A Practical Starter Course
For Spanish-speaking adult beginners. Cómo seguir aprendiendo inglés por tu cuenta. A science-backed self-study system you can use in 15 minutes a day.
Start by listening · 8 minutes
Before you scroll the rest of the page, press play. This 8-minute Spanish-language episode gives you the full method, the science, and the action you can take today. The English version of the course is the website itself, every section below is written in slow, clear English with one-tap Spanish or French translation.
A Spanish podcast that walks through the full method, the science, and the action you can take today, in eight minutes.
How this course works
You will not memorize a textbook. You will build three things you actually keep: a personal goal and weekly plan, a vocabulary bank with sentence frames, and a 90-day practice schedule that survives life.
Why 15 minutes
Distributed practice, short, repeated study spread across days, produces stronger long-term retention than the same total time crammed into one session.
Cepeda, Pashler, Vul, Wixted, & Rohrer (2006). Distributed practice in verbal recall tasks. Psychological Bulletin, 132(3), 354–380.The Modules
The cornerstone. You leave with a personal goal, a 7-day plan, a 15-minute routine, and a backup plan for the hard days.
Pronunciation basics, free cognates, your personal 20-word vocabulary bank, and 10 reusable sentence frames.
You stop preparing and start using. Beginner-friendly listening, your first 30-second self-recording, and a 90-day plan you'll actually keep.
Strategies & mindset · the science of staying
Adults don't fail at language learning because they aren't smart enough. They fail because the methods most often offered to them are at odds with how memory actually works. Here's what the science says, and what to do.
Every time you struggle to recall a word, and even fail, your brain strengthens the long-term memory trace more than easy review does. This is called "desirable difficulty." The conditions that feel hardest in the moment produce the most durable learning.
Action: Stop being afraid of forgetting. When Anki shows you a card and you blank, that's the gym. The struggle IS the learning.
Bjork & Bjork (2011). Making things hard on yourself, but in a good way.Distributed practice, short sessions spread across days, produces stronger long-term retention than the same total time crammed into one session. A meta-analysis of 60+ studies on second-language learning found medium-to-large effects.
Action: Anchor your 15 minutes to something you already do, morning coffee, the commute, brushing teeth. Same time, every day. Frequency wins.
Cepeda et al. (2006); Kim & Webb (2022). Spaced practice meta-analysis.Almost everyone has a bad week between weeks 3–6. The learners who stick around aren't more disciplined, they pre-decided what to do on bad days. They drop from 15 minutes to 5 instead of dropping to zero.
Action: Decide right now, in writing, what your minimum bad-day routine looks like. "On a bad day, I will play one BBC clip while making coffee." That's it. Never zero.
Zimmerman (2002). Becoming a self-regulated learner.Most people use ChatGPT in the worst way for language learning, endless chat that adapts down to their level. Use AI as a tool, not a tutor. Generate vocabulary lists, drills, and example paragraphs. Then close the chat and put the words in your mouth.
Action: Download the AI Prompt Library (in the Downloads section below). 10 copy-paste prompts that turn ChatGPT into a deck factory. Generate, then memorize. Generate, then speak.
Listening builds comprehension. Speaking turns comprehension into fluency. Producing language out loud forces your brain to convert vague recognition into precise expression, that's where consolidation happens. Even talking to yourself in the kitchen counts.
Action: Narrate your day in English for 5 minutes daily. "I am making coffee. I am driving." Where you stumble is what to add to your Anki tonight.
Swain (1985). The output hypothesis.At week 4, you'll feel like you're not improving. At week 8, you'll be shocked how far you've come. Subjective progress lags objective progress by weeks. Use measurable evidence: Anki retention rate, recordings of yourself, real-world conversations. Don't trust the feeling.
Action: Record yourself speaking 30 seconds every Sunday. Save them. After 8 weeks, listen to recording 1 vs recording 8. Now you have evidence.
Dunlosky et al. (2013). Improving students' learning.Memory consolidation happens primarily during sleep, especially slow-wave and REM stages. Studying right before bed (a quick Anki review) measurably improves next-day recall vs. studying earlier with the same total wake time elapsed.
