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Shadowing practice: Learn English in 30 Minutes! - All Ears English Podcast 1699

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  1. Hey, Michelle, I have a question for you.0:00
  2. What's that?0:02
  3. Can you learn English in just 30 minutes a day?0:03
  4. Oh my gosh, there is so much you can do to learn English in 30 minutes a day and 30 minutes a week, whatever it is.0:06
  5. Guys, today we are going to be talking about how you can use a 30 minute chunk of time to learn and practice your English.0:13
  6. There are a lot of ways to do it, so we're going to give you tips today, right, Lindsay?0:20
  7. Yeah, we're going to get into it, but first, guys, if you are here watching on YouTube, go ahead and hit subscribe to make sure you don't miss a single0:24
  8. episode of All Ears English on YouTube.0:30
  9. Let's get started, Michelle.0:34
  10. All right.0:35
  11. Hello, Michelle.0:39
  12. How's it going today?0:40
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  1. Hey, Lindsay.0:41
  2. Good, good.0:42
  3. How are you?0:43
  4. Awesome.0:44
  5. I'm so excited to be here.0:45
  6. I'm actually recording from Boston.0:46
  7. I'm excited.0:49
  8. I'm looking out over the ocean.0:50
  9. It's a beautiful day here in Boston.0:51
  10. How's the weather in New York City?0:53
  11. It's chilly today.0:55
  12. It is.0:56
  13. Yeah, I was walking and it is, yeah, it is.0:57
  14. But yesterday was beautiful and warm and today it's not so much that it's so chilly.1:00
  15. It's also just the wind.1:06
  16. It's very windy.1:08
  17. The wind gets so windy on the East Coast.1:09
  18. It's true.1:12
  19. 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?1:13
  20. Total, well, I was with my son for part of the walk and that was the long part of the walk.1:19
  21. It was the same distance.1:23
  22. One way with him took about 25 minutes and then one way without him took about 10 minutes.1:25
  23. Oh, everything takes longer with your son is what you're telling me.1:31
  24. Oh, yeah.1:35
  25. Oh, look at that building.1:36
  26. Look at that.1:37
  27. What's that?1:38
  28. Oh, yeah.1:39
  29. Well, he's not on a tight schedule.1:39
  30. I mean, he's got a lot of extra time.1:42
  31. He's not concerned about the time yet, right?1:44
  32. He's not, no.1:46
  33. Yeah.1:48
  34. So, but yeah, there are, you know, I mean, I actually yesterday I did take a 30 minute walk.1:48
  35. Nice.1:54
  36. That's a good, I feel like 30 minutes is such a good amount of time to do something substantial but not to over commit.1:55
  37. You know, right?2:03
  38. It is kind of a good amount of time.2:04
  39. You don't feel overwhelmed.2:06
  40. 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 and2:07
  41. you see that each episode is an hour and you're like, oh, yeah.2:15
  42. 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.2:19
  43. Totally.2:24
  44. 30 minutes is so digestible.2:25
  45. That's a great bonus phrase for today digestible, right?2:27
  46. We can finish it.2:30
  47. And it's also, I think the, I've mentioned before the Pomodoro method is a time management system.2:31
  48. I believe those times are either 30, 35 or 40 minutes somewhere in that window.2:37
  49. That's just, you can do it, but you don't lose focus.2:42
  50. That's the key, Michelle, right?2:45
  51. Right, exactly.2:47
  52. 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?2:48
  53. Practice your English in 30 minutes, right?2:56
  54. Through focused practice.2:58
  55. I mean, do you think it's possible to learn a language in 30 minutes?3:00
  56. Well, like learn the entire language in 30 minutes?3:04
  57. Yeah.3:07
  58. Well, maybe there are some genuses that can.3:08
  59. I wish I had that skill.3:11
  60. No.3:12
  61. 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 do3:13
  62. the right things in those 30 minutes, I think you could.3:21
  63. Yeah.3:24
  64. Right, right, right.3:24
  65. And all learning really depends on like what you put into it.3:25
  66. So your motivation, the context of your learning, how much time you have, things like that.3:28
  67. So I mean, you can learn and practice some English every day or every couple of days in 30 minutes.3:33
  68. I mean, so that's what we're going to talk about today.3:40
  69. And guys, this episode is on YouTube.3:42
  70. So remember to hit subscribe wherever you, I mean, well, not wherever because you are watching this on YouTube.3:44
  71. So go to YouTube and subscribe to our channel.3:50
