Real ESL

….”that you can live with” is an expression that means that maybe it’s not easy, but it will work in your life. People often say, “I can live with that.” “That” refers to an agreement, a compromise, a change. So, if you want your significant other (boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, wife) to clean up his/her mess, but that person is too busy to clean all the time, he/she might suggest that he/she will do one big cleaning with you on the weekend. It’s not exactly what you want, but it’s okay. You say, “I can live with that.”

So, when I’m talking about forming a studying schedule, you’d probably prefer to learn English without studying at all, especially if you are a busy person with a real life - a job, a relationship, kids or a busy social life (social life = time spent with friends). However, this is not going to happen. If you want to improve your English, there will be some work. But I’m going to make a suggestion that I think you can live with.

No, it does not involve studying for three or four hours at the end of the day. Not even if you want a high TOEFL score.

For this schedule, you need to study five to ten times throughout the day in five to ten minute chunks and write in English for half an hour at the end of the day. This works best if you live in an English-speaking country and you’ve stopped speaking your language, but it can also work for people who are living in other countries.

You need to be willing to tear out pages in your grammar book, notebook or dictionary because you stick these pages around your house in locations where you spend more time and you need to put at least one in your pocket for times when you have to wait for people.

To start off, for this schedule, you study in the shower for ten minutes in the morning. Yes, in the shower! You should always have a vocabulary list on the dry wall of the shower. Then, you study for five minutes while you are on the toilet. You study for two minutes while you brush your teeth - yes, you have vocabulary or grammar sheets around your bathroom. The English talk radio station should be playing all morning at home and in the car.

At work, if you can, take a minute or two to read English news or ESL blogs a couple times. Listen to English podcasts or radio in the car/bus/subway (podcast = shows you can download on the Internet). Study for five minutes in the line-up at the grocery store or wherever you go after work if it’s possible.

At home, watch American/British television. Before you go to bed, write about your day or issues in the news for half an hour, trying to use some of the grammar and vocabulary you learned throughout the day. If you do this, you will learn English very quickly.

Maybe you still speak your language now and then (now and then = sometimes). Add an hour of English studying on to the end of your day for every hour of your day you spend listening to or speaking your language. That’s how much you need to do to balance it.

Good luck with your English goals. I believe in you!