Action: Do a 5-minute Anki review the moment before lights-out. Treat it like brushing your teeth. Your sleeping brain will keep working on it.
Walker & Stickgold (2004). Sleep-dependent learning.The system · basic to advanced
If words won't stick, you don't need a better memory, you need a better schedule. Spaced repetition is the schedule. Below: the science (one paragraph), three ways to do it (paper, phone, computer), and why every step up is worth the effort.
Hermann Ebbinghaus, 1885, replicated dozens of times since.
Without review, you lose roughly 60% of new vocabulary within 24 hours and 80% within a week. With three timed reviews, at the right gaps, that same word stays at near 90% retention for months. The reviews don't take more time. They take less time, scheduled differently.
No app. No screen. No password. Index cards and a shoe box.
Get a shoe box and divide it into 5 sections with cardboard. Each new word goes on an index card, English on one side, Spanish on the back. New cards start in Box 1.
Box 1 = every day. Box 2 = every 2 days. Box 3 = every 4 days. Box 4 = every week. Box 5 = every 2 weeks. If you got a card right, move it forward one box. If you got it wrong, send it back to Box 1.
The Leitner Box is the original spaced-repetition system, the same math that powers Anki. If you write each card by hand, you've already begun memorizing it. For an adult who hates phones, this is the whole curriculum.
Use the Notes app you already have. No new account, no new app to learn.
One note for each day of the week, "Monday Words," "Tuesday Words," etc. Whenever you hear a new English word, type it in today's note with a quick example sentence. That night, read the note out loud. Once a week (Sunday), read all seven.
Capture all day. Read tonight (1×). Read again tomorrow morning (1×). Read with the rest of the week on Sunday (1×). Voice-record yourself reading the Sunday list, listen to it during a commute the next week. That's four exposures, perfectly spaced, with zero new tools.
Your phone is already in your hand. You add zero friction, no shoe box, no cards to lose. The voice memo step adds dual coding: hearing yourself say the word burns it in deeper than reading alone (Paivio, 1990).
The same logic as the box, but it picks the timing for you, every day.
Free desktop, $25 one-time iPhone (Android free). Make cards once. Anki shows you each card right before you'd forget it, using the SM-2 algorithm refined since 1985. Easy cards drift to once a year. Hard ones come back tomorrow.
Open the app once a day. Tap "Again," "Hard," "Good," or "Easy." That's it. After 90 days you'll have ~600 cards in rotation, taking ~15 minutes a day, with retention measured at 88–92%.
The box and the phone loop both work, but they cap out around 200 active cards before they get unwieldy. Anki scales to thousands without you doing the bookkeeping. Past month two, this is what lets your vocabulary actually keep growing.
Every level above paper costs you 10 minutes of setup. Every level above paper saves you about 30 hours over six months. The math is in the upgrade, but only if you actually do the upgrade. Adults who jump straight to Anki without first learning to capture words on paper or in Notes tend to abandon the app within two weeks. The flow matters more than the tool.
So here's the rule: start at the level you'll actually use today. If that's the shoe box, the shoe box is right. Upgrade when the current level feels too small for your life, not because someone said you should.
A new word that you don't capture is gone in 24 hours. The five steps below take 30 seconds total. Do this every time and your deck grows itself.
When you hear a word you don't know, stop. Even three seconds of attention is enough to make it stick later.
Type the word in your phone Notes app. Voice memo it if you can't type. Don't worry about a definition, just get the word.
Five minutes before bed: Google Translate or ChatGPT for each word. Write the meaning + one example sentence in your note.
Sunday: take the week's words and put them into the box, the weekly note, or Anki, whichever level you're at. This is the only weekly chore that matters.
Once a card lives in your system, the goal isn't to recognize the word, it's to use it. Say each new word in your own sentence within the same week.
Use the free version of ChatGPT (chat.openai.com) or Claude (claude.ai) on your phone. You don't need a paid plan. The five prompts below replace a private tutor for the part of the work that's just lookup. Type your word where it says [WORD] and hit send.
Translate "[WORD]" to Spanish. Give: 1. The meaning in one sentence. 2. One example sentence in English (simple, A2 level). 3. Same example sentence in Spanish. Keep it short.