  72. But let's talk about like, Lindsay, how can we learn our English or practice English in 30 minutes?3:53
  73. All right, guys.4:00
  74. 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,4:00
  75. right?4:09
  76. This is a 30 minute chunk of time that you can dedicate.4:09
  77. The first thing you can do, Michelle, is you can listen to a TV show or a podcast.4:12
  78. If you listen to all those English, you can do two and 30 minutes and we designed that on purpose.4:16
  79. Didn't we, Michelle, for exactly, exactly, you can get listening to two all ears English in 30 minutes and feel accomplished, right?4:21
  80. Or you can, you can watch a 30 minute TV show.4:29
  81. I mean, most sitcoms are 30 minutes or actually less.4:31
  82. But you know, whatever it is, take, make it a 30 minute thing.4:35
  83. And, you know, just listen to something, watch something and, you know, take notes if that works for you.4:39
  84. Yeah, we're back onto some of our shows that came back up in the fall, right?4:45
  85. So we're back onto the good doctor.4:49
  86. And I think when you take out ads, it ends up being like, like 20 minutes or something crazy.4:51
  87. But if you record it ahead of time and then you go back, you can fast forward the ad.4:56
  88. That is a hack.5:00
  89. That is a hack, right?5:00
  90. So new Amsterdam I like.5:02
  91. I like the good doctor.5:03
  92. What are you into these days, Michelle?5:05
  93. Ted Lafso.5:06
  94. Yeah, you told me about that.5:07
  95. Okay.5:09
  96. I was going to talk about that.5:09
  97. Yeah, Ted Lafso.5:10
  98. Oh God.5:13
  99. I mean, I'm still just, I'm still just watching Seinfeld over and over.5:14
  100. What else am I watching?5:18
  101. You know, 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 Lafso and I'll probably be done5:20
  102. with that in a couple of days.5:28
  103. All right.5:30
  104. Well, keep us up to date.5:30
  105. If you find anything good and new that our listeners could also jump onto, let us know in those 30 minutes.5:31
  106. So good.5:36
  107. So good.5:37
  108. Yes.5:37
  109. Absolutely.5:38
  110. So I mean, Lindsay, another thing that you guys could do is have a 30 minute conversation clock, right?5:39
  111. Talk with a friend for 30 minutes.5:46
  112. 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 time5:48
  113. is good, but 30 minutes is a really deep amount of time where you can have this deeper discussion.5:55
  114. You can talk about something you watched.6:02
  115. You can talk about something personal.6:03
  116. You can talk about a problem.6:05
  117. You can talk about real life.6:07
  118. So 30 minutes, just time it for 30 minutes.6:08
  119. 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.6:11
  120. See if you can keep it going and that's the challenge.6:20
  121. 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.6:22
  122. 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.6:29
  123. It also reminds me of the IELTS exam.6:36
  124. In speaking part two guys, you need to speak for that full two minutes.6:38
  125. You need to tell a story.6:42
  126. Okay.6:44
  127. 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?6:44
  128. Oh my gosh.6:50
  129. Go listen to Jessica and Aubrey on the IELTS Energy podcast.6:51
  130. Yeah, you got it.6:55
  131. So that's the second suggestion from us here today, guys.6:56
  132. Talk to a friend for 30 minutes.6:59
  133. Make it work.7:01
  134. Make it happen.7:01
  135. Love it.7:03
  136. What else?7:03
  137. Um, the next thing you can do is read something and explain it to a friend.7:04
  138. So maybe you have the first 15 minutes where you're like, maybe you're both reading the same thing.7:09
  139. 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.7:15
  140. And then you have the rest of the time to explain what you read to the other person and discuss.7:21
  141. Okay.7:26
  142. I like it.7:26
  143. So this is again, going with the stopwatch method, right?7:27
  144. Michelle, like we're stop, we're starting the clock and then we're going to stop it.7:29
  145. And, but you're going to, you're going to spend 30 minutes just explicitly.7:33
  146. You have to go into real depth then in your explanation.7:36
  147. If you're going to talk for 30 minutes, right?7:39
  148. Right, right, right.7:41
  149. And this one, this one is also involved with reading.7:43
  150. You could even, I mean, it doesn't have to be reading.7:45
  151. Guys, we've talked recently about like reading and writing and things like that.7:47
  152. It could be that you read something for 15 minutes and then you write about it for 15 minutes.7:51
