Learn beginner A1 English in 30 days for FREE: self-paced course

If you are an ambitious English language learner and want complete control over your progress, you’ll love this 30-day English language course for beginners.

We analyzed the A1 curricula of leading schools such as Cambridge, Berkeley, and UCLA and merged them into the course below. The difference is that we used verified free resources on YouTube and the Internet as the content! The result is this engaging, 30-day course that will get you into a confident A1 English learner.

Important: This course uses resources focused on American English. We have a few British-language guides, but most conversational practice resources are in American English only.

You will perform various tasks daily, including reading guides, watching YouTube videos or doing exercises. 5 days of learning are followed by 2 days of rest. The idea is that you spend 30-45 minutes every day learning English and take 2 days of rest over the weekend. This is done on purpose as rest is essential for learning - it helps your brain to consolidate and make sense of the knowledge you acquired.

Pro tip: Some videos seem too advanced or not understandable. You should watch them anyway, as that will help you start understanding them sooner. You can turn on the subtitles or slow the pace if you need more help.

Ready? Let’s go!

Week 1: Basics and Introductions

Day 1: Alphabet & Sounds

Grammar: Introduction to the English alphabet and phonetic sounds.

• Go to this page and click on each letter to hear the pronunciation and repeat 3 times
• Go to this YouTube video - watch once and follow after the narrator.

Conversation: Basic greetings and self-introduction.

• Go to this page and study different words and phrases related to greetings and introductions
• watch the video at the end of the blog post
• watch this video and this video as a bonus

Day 2: Numbers & Common Phrases

Grammar: Numbers from 1 to 100.

• Go to this page and watch the video. Repeat after the narrator. Use the chart below the video as a guide

Day 3: Present Simple Tense & Personal Pronouns

Grammar: Usage of 'is', 'am', 'are', and personal pronouns.

• Go through this guide and learn the pronouns (subject pronouns; you can ignore the object pronouns for now)
• To make sure you understand everything, review the same material explained differently here
• Go through this guide and do the exercises at the end
• Now go to this video and learn about pronouns and the verb to be
• Do the exercises on this page
• Bonus: watch this video for more practice

Conversation: Talking about daily routines.

• watch this video to learn the basic words and phrases on the topic
• watch this video to reinforce the topic
• Bonus: watch this video for more practice

Pro tip: Always repeat after the narrators, write down and translate the new words. I recommend using DEEPL as your online translator - it’s much more precise than Google Translate.

Day 4: Articles & Plurals

Today we will go through two essential grammar topics in one day! It’s a lot of work, but you can do it!

Definite and indefinite articles:

• Read this guide and do the exercises at the end
• Read this guide and do the exercises at the end
• Watch this YouTube video to reinforce what you have learned
• Watch this YouTube tutorial to reinforce what you have learned
• Bonus: this video is a bit advanced, but you can turn on the subtitles and follow along.
• Bonus: do this quiz on YouTube

Making nouns plural:

• Go through this guide from FluentU
• Review this guide from Grammarly
• Reinforce what you learned by going through this guide from Preply
• Watch this tutorial on plural nouns on YouTube
• Bonus: watch another tutorial on plural nouns

Adjectives:

• Review this guide to learn about basic adjectives
• watch this guide on adjectives from ESL library
• watch this video to learn 100 basic adjectives for beginners 

Pro tip: Use an app like Anki or Quizlet to save and review new vocabulary.

Day 5: Question Formation

Tasks on forming yes/no and WH-questions:

• Learn about Yes/No questions by reviewing first this guid, and then this guide
• Watch this video tutorial on Yes/No questions on YouTube
• Do these exercises and these exercises on Yes/No questions
• Study this guide on WH-questions. Bonus: you can also review this guide in addition.
• Watch this video tutorial on WH-questions on YouTube
• Do these exercises and these exercises on WH-questions  

Days 6-7: Rest Days - 25% complete

You deserved a few days of rest! Amazing progress. Get some rest to continue the course in 2 days with renewed energy.

Week 2: Daily Life and Activities

Day 8: Prepositions of Place & Time Expressions

Tasks - prepositions of time:

• Review this guide on prepositions of time
• Reinforce what you just learned by reading this guide
• Watch this YouTube video about the topic. Bonus - watch this video explainer too!
• Do these exercises to practice prepositions of time
• and do these exercises to practice prepositions of time

Tasks - prepositions of place

• Review this guide on prepositions of place
• Review this second guide on prepositions of place
• Watch this video explainer
• and watch this one as well
• Do this exercise to practice prepositions of place
• and finally, do these exercises to practice some more

Day 9: Present Continuous Tense

• Go through this guide on Present Continuous Tense from EF
• Reinforce by reviewing this post
• Watch this YouTube tutorial on the topic
• Watch this animated video with examples
• Do these and these exercises to reinforce what you have learned

Day 10: Family & Relationships

Grammar: Possessive adjectives.