Give me 5 flashcards for an adult Spanish-speaker learning English about [TOPIC]. Format: English | Spanish | Example sentence Use simple A2-level words only.
Quiz me on these 10 English words: [paste your week's word list] Ask one at a time. Wait for my answer in Spanish. Tell me right or wrong, then give the correct answer.
Write a 200-word story in English at A2 level. Use these words at least once each: [paste 8 words from your deck] End with 3 questions about the story.
How do I pronounce "[WORD]" in English? Write it phonetically using Spanish letters (so a Spanish speaker can read it). Then tell me which sound is the hardest part and give one tip.
I am [your situation, in Spanish or English]. Tomorrow I have to [the meeting, in your words]. Give me 8 short English sentences I can use. A2 level. Include what to say if I don't understand someone.
One rule: don't chat with the AI. Generate, then close the chat. The conversation is the trap, it lets you stay passive. Generate the cards, then put the words in your mouth.
Master Anki cards · build cards that actually stick
The single biggest reason students quit Anki isn't the algorithm, it's bad cards. A good card is built from a real sentence, a vivid mental image, and a real-life situation. Below is the simple workflow, six AI prompts you can copy, the non-negotiable checklist, and a side-by-side comparison of a weak card vs a strong card.
Don't just learn 'flashcards', learn how to use Anki right. This 12-minute video covers spaced repetition, why algorithm-driven cards beat plain word lists, and how to make cards that show difficult ones more often. Watch this once before you build your first deck.
Watch on YouTube →About the instructor
Ali Abdaal, MB BChir (Cantab) · Former NHS Doctor
Ali Abdaal is a Cambridge University–trained medical doctor who studied medicine for six years and then worked as a junior doctor in the UK's National Health Service (NHS). During and after medical school he began teaching evidence-based study strategies, focused on how students can learn more efficiently and retain information long-term. His methods are grounded in both academic training and the real-world demands of high-stakes medical exams. He is now widely recognized as one of the leading educators on productivity and learning, with millions of students following his work online. His content focuses on practical, research-informed techniques: spaced repetition, active recall, and effective study-system design.
The video is in English, turn on captions
If English is hard to follow at speed, turn on auto-captions and even auto-translation: tap the ⚙ gear icon at the bottom of the YouTube player → Subtitles/CC → English (auto-generated). To slow it down, gear → Playback speed → 0.75.
Use the free version of ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini. Copy a prompt, replace [WORD] or [LIST] with your own content, paste, send. The AI does the heavy lift; you do the speaking and the review.
Create 1 high-quality Anki flashcard for an adult Spanish-speaker learning English. Word: [WORD] Include: - One natural English sentence (A2 level) - Spanish translation - The target word clearly highlighted - A vivid but appropriate image idea (no violence, no explicit content) - A short explanation of the word in context - Optional pronunciation tip Make the sentence realistic and useful for daily life.
I am learning English. Take this word: [WORD] Create: 1. A short, natural English sentence using the word 2. A vivid, memorable image idea that helps me remember it 3. A simple explanation of why the image works Keep it appropriate for school. Realistic but slightly exaggerated for memory.
Improve this flashcard to make it memorable and useful. Original: [PASTE OLD CARD] Rewrite it with: - A natural English sentence - A vivid image idea - A real-life context - A clearer meaning Make it something I could actually say in real life.
Create 3 variations of a sentence using the same word in different contexts. Word: [WORD] For each: - English sentence - Spanish translation - Situation (when you would say this) Keep them simple and realistic.
Take this English word: [WORD] Connect it to my life. I am a [your job, in plain English, e.g., "home health aide for elderly patients"]. Create: - One sentence I could actually say at work - A vivid mental image involving my workplace or my patients - Why this will be easy for me to remember
Create 10 Anki-style flashcards for a Spanish- speaking adult learning English about [TOPIC]. For each card include: 1. Useful English sentence 2. Spanish translation 3. Target word or phrase 4. Vivid school-appropriate image idea 5. Short memory hook 6. Pronunciation help if useful Keep the vocabulary practical for real life, work, and daily conversation.
Every Anki card you build should pass this checklist before it goes into your deck.