  153. Why not have this do something and have something to do with writing here?7:55
  154. Yeah.7:59
  155. The thing is what we're doing here, guys, is we're putting constraints and we're making this a habit.8:00
  156. So we're saying, you know, from eight to eight 30 a .m.8:04
  157. nice and fresh in the morning.8:07
  158. Every day I'm going to do this exercise and then I'm going to be done with my English.8:08
  159. It's kind of nice that way because you tick the box, right?8:12
  160. I'm very task oriented.8:15
  161. Are you, Michelle?8:16
  162. I think you are.8:17
  163. You get your work done for the day.8:20
  164. So good.8:22
  165. Oh yeah.8:23
  166. Yeah.8:24
  167. Yeah.8:24
  168. And actually that leads into the last tip that we have.8:24
  169. So you said like it reminds me of exercise, right?8:28
  170. So you have your exercise and this is something, I mean, guys, I think, what do they say you should exercise 30 minutes a day, five days a week?8:31
  171. I don't hit that anymore, but I'm still, I'm still working.8:38
  172. I'm still, I'm still guys, I am still exercising, but more like three days a week.8:45
  173. But yeah, you do.8:51
  174. So do it during exercise, guys.8:53
  175. Maybe distract yourself from the burn.8:55
  176. Lindsay, what does that mean?8:57
  177. The burn, the burn.8:59
  178. I had the burn last night in my orange theory class.9:00
  179. Oh my gosh, the burn.9:02
  180. We know, right?9:04
  181. So when the muscles, you feel it in the muscles and they are the, the, what is it?9:04
  182. The glucose.9:08
  183. Lactic acid.9:09
  184. I think it's the lactic acid.9:09
  185. Yes, you got it, Michelle.9:12
  186. I'm a scientist.9:13
  187. Building up in your muscle and you just feel it.9:15
  188. It burns.9:17
  189. It hurts, right?9:18
  190. Especially at the end of a long sprint, you're pushing your body.9:19
  191. So what, what could we do here, Michelle, then?9:22
  192. During that exercise?9:24
  193. Well, first of all, you could, whatever exercise you're doing, if you're doing like a video, I mean, so we have the Peloton.9:25
  194. Yeah, you have.9:32
  195. And yeah.9:33
  196. And, and sometimes Dan, I mean, he's not trying to learn German, but like there's like a German, like a German teacher.9:34
  197. And sometimes Dan will just like take a class in German.9:41
  198. So maybe like take an exercise class in a different language.9:44
  199. 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.9:49
  200. So or, or distract yourself, count down in English.9:55
  201. While you're exercising, you could also just name things around the room.9:59
  202. Like if you're like lifting, just be like, okay, while I'm doing these 10 reps, I'm going to name 10 things in the room or something like that.10:03
  203. Just have, try and think in English during your workout.10:12
  204. And this is totally the, I feel like this is the secret to learning a language.10:15
  205. This is how I learned Spanish quickly.10:19
  206. By always having an inner dialogue, I think because my mind in general is so darn busy all the time.10:21
  207. Like, and, but in this case, it worked in a good way, in a positive way.10:27
  208. It helped me because at that point, the dialogue in English in my head became in Spanish, right?10:30
  209. It was now in Spanish.10:35
  210. So I was just saying things that I was narrating in my head.10:36
  211. Your own neuroses becomes your best asset when it comes to learning a language.10:41
  212. I mean, it's true.10:47
  213. That's the goal is like we talk about thinking in English.10:48
  214. And so just make it that extra challenge to think in English during a workout or think in English while you're doing something else.10:51
  215. Yes.11:00
  216. Or like you said, Michelle, just repeating, if you're taking an exercise class, a Peloton class for our listeners, if it's in English, you can just repeat the instruction from11:01
  217. the teacher.11:10
  218. And that's simple practice, right?11:11
  219. Right.11:13
  220. Yeah.11:13
  221. There's so many ways to get creative with it.11:14
  222. I mean, like, I mean, in 30 minutes, what can you learn?11:16
  223. I mean, you could learn a list of vocabulary words, maybe like five words is a good, good thing.11:20
  224. Five, six, seven words, right?11:25
  225. What else, what else could you do?11:28
  226. Learn in 30 minutes or practice?11:29
  227. I mean, you could learn a new grammar concept and you could practice it.11:31
  228. Or you could just reinforce it by practicing it.11:35
  229. That's you could totally learn a new current event, right?11:38