• Read this guide on possessive adjectives
• Raed the grammar tab and do the exercises on this website
• Watch this YouTube tutorial on the topic
• Practice possessive adjectives here.
• Do these exercises to reinforce what you have learned

Conversation: Talking about family and friends.

• Watch the video and write down all new words
• Watch this video to learn new vocabulary related to the topic of friends
• Watch this video to learn new vocabulary related to the topic of family

Day 11: Likes & Dislikes

Grammar: Using 'like' to express preferences.

• Read this guide on how to use the very to like
• review this guide to make sure you understood everything
• Watch this short video tutorial
• Watch another video about the topic

Conversation: Sharing hobbies and interests.

• Watch this video about hobbies and interests
• Play this matchmaking game to learn new vocabulary related to activities and hobbies
• Do these exercises to learn even more words

Day 12: Food & Eating Habits

• watch this video to learn basic vocabulary about food and eating habits
• and watch this video to learn even more words
• Play this matchmaking game
• Play this multiple-choice game
• and play this game to reinforce

Days 13-14: Rest Days - 50% complete

You deserved a few days of rest! Amazing progress. Get some rest to continue the course in 2 days with renewed energy.

Week 3: Around Town and Shopping

Day 15: Directions & Transportation

Grammar: Imperative mood

• Review this guide to get familiar with the imperative mood
• Go through this guide and do the exercises at the end
• Watch this YouTube video to reinforce what you learned

Conversation: Asking for and giving directions

• Watch this video to pick up basic vocabulary
• Watch this video to learn even more vocabulary

Day 16: Shopping

Grammar: Simple Present Tense

• Spend at least 30 minutes going through this guide and doing the exercises
• Watch this YouTube video
• Bonus: Review this guide and this guide to reinforce what you have learned
• Do these exercises, and these exercises, and these exercises

Conversation: Shopping and Groceries

• Get familiar with the basic vocabulary to talk about shopping
• Reinforce and practice by going through this guide and this guide
• Watch this video to follow along Vanessa as she does grocery shopping

Day 17: Weather & Seasons

• Do all the exercises on this page to get familiar with relevant vocabulary
• Go through this page to get familiar with relevant vocabulary
• Play the match-up and crossword game on this page (only A1 part)
• Watch this video to reinforce what you you learned

Day 18: Hobbies and Interests (part II)

Grammar: talking about future with “to be + Going to”

• Watch this introductory video
• Watch this video and this one to reinforce the topic

Conversation: Hobbies and leisure

• Go through this vocabulary list and get familiar with relevant vocabulary
• Watch this video to reinforce the vocabulary
• Watch this video and this video to practice some more

Day 19: Time & Daily Routine

Grammar: Telling the time and time-related expressions.

• Learn to tell the time in English
• Practice what you have learned here.
• Get some more practice here

Conversation: Describing a typical day.

• Watch this video and do the exercises to get familiar with relevant vocabulary
• Go through this comprehensive guide and explore the new vocabulary and expressions
• Do all the exercises on this page

Days 20-21: Rest Days - 75% complete

Week 4: Work, Health, and Level Assessment

Day 22: Career & Work

• Get familiar with relevant vocabulary here
• Watch this video to learn more vocabulary
• Play the quiz game
• Do all the tasks/exercises on this page
• Play this quiz game
• And play this one for some more practice

Day 23: Body Parts

• Get familiar with the basic vocabulary related to body parts (skip the advanced ones)
• Watch this video to learn more vocabulary. Pause and repeat after the narrator
• Do these exercises to reinforce what you’ve learned
• Play this matching game to practice some more

Day 24: Clothes & Appearance

Appearance

• Go through the slides at the bottom of the page to learn new vocabulary
• Do these exercises to practice the new vocabulary
• Listening practice - watch once without subtitles. Then watch again with subtitles: watch this video
• Watch this video to practice new vocabulary some more

Clothes:

• Watch this video and this video to discover new vocabulary
• Do these exercises to discover and practice the new vocabulary
• Play this game to practice new vocabulary
• Play these games for more practice

Day 25: Health

• Watch this video and this video to get familiar with the new vocabulary
• Go through these exercises and do them all. If too hard, use Google or Deepl to translate.
• Do these exercises to reinforce new vocabulary

Day 26-30: Final Assessment

• First, review the vocabulary and grammar you learned. Go through your notes,and revisit the grammar rules you found challenging.

Then take this test and assess your level

You successfully finished the course. You’re ready to use the Heylama practice app to improve your English further.

Heylama is the only app focused on practice, enabling you to use English daily. Practice is the fastest way to learn languages, and Heylama is the most user-friendly and fun way to practice in a safe space! Try it for free now: https://www.heylama.com.