No image. No sentence. No situation. You'll forget this within a week, and even if you remember it, you won't know how to use it in real conversation.
Sentence + image + real situation = three retrieval paths into one memory. The slight stress of running late makes it emotionally salient. You will remember this card.
Same content as the cards below, but laid out the way it would appear in a printable Spanish-language reference. Save, screenshot, or print this. Show it to a student who hates reading.
Four principles, one example word for each. Read the scene out loud once. Then close your eyes and replay it. That's the whole technique, vivid + context + exaggeration + story. Notice that none of these images cost money or took an hour to make: a banana peel, a paper marked F, a flame, a dog with a trophy.
The pattern: a vivid scene, drawn from your real life, slightly exaggerated, told as a story. None of these need to be a perfect AI-generated image. A 30-second mental picture is enough.
Close your eyes. Imagine the scene for 5 seconds. Done. You don't have to put a real image on the card, your mental image is enough.
Open images.google.com on your phone. Type the word + a vivid noun (e.g., "banana peel slip"). Pick the first image that makes you smile. Long-press → copy → paste into Anki.
Tip: search the SCENE, not just the word.When nothing fits, ask the AI to invent the scene. Use Prompt 2 from the section above. Read the description, picture it, move on. No image generation needed.
The description IS the image, that's what your brain stores.Only use this if you genuinely enjoy it. The pretty AI image is not what makes the card work, the SCENE in your head is. Don't let "perfect image" become an excuse not to learn.
Watch out for the trap. It's seductive: you sit down to make 5 cards and three hours later you've generated 47 versions of the perfect AI image, tweaked the lighting on a banana peel, and downloaded a new phone app. You feel productive. You're not. You're procrastinating with a paintbrush in your hand.
The card doesn't have to be beautiful. The card has to exist, and you have to review it tomorrow. A blurry phone screenshot of a Google Image works. A typed scene description works. A stick-figure mental picture works.
Don't lie to yourself. Productive ≠ pretty. Get the card. Start learning.
If you remember nothing else from this section, remember these 5 steps. Repeat them every day.
From your day. Real situations only.
AI gives you sentence + image + Spanish.
Or your paper Leitner box. Same logic.
Daily. Same time, anchored to a habit.
Output is what makes it real.
If you can SEE it, you can remember it. If you can USE it, you can learn it. Vivid images help memory, but language learning still needs context. A funny or dramatic image lets the word stick. Sentences, pronunciation, and repeated review let you actually use it. Both halves matter.
The science
The mnemonic-keyword and method-of-loci traditions both rest on the same finding: information processed through both verbal and visual channels is recalled far better than information encoded through words alone (Paivio, 1971; dual-coding theory). Emotionally salient images add another retrieval boost (Cahill & McGaugh, 1995). The method of loci, anchoring images to familiar places, has been shown to work even in virtual environments (Legge et al., 2012). One important caveat: images alone are not enough. The Levels-of-Processing framework (Craik & Lockhart, 1972) shows that deeper, semantic engagement, actually using the word in a sentence, in context, produces more durable memories than surface-level encoding. So pair every image with a real sentence, and you get both wins.
Cahill & McGaugh (1995) · Craik & Lockhart (1972) · Legge, Madan, Ng & Caplan (2012) · Paivio (1971) · Yates (1966)Module 1 deep dive
The foundation. Plan first, practice second. Most learners skip the planning, and that's why most learners quit by week three.
Short native-speaker intro to the module's three steps.
Original Spanish podcast on this module. Host-narrated, not a translation.
Research behind this
Learners who set specific goals and pre-plan their practice consistently outperform peers regardless of starting ability. Planning is itself a learning skill.
Zimmerman, B. J. (2002). Becoming a self-regulated learner. Theory Into Practice, 41(2), 64–70.Vague reasons fade. Specific reasons stick. Finish this sentence: "In 90 days, I want to be able to ____________."
Don't try to learn all of English. Learn the 10% you actually use, work, errands, family, fun.
Pick the time you can repeat 5–7 days a week. After morning coffee. During the commute. After dinner.
Decide today what you'll do on a missed day. The floor is 5 minutes, never zero.