  230. You could use the news as your subject.11:41
  231. You can go out, read the New York Times, understand what's going on with the economy right now, right?11:43
  232. Inflation is a big deal right now.11:48
  233. Learn about that and use English to dive into it and to explain it and talk about it.11:50
  234. So good.11:55
  235. Right, right, right.11:56
  236. Or a piece of cultural information.11:57
  237. Maybe you're watching a TV show and you learn something about the culture through that.11:59
  238. 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, OK, well, what, what do I12:03
  239. want to learn in this 30 minutes?12:10
  240. Do I want to learn vocabulary?12:11
  241. Am I looking for something cultural?12:12
  242. Right.12:15
  243. Am I looking for, am I listening for maybe a potential grammar point?12:15
  244. Right.12:19
  245. So you can go in with that goal as well.12:19
  246. Yeah, we're being in an extra layer.12:23
  247. Yes, exactly.12:25
  248. 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.12:26
  249. Right.12:34
  250. It's all about being intentional.12:34
  251. Don't let life just guide you to where it wants to take you.12:35
  252. You take life by the horns, right?12:38
  253. As we say, and just go to where you want to go, guys.12:41
  254. I mean, that's that's huge.12:44
  255. That's the part of being happy, right, Michelle?12:45
  256. Exactly.12:47
  257. Exactly.12:48
  258. So be intentional with it.12:49
  259. Have fun.12:51
  260. 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 going to do12:52
  261. an exercise for 30 minutes, you know, have it.12:59
  262. This is your exercise too.13:02
  263. You know, think of it in that way.13:03
  264. Exactly.13:05
  265. It's a way to not feel guilty about not studying, right?13:06
  266. Because when when you're saying I have to study English, it's so nebulous and so broad.13:09
  267. When, how, what, how long?13:14
  268. But if instead you say every day from seven to seven thirty, I'm going to study.13:16
  269. I'm going to do one thing for 30 minutes that takes care of it.13:19
  270. That takes care of it.13:22
  271. And then you're done.13:23
  272. And then you're done.13:25
  273. And that's how you feel at the end of exercise, right?13:26
  274. Sometimes, like, I mean, I'm sure you go.13:28
  275. 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 it13:31
  276. as it becomes a habit.13:41
  277. But then, like actually the other day, Dan said to me, I there is never a time when he regrets doing exercise.13:42
  278. Like sometimes it's hard to go on.13:50
  279. But like at the end, you always feel better, of course, unless you injure yourself, not going to win.13:51
  280. But like you, like there, I don't think anybody then thinks like that was awful.13:55
  281. Why did I do that?14:00
  282. There's usually some, you know, then dolphins are flowing and you usually feel good.14:01
  283. And I think that the same is for learning something.14:06
  284. Exactly.14:09
  285. It's not always easy to get off the couch and go to that workout class.14:10
  286. And the same with this.14:13
  287. But if you it's almost like you're doing your thinking ahead of time, the planning is already done for you with this 30 minute plan.14:14
  288. It's already done.14:20
  289. All you got to do is execute the plan and you will have those endorphins, right?14:21
  290. You'll have that feeling of I did it.14:25
  291. I'm done.14:27
  292. I can go do whatever I want today now.14:27
  293. Yeah.14:29
  294. Exactly.14:30
  295. Exactly.14:31
  296. Oh my gosh.14:32
  297. So Lindsay, I mean, what's the takeaway for today?14:33
  298. The answer is Michelle, you can learn English in 30 minutes.14:35
  299. Absolutely.14:39
  300. I would say it could be more effective than three hours if you do the right things and if you do it regularly.14:39
  301. Yeah.14:45
  302. For sure.14:45
  303. Yeah.14:46
  304. It's a perfect amount of time to practice.14:47
  305. So let us know which one of these tips connected with you the most.14:50
  306. Yes.14:53
  307. You know, do you do 30 minutes?14:54
  308. Do you do a different amount of time?14:56
  309. But try it for 30 minutes.14:57
  310. See how the 30 minute thing goes.14:59
  311. I love it.15:00
  312. So good.15:01
  313. Can't wait to hear from our listeners on this, Michelle.15:01
  314. And thanks for hanging out on today's episode.15:04
  315. All right, Lindsay, guys, remember to hit subscribe on YouTube.15:07
  316. All right.15:11
  317. Talk to you soon.15:11
  318. Bye.15:12

