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Hello michelle how's it going

today hey lindsay good good how


are you awesome i'm so excited to
be here i'm actually recording from
boston i'm excited i'm looking out
over the ocean it's a beautiful day
here in boston how's the weather in
new york city it's chilly today it is
yeah i was walking and it is yeah it
is but yesterday was beautiful and
warm and today it's it's not so
much that it's so chilly it's also just
the the wind it's very windy the
wind uh gets so windy on the east
coast it's true did you go for a long
walk or just like a 10-minute walk
or a 30-minute walk or how much
time were you walking [Laughter]
total well i was with my son for
part of the walk and that was the
long part of the walk it was the
same distance one way with him
took about 25 minutes and then
one way without him took about 10
minutes oh everything takes longer
with your son is what you're telling
me oh yeah oh look at that building
look at that what's that well he's
not on a tight schedule i mean he's
got you know a lot of extra time
he's not concerned about the time
yet right no he's not no yeah so but
yeah there are you know i mean i
actually yesterday i did take a 30
minute walk nice that's a good
yeah i feel like 30 minutes is such
a good amount of time to do
something substantial but not to
over commit you know right it is
kind of a good amount of time you
don't feel overwhelmed do you
ever like when you're watching a tv
show or if you're about to start a
new show and you see you're like
how long are the episodes and you
see that each episode is an hour
and you're like oh yeah i don't
know if i want to commit to that
but if you see it's 30 minutes it's
much less of a commitment totally
30 minutes is so digestible that's a
great uh bonus phrase for today
digestible right we can finish it and
it's also i think the i've mentioned
before the pomodoro pomodoro
method is a time management
system i believe those times are
either 30 35 or 40 minutes
somewhere in that window that's
just you can do it but you don't lose
focus that's the key michelle right
right exactly so i mean lindsay i'm
glad that you brought up this 30
minute thing because one thing that
people can do is learn english in 30
minutes right practice your english
in 30 minutes right through
through focused practice i mean do
you think it's possible to learn a
language in 30 minutes well like
learn the entire language in 30
minutes well maybe there are some
geniuses that can i wish i had that
skill no um but i think if you
commit yourself to doing anything
for 30 minutes every day for a
couple of years in that case yeah i
do think if you do the right things
in those 30 minutes i think you
could yeah right right right and all
learning really depends on like
what you put into it so your
motivation the context of your
learning how much time you have
things like that so i mean you can
learn and practice some english
every day or every couple days in
30 minutes i mean yes so that's
what we're going to talk about
today and guys this episode is on
youtube so remember to hit
subscribe wherever you i mean
well not wherever because you are
watching this on youtube so go to
youtube and subscribe to our
channel but let's talk about like
lindsay how can we learn english
or practice english in 30 minutes
all right guys so today we have
four different ideas four different
things that you can do if you only
have 30 minutes a day or even 30
minutes a week is okay right this is
a 30 minute chunk of time that you
can dedicate the first thing you can
do michelle is you can listen to a tv
show or a podcast if you listen to
all this english you can do two in
30 minutes and we designed that
on purpose didn't we michelle for
ourselves exactly exactly you can
get listen to two hours english in
30 minutes and feel accomplished
right or you can you can watch a
30 minute tv show i mean most
sitcoms are 30 minutes or actually
less but you know so whatever it is
take make it a 30 minute thing and
you know just listen to something
watch something and you know
take notes if that works for you
yeah we're back onto some of our
shows that came back up in the fall
right so we're back on to the good
doctor and i think when you take
out ads it ends up being like like 22
20 minutes or something crazy
yeah but if you record it ahead of
time and then you go back you can
fast forward the ad that is a hack
that is a hack right so new
amsterdam i like i like the good
doctor what are you into these days
michelle ted laughs so yeah you
told me about that okay yeah yeah
um ted lasso oh god i mean i'm still
just still just watching seinfeld over
and over what else am i watching
um you know there are there are a
few shows that i'm about to i'm
considering starting but i'm kind of
just working my way through ted
lasso and i'll probably be done with
that in a couple days all right we'll
keep us up to date if you find
anything good and new that our
listeners could also jump onto let
us know in those 30 minutes so
good so good yes absolutely so i