Below is the full text of Module 1, eight minutes to read. The four steps above are the summary; this is the real chapter. If you only have time for one thing today, read this section out loud once.
Most adults who try to learn English give up around week three. The reason is almost never that English is too hard. It's that the goal was vague. "I want to learn English" is not a goal, it's a wish. A wish doesn't survive a bad day at work, a sick kid, or a long commute. A specific goal does. Specific goals attach themselves to your real life. They tell you exactly what to study and when you've succeeded.
So the very first thing you do in this course is finish this sentence, out loud, then in writing: "In 90 days, I want to be able to ____________." The blank should be a real situation in your life. "Order a coffee at Starbucks without a translator." "Talk to my child's teacher at the parent meeting." "Explain to the doctor where I have pain without my daughter coming with me." That's the goal. It's not big. It doesn't have to impress anyone. It just has to be specific enough that you'll know when you got there.
The honest truth: you do not need to learn all of English. Native speakers have around 20,000 words in their working vocabulary. You don't need 20,000. Research on language frequency consistently shows that the most common 1,000 words cover roughly 80% of everyday speech. The most common 2,000 cover about 90%. So learn the 10% of English you actually use, and you'll do fine in 90% of the moments that matter.
The way to find your 10% is to write down the four areas where English shows up in your life: work, errands, family, fun. Under each, write three real situations. "At work, I have to call my supervisor when I'm late. At work, I have to read the safety signs. At work, I have to greet customers." That's already a vocabulary list, pulled directly from your life, and it's far more useful than any textbook list.
Fifteen minutes a day, five to seven days a week. That's it. That is the whole curriculum. The reason it's fifteen and not thirty or sixty is not that you couldn't do more, it's that fifteen is small enough that you'll actually do it on the bad days. And the bad days are when learning gets won or lost. Two hours on Sunday loses to fifteen minutes daily, every single time.
Pick the time of day you can repeat. Don't pick the "ideal" time. Pick the realistic one. The trick is to anchor your fifteen minutes to a habit you already have. Right after morning coffee, while the coffee is still warm. During the bus ride to work, with one earbud in. After dinner, before TV. Brushing teeth, with the audio playing through the bathroom speaker. The anchor is what makes it survive the months when motivation is gone, because you're not relying on motivation, you're relying on the existing habit.
Everyone has bad weeks. The flu, a fight with your partner, a kid up all night, a deadline at work. The learners who quit aren't lazy. They're the ones who tried to keep their full fifteen minutes through a bad week, missed it three days, felt guilty, and then quit on day four. The learners who stay aren't more disciplined. They pre-decided what to do on bad days. They drop from fifteen minutes to five, never to zero.
So write down your bad-day plan today, in one sentence: "On a bad day, I will __________." Examples: "On a bad day, I will play one BBC clip while I make breakfast." "On a bad day, I will read one paragraph in English from any sign or label." "On a bad day, I will say my ten sentence frames out loud while I brush my teeth." The point is not to be productive on the bad day. The point is to keep the streak alive. Five minutes preserves the habit. Zero minutes breaks it.
By the time you finish Module 1, three things should be on paper: a 90-day goal that names a real-life situation, a fifteen-minute slot anchored to an existing daily habit, and a one-sentence bad-day backup. That's it. Three lines. No textbook. No app to install. Once those three lines exist, Module 2 is where the actual learning starts, pronunciation, vocabulary, and the ten sentence frames that cover ~80% of what an adult beginner has to say.
Module 2 deep dive
Three pronunciation sounds, free cognates, your personal vocabulary bank, and 10 sentence frames you reuse for the rest of your life.
Short native-speaker intro to vocabulary and sentence frames.
Original Spanish podcast on this module. Host-narrated, not a translation.
| English | Spanish | Use it in |
|---|---|---|
| hospital | hospital | Where is the hospital? |
| restaurant | restaurante | I want to go to a restaurant. |
| doctor | doctor | I need a doctor. |
| family | familia | My family is here. |
| important | importante | This is important. |
| problem | problema | I have a problem. |
| idea | idea | I have an idea. |
| information | información | I need information. |
| hotel | hotel | Where is the hotel? |
| music | música | I like this music. |
These 10 frames cover ~80% of the things an adult beginner actually needs to say in daily life. Memorize the frame once. Then drop in any new word from your vocabulary bank and you have a complete, grammatical English sentence. Three example variations are listed under each, say all three out loud.