Daily English conversation practice from All Ears English, episode 1699

This clip is two podcast hosts, Michelle and Lindsay, catching up the way friends actually do: the weather in Boston versus New York, a walk with a young son, how to spend a spare half hour. It is rated B1, so do not expect a slow B1. The pace is 226 words per minute, faster than 82 percent of the catalogue, and both women talk over each other, finish half sentences and skip the pauses a scripted dialogue would leave for you.

That makes it useful English speaking practice for daily use rather than classroom English: two American voices, unscripted, at the speed people actually talk. If you want everyday English instead of a lesson script, this is closer to what you will hear on a real call.

What to notice before you shadow this line

A few lines from the opening carry the features worth copying, not just repeating.

  • "Can you learn English in just 30 minutes a day?" A clean rising question with no filler. Shadow this line first to get the rhythm before the conversation speeds up.
  • "But yesterday was beautiful and warm and today it's not so much that it's so chilly." One sentence stitched together with "and", ending on the hedge "not so much that it's so chilly" instead of a flat complaint. That softening is what makes native speech sound casual rather than blunt.
  • "Oh, everything takes longer with your son is what you're telling me." An informal restating tag, "is what you're telling me", used to summarize what the other person just said. Copy the falling pitch on "telling me", that is the sound of genuine listening, not reading aloud.

A line by line speaking practice route through the opening

Work the first minute in this order rather than jumping around.

  • Start with the greeting pair, "Hey, Michelle, I have a question for you." and "What's that?" Shadow both lines back to back to get the question and answer rhythm before the pace picks up.
  • Move to the weather stretch and shadow the short lines first, "It's chilly today." and "It's very windy." Short sentences are easier to match for stress before you take on longer ones, and both hosts' American accent is easiest to hear here, useful if you are working on your own American accent training.
  • Take the long line, "But yesterday was beautiful and warm and today it's not so much that it's so chilly." Say it slow once, then match it at full speed. It is the longest run in the opening and forces you to hold 226 words per minute without dropping the "and" links.
  • Finish on "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?" Try answering it yourself before Michelle does. Scoring your own reply against hers is the closest this clip gets to real English speaking practice, and repeating it daily is how the pace stops feeling fast.
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