Part 22
Now, let's take a look at how much time you have for your listening activities every day. The times alloted to each activity are just examples and can vary depending on your individual situation. However, as a sum you probably will have the same amount of time available to listen to English as any other person who wants to be a winner:
a) breakfast
15 minutes
b) trip to work/school
30 minutes
c) lunch at work/school
30 minutes
d) trip from work home
30 minutes
e) dinner
30 minutes
f) TV time
45 minutes
So if your daily schedule looks like the one above, you have exactly 180 minutes or 3 hours every day to listen to English. Let's say you don't eat breakfast (which is very unhealthy, by the way) then you probably spend at least 15 minutes in the bathroom every morning. Use that time to listen to English! That's what winners do because they are also good at time management. Maybe you don't have a 30 minute journey to work or school every day. Good for you. Then what exactly do you do during that time? How much time do you spend on buses, trains, plans or in your car? How much time do you spend walking from one place to another? Regardless of your current private or professional situation it's a fact that every week you spend at least 15 hours on activities that are suitable for listening to English. In other words, as a winner you need to surround yourself with authentic spoken English for at least 45 hours every month.
So in order to get your learning process started, go to your English media library and select a resource that you think is suitable for your initial experience. For example, you can begin your 'input training' with a cartoon or another movie for kids. It could also be an audio book or TV show for kids. It doesn't matter what resource you start with as long as it is English. Don't be afraid of selecting materials that are 'above your level'. Get rid of that stupid idea that you need to stick to ESL materials because you are a learner of English. Remember that you need to start to listen to authentic English as soon as possible.
If you have any English grammar or vocabulary questions,
please post them on this English Grammar Forum.