One trick: every Sunday, run through all 30 examples out loud while making coffee. Five minutes total. After three Sundays you'll never lose them.
Research behind this
The brain encodes verbal and visual information through separate channels. Pairing a new word with an image and an example sentence creates two retrieval paths and dramatically improves long-term retention.
Mayer, R. E. (2009). Multimedia Learning (2nd ed.) · Nation, I. S. P. (2013). Learning Vocabulary.Module 3 deep dive
Stop preparing. Start using. Real listening, real speaking, real plan. Three weeks in, this is where everything you've built starts paying off.
Short native-speaker intro to the recording and doctor's vocabulary.
Original Spanish podcast on this module. Host-narrated, not a translation.
Research behind this
Comprehensible input is language you can mostly understand. Listening to short, clear audio just slightly above your current level is the engine of acquisition.
Krashen, S. D. (1985) · Swain, M. (1985).A real-life vocabulary list for medical visits. Not a textbook list. These are the words that come up at check-in, in the exam room, and at the pharmacy. Each one has its Spanish translation and a sentence you could actually say.
| English | Spanish | Use it in |
|---|---|---|
| appointment | cita | I have an appointment at three. |
| insurance | seguro médico | Here is my insurance card. |
| pain | dolor | I have pain in my back. |
| prescription | receta | The doctor gave me a prescription. |
| allergic to | alérgico/a a | I am allergic to penicillin. |
| emergency | emergencia | This is an emergency. I need help. |
| follow-up | seguimiento / cita de control | I need a follow-up in two weeks. |
| symptom | síntoma | My symptoms are headache and fever. |
| fever | fiebre | I have a fever since yesterday. |
| medication / medicine | medicamento / medicina | I take this medication every day. |
| blood pressure | presión arterial | My blood pressure is high. |
| refill | resurtir (la receta) | I need a refill of my medicine. |
| side effect | efecto secundario | Are there any side effects? |
| copay | copago | What is the copay today? |
The mini check-in script
The first thirty seconds at the front desk are always the same. Memorize this and you'll never freeze: "Hello. I have an appointment at [time] with Doctor [name]. My name is [your name]. Here is my insurance card. I do not understand fast English, can you speak slowly, please?"
iPhone or Android Recorder app. No special software needed.
Just talk. About your day. About anything. 30 seconds.
One time. You'll cringe. That's normal. Save the file.
And then do another one next week. By recording number 10, you'll sound different.
Listen and shadow
Press play. Repeat out loud. The fastest way to make English stick is to put it in your mouth, not just in your eyes.
Free companion resource · 60 chapters
A separate research-based web book that teaches English grammar through patterns Spanish speakers already know. Trilingual UI (EN/ES/FR), light/dark mode, search, and chapter navigation. Use it alongside this course or on its own.
What's inside
60 chapters covering sentence foundations, be/have/do, articles, pronouns, adjectives, every major verb tense, prepositions, gerunds vs infinitives, and the most common Spanish-to-English errors.
How each chapter is built
Big idea, simple rule, Spanish comparison, common mistake, why it happens, real examples, practice. Same template every chapter so you always know where to look.
Built for adults
Mobile-friendly, light/dark mode, no signup, no tracking. Read it on your phone during a commute, search any topic, switch to Spanish or French anytime.
Opens in a new tab. Free forever. Bookmark it on your phone.
Downloads, take it offline
Click any card to download. Word format, opens in Pages or Microsoft Word. Every document has English with Spanish translations underneath each explanation, and is signed: Material by Jonathan Michael Miljus.
10 chapters covering goals, phonology, smart encoding, Anki, chunking, comprehensible input, output, AI tools, and quarterly review. Real peer-reviewed citations only.
SyllabusOne-page syllabus with SMART objectives, schedule, grading, and accessibility supports.
Find your real reason, match English to your life, pick your 15-minute slot, build your backup plan.
