Goals check-in and planning

Check-ins clarify goals and reestablish a study plan. 

Check-ins should happen every 6 months and are related to progress reports. Either take notes for your Progress Report at the end of term, or take care of the PR the same day of the check-in.

It should take less than 10 minutes of class time. The tone should be conversational and motivating.  

If your student is a consultant, you may impress them by using language below in the [square brackets]. With consultants, think about improving English the same way they think about any other project. For more consulting information, refer to the Study Plan Framework page.

For progress reports, refer to the Progress Report page. 

Check-in

  1. Look back

    • You started this term about (6 months ago—probably. Check.) 

      • What kind of goals did you have? Did you meet them?

      • [Let's evaluate your progress, and reconsider the strategy.]

    • Is your situation now any different?

      • E.g. does your project allow you to have more or less time? Are your GBC weak points the same? Do you have any more chances to use English?) 

      • [Let's set your issues.]

  2. Look ahead

    • Ok, let’s look ahead. Do you have any new goals that come to mind?

    • I want to set two types of goals. 

      1. First, tell me about your results-based goals—like a target test score, or some successful end point.

        • [Let's set your deliverables.]

      2. Next, let's make some action-based goals*—like taking a certain number lessons or doing a specific practice a few times a week. (See below for ideas.) 

        • [Let's build a hypothesis about how you can reach your end goal.]

          • What kind of action-based goals do you want to set?
            [Action-based goals are a good, achievable way to define output.]

          • How often do you want to do them? Remember to aim low. After meeting easier goals, then we make more difficult goals.
            [This is our work-planning stage.] 

  3. Actually do it

    • So, how often should we check in? I can follow up every lesson, or once a week, or monthly...

      • [I'll help you with the learning stage, we can change your output & deliverables at any time.]

After the lesson write a progress report and include this lesson's information in the STUDY PLAN. Note the study plan is viewable in the student's profile, below their future lessons.

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*Action-based goals/plans 

These are detailed actions your student does on a regular basis. Pick one or two actions, and choose how often they want to do it/them.

You can use the menu below for ideas and guidelines. These are ideas only, change them as needed to suit your student.

Textbook: Are you happy on your textbook? You can change your textbook if you like. Or you can do two and alternate. 

  • Pronunciation, Grammar, and Speakout are all popular choices for people looking to take a break or switch. 

Lesson flow: We can add review to the start, add tongue twisters or do exercises to the warm-up.

  • Vocabulary: Pick keywords in the lesson and review them in the next class. / write homework with those words.
  • Pronunciation: Start with a tongue twister
  • Fluency: Try “thirty-second stories”—work on telling a full story in less than 30 seconds. Change the time target if you like. Try to maintain a steady flow. This can be a warm-up in your lessons.
     

Outside the lesson: Here are some ideas:

  • Fluency: try reading out loud
  • Fluency: try shadowing podcasts or TED talks
  • Listen to English for a few minutes. (Listen to a few minutes of a podcast while you read along. Try Planet Money, or How I Built This)
  • Listen to a podcast, and give your instructor a 5-minute recap of what you learned.
  • Write homework. Take some time out to write about the skills you have been focusing on. Use up your homework points
  • Read a discussion post on The English Farm and write your answers to the questions.

How often do you want to do it? I'll make a note and check in to keep you accountable. For example:

  • Mornings (Linking habits to other habits like brushing your teeth and stick a note with a phrase on it on your mirror)
  • Your commute (Your commute may only be a few minutes, that’s ok. Focus on English)
  • In the lesson
  • Evenings / weekends
  • Once a week / once a month

A note on goals

Students are asked to think about goals in the email they get from TEF when they sign up. Getting students to think about their goals (bigger goals and smaller milestones that will get them there) in the same way will resonate with them and help them focus their energy.

Here is what the email says:

We need to make sure you have a clear goal for English. Take a minute to think about them. If your goal is something like “Watch movies without subtitles” or “Be fluent”, then let's think again. Those are not good goals.

You need to choose a goal that is simple and specific. It should be something possible and something that you can measure. Your goal should also be small. It needs to be something you can achieve, but something that gets you moving in the right direction. You should also put a deadline on it.

Good goals are called “S.M.A.R.T.” goals, and your goal should always be S.M.A.R.T. Something like this:

  1. Specific: “Get a high score on TOEFL”—But that is not measurable. How do you know if you get there?
  2. Measurable: “Get 120 on TOEFL”—Better, but I don’t know if most native speakers could get a perfect TOEFL score! It should be possible.
  3. Achievable: “Get 110 on TOEFL”—110 is certainly possible, but is it realistic for you right now?
  4. Realistic: “Get 10 more points on TOEFL”—OK! Now that’s something you can do! Let’s put a deadline on it!
  5. Time-limited: “Get 10 more points on TOEFL 6 months from now”.—Perfect!

Think about your goal now and check for yourself: Is it realistic? Can you measure it? Does it have a timeframe?

You can have a short-term goal, a medium-term goal and a long-term goal. We recommend you start from the long-term and go backwards. Each short-term goal should be working towards that long-term dream!

We’ll talk with you about your goals in your first class, and develop a plan to help you reach them!