grammar pattern became familiar after repeated review.

optional (adjective)
Not required; a choice.
The lesson included some optional homework activities.

provide feedback (phrase)
To give comments or corrections that help improvement.
The tutor provided feedback on the written homework.

rainy-day activity (noun phrase)
An activity that is suitable for a day spent indoors because of bad weather.
Reading, studying, and baking are popular rainy-day activities.