mean lindsay another thing that
you guys could do is have a 30
minute conversation clock right
talk with a friend for 30 minutes
now this might seem you know
sometimes i might say talk with a
friend for two minutes or three
minutes or any amount of time and
any amount of time is good but 30
minutes is a really deep amount of
time where you can have this a
deeper discussion you can talk
about something you watched you
can talk about something personal
uh you can talk about a problem
you can talk about real life so 30
minutes just time it for 30 minutes
see what happens even though it
might seem intimidating just see
what happens even if there's a
moment where you're like i don't
know what to say see if you can
keep it going and that's the
challenge yeah i like this kind of
method because it changes the
dynamic of the conversation a little
bit and it becomes kind of a fun
little challenge it's a bit like the
pomodoro method because you're
hitting a timer and you're saying
i'm going to do this very one thing
this one thing for 30 minutes it also
reminds me of the ielts exam in
speaking part two guys you need to
speak for the full two minutes you
need to tell a story okay and by the
way michelle where can our
listeners go if they want to learn
more about speaking part two on
ielts and all the speaking parts oh
my gosh go listen to jessica and i'll
bring on the ielts energy podcast
yeah you got it so that's the second
suggestion from us here today guys
talk to a friend for 30 minutes
make it work make it happen love
it what else um the next thing you
can do is read something and
explain it to a friend so maybe you
have the first 15 minutes where
you're like maybe you're both
reading the same thing maybe
you're reading one thing and the
other person's reading another
thing but say okay something that
could take you 10 or 15 minutes
and then you have the rest of the
time to explain what you read to
the other person and discuss okay i
like it so this is again going with
the stopwatch method right
michelle like we're stop we're
starting the clock and then we're
gonna stop it and but you're gonna
you're gonna spend 30 minutes just
expl so you have to go into real
depth then in your explanation if
you're going to talk for 30 minutes
right right right right and this one
and this one is also involved with
reading you could even i mean it
doesn't have to be reading guys
we've talked recently about like
reading and writing and things like
that it could be that you read
something for 15 minutes and then
you write about it for 15 minutes
why not have this do something
have something to do with writing
here yeah the thing is what we're
doing here guys is we're putting
constraints and we're making this a
habit so we're saying you know
from 8 to 8 30 a.m nice and fresh
in the morning every day i'm gonna
do this exercise and then i'm gonna
be done with my english it's kind
of nice that way because you check
you tick the box right i'm very task
oriented are you michelle i think
you are [Laughter] you get your
work done for the day so good oh
yeah yeah yeah and actually that
leads into the last um tip that we
have so you said like it reminds me
of exercise right so you have your
exercise and and this is something i
mean guys i think what did they
say you should exercise 30 minutes
a day five days a week i i don't
something like that i don't hit that
anymore but um i'm still i'm still
working i'm still i'm still guys i am
still exercising um but more like
three days a week um but yeah you
do so do it during exercise guys
maybe distract yourself from the
burn lindsay what does that mean
the burn the burn i had the burn
last night in my orange theory class
oh my gosh the burn we know right
it's when the muscles you feel in
the muscles and they are the the the
what is it the glucose lactic acid i
think it's that's lactic acid yes you
got it michelle i'm a scientist it's
building up in your muscle and you
just feel it it burns it hurts right
especially at the end of a long
sprint you're pushing your body so
what what could we do here
michelle then during that exercise
well first of all you could whatever
exercise you're doing if you're
doing like a video i mean um so we
have the peloton yeah yeah yeah
yeah and uh sometimes dan i mean
he's not trying to learn german but
like there's like a german like a
german teacher and uh sometimes
dan will just like take a class in
german so maybe like take an
exercise class in a different
language i mean take try it in
english like you know because
there are going to be little things
that you pick up on from that so or
or distract yourself count down in
english um while you're exercising
you could also just name things
around the room like if you're like
lifting just be like okay while i'm
doing these 10 uh reps i'm going to
name 10 things in the room um or
something like that just have try
and think in english during your
workout and this is totally the key i
feel like this is the secret to
learning a language this is how i
learned spanish quickly um by
always having an inner dialogue i