Module 2Pronunciation basics, free cognates, your personal vocabulary bank, and 10 reusable sentence frames.
Module 3Comprehensible input ladder, your first 30-second self-recording, and your 90-Day Growth Plan.
Branded cover, full rubric, María's exemplar, 4 worksheet sections, and a backup-plan worksheet.
Assignment 2 · 40 pts20-word bank with exemplar rows, 1-3-7-21 spaced-review schedule, and full sentence-frame worksheet.
Assignment 3 · 30 ptsDaniel and Carmen exemplars, sentence starters for the recording, and a habit-anchor table.
Phone-first, low-tech system for adults. Notebook + Notes app + voice memos + the optional Anki step. Includes the paper Leitner Box if Anki feels overwhelming.
Anki · Beginner to ProFull science of spaced repetition (forgetting curve, testing effect, sleep consolidation). Three skill tiers, beginner / intermediate / advanced. Phone-only workflow. Paper Leitner Box alternative.
AI · Phone-firstThe 5 simple things to do with ChatGPT on your phone. Copy-paste prompts. What NOT to do. Designed for adults uncomfortable with computers.
Anki · Quick startThe fastest possible Anki onboarding. If the longer Mastery guide feels like too much, start here.
AI · 10 prompts10 copy-paste prompts that turn any AI into an Anki deck factory and drill generator. The advanced reference.
Spanish · 4 scripts4 single-narrator monologues in Spanish (~1,000 words each). Paste any episode into ttsmp3.com, ElevenLabs, or any TTS to generate an MP3 in 2 minutes. For students who prefer to listen.
For instructors · one-click installerStep-by-step guide to run Setup_v2_self_grading.gs in Apps Script. Builds 4 self-grading multiple-choice quizzes (with per-answer feedback) and populates the entire Classroom in 60–90 seconds. You don't grade. The forms do.
For instructors · Apps ScriptThe Apps Script you paste into script.google.com. Builds 4 self-grading Google Forms (47 questions total, all multiple-choice with feedback) and populates 5 Classroom topics with every doc + every website link. Read the Run-This-Once guide first.
For instructors · paste-readyEvery section, announcement, assignment description, and canned student reply, pre-formatted for paste-into-Classroom. 10 sections, ~20 minutes to fully finalize a brand-new class.
Free, beginner-friendly resources
All free. All beginner-friendly. All used by professional language learners. Pick one and stick with it.
Slow American news for learners. Short articles with audio + transcript. Voiced by US journalists.
Visit →Free 12-minute daily American news podcast. Standard US accent. Use the NPR transcripts to read along.
Visit →The most-used American pronunciation channel for adult learners. Vowel reductions, linking, the "American R." Free.
Visit →Slow-spoken American English podcast designed for adult ESL learners. Each episode explains every idiom and phrase.
Visit →American conversational English podcast. Two American hosts. Real US idioms, casual speech, and phrasal verbs.
Visit →Free, full beginner-to-advanced curriculum funded by the US Department of Education. Designed for adult immigrants.
Visit →Short paced episodes. Full transcript. Excellent for British accent exposure.
Visit →Free video pronunciation lessons. Useful but British-leaning, pair with Rachel's English for US sounds.
Visit →Free flashcard app with spaced repetition. Single most powerful tool in this course.
Visit →Native-speaker pronunciations of any word. Filter to en_US for American audio. Free. Use for every Anki card.
Visit →Hear any English word spoken in real YouTube clips. Click the "US" filter to get only American speakers.
Visit →The 90-Day Plan
Three weeks of effort can fade in three weeks of silence, or it can grow for a year. The difference is the plan you write today.
Tie your new English habit to something you already do. Anchors beat willpower every time.
Research behind this
Self-regulation research shows that learners who pre-decide what they'll do on bad days stick with new habits significantly longer than learners who rely on willpower in the moment.
Zimmerman, B. J. (2002).15 minutes a day for 90 days is 22 hours of focused English practice. That changes you. The hardest part is starting, and you've already started.
Start Module 1 →Research grounding
Every design choice on this site is grounded in published research on second-language acquisition, cognitive psychology, and instructional design. Below is the full APA reference list.