think because my mind in general
is so darn busy all the time like and
but in this case it worked in a good
way in a positive way it helped me
because at that point the dialogue
in english in my head became in
spanish right it was now in spanish
so i was just saying in things that i
was narrating in my head neuro
neuroses becomes your best asset
when it comes to learning a
language oh that's i mean it's true
that's the the goal is like we talk
about thinking in english and so
just a chat make it that extra
challenge to think in english during
a workout or think in english while
you're doing something else yes
like you said michelle uh just
repeating if you're taking an
exercise class a peloton class for
listeners if it's in english you can
just repeat the instruction from the
teacher and that's simple practice
right right yeah there's so many
ways to get creative with it i mean
like i mean in 30 minutes what can
you learn i mean you could learn a
list of vocabulary words maybe
like five words is a good good
thing five six seven what else
could you do learn in 30 minutes i
mean you could learn a new
grammar concept and you could
practice it um or you could just
reinforce it by practicing it that's
you could totally learn a new
current event right you could use
the news as your subject you can
go out read the new york times
understand what's going on with
the economy right now right
inflation is a big deal right now
learn about that and use english to
dive into it and to explain it and
talk about it so good right right
right or a piece of cultural
information maybe you're
watching a tv show and you learn
something about the culture
through that so like you can also
you know instead of just going in
and saying oh i'm just watching
this show you can be like okay
well what what do i want to learn
in this 30 minutes do i want to
learn vocabulary am i looking for
something cultural am i looking for
am i listening for maybe a potential
grammar point right so you can go
in with that goal as well yeah we're
being into an extra layer yes
exactly i think the most successful
language learners michelle they are
intentional about how they're
learning about what they're doing
and why they're learning the
language right it's all about being
intentional don't let life just guide
you to where it wants to take you
you take life by the horns right as
we say and just go to where you
want to go guys i mean that's that's
huge that's a part of being happy
right michelle exactly exactly so be
intentional with it um have fun it is
kind of fun to say what am i doing
in this 30 minute chunk of time and
just like exercise you you know if
you're gonna do an exercise for 30
minutes you know have it this is
your exercise too you know think
of it in that way exactly it's a way
to not feel guilty about not
studying right because when when
you're saying i have to study
english it's so nebulous and so
broad when how what how long
but if instead you say every day
from 7 to 7 30 i'm gonna study i'm
gonna do one thing for 30 minutes
that takes care of it that takes care
of it and then you're done and then
you're done and that's how you feel
at the end of exercise right
sometimes like i mean i'm sure you
going i mean if i think most human
beings going into exercise it's kind
of like you know yeah maybe you
start to get a little bit more excited
about it as it becomes a habit but
then like actually the other day dan
said to me i there is never a time
when he regrets doing exercise
yeah like sometimes it's hard to go
on but like at the end you always
feel better of course unless you
injure yourself knock on wood but
like you there i don't think anybody
then thinks like that was awful why
did i do that there's usually some
you know the endorphins are
flowing and you usually feel good
and i think that the same is for
learning something exactly it's it's
not always easy to get off the
couch and go to that workout class
and the same with this but if you
it's almost like you're doing your
thinking ahead of time the
planning's already done for you
with this 30 minute plan it's
already done all you got to do is
execute the plan and you will have
those endorphins right you'll have
that feeling of i did it i'm done i
can go do whatever i want today
now yeah exactly exactly oh my
gosh so lindsay i mean what's the
takeaway for today the answer is
michelle you can learn english in
30 minutes absolutely i would say
it could be more effective than
three hours if you do the right
things and if you do it regularly
yeah for sure yeah that's a perfect
amount of time to practice so let us
know which one of these tips
connected with you the most um
yes you know do you do 30
minutes do you do a different
amount of time but try it for 30
minutes see how the 30 minute
thing goes i love it so good can't
wait to hear from our listeners on
this michelle and thanks for
hanging out on today's episode all
right lindsay guys remember to hit
subscribe on youtube all right talk
to you soon bye [Music].

ENGLISH PODCASTS

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