Guest post by Akmal Akbarov
Do you work all day and always struggle to find time to learn English? The most common reason I hear from people for not learning English is time. Most of them work full time and that’s why they have no chance to learn the language.
It is hard to learn English if you work all day and have a family to sustain. But there are a few things you can do to make it easier.
First of all, set your mind for success. Prepare yourself psychologically. If you want to do it, you will find a way. If you don’t, you will find an excuse.
1 Explore and exploit job-related materials
Listen to podcasts and read books or blogs related to your profession. For example, if you sell flowers in a flower shop, why don’t you listen to podcasts about flowers on iTunes? Listen to them every day during your commute. Next, you can visit your local library to borrow books or download ebooks to read all the latest news about your profession. This will be a win-win situation for you. You will improve your English and develop yourself professionally and personally. I do it myself and the results are amazing.
2 Switch off the TV
When was the last time you watched a show from start to finish while it aired on TV? These days, whenever you turn on the TV there are too many shows to keep track of and you can’t watch them from the middle without having seen the previous episodes.
Consider watching a show or movie through a video streaming service, instead. You can choose a suitable time for yourself and you won’t have to watch it in one sitting. You don’t even have to be at home. You can use your smartphone, tablet, or laptop.
3 Take an intensive course on your vacation
I know you work hard and may argue that vacation should be a vacation—no work, no stress and no rush. All right, I totally understand that. I teach from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. every day, including Saturday. But I still find time to run a blog and develop myself personally. How? For example, this summer during my vacation I took two online marketing courses. I am happy because I learned a lot.
Why not sacrifice one of your vacations (just one in your lifetime) and improve your life once and forever. An intensive one-month course in English will help you learn the basic fundamentals of the language. Once you find out how the English language works, you will be able to learn it independently.
4 Offer to write a company blog at work
Why not? A company blog can generate more customers, which will make your boss happy. New customers will also be happy to read and educate themselves with your articles. And, you will also improve your writing skills by writing two or three new articles a week.
Running a company blog will help you improve your reading and listening skills. Don’t forget you will be reading other blogs, listening to podcasts, and watching webinars. This way you will improve your English without trying to improve your English.
5 Convince your boss that every employee needs PD
PD stands for personal development. Tell your boss that most of your colleagues need time for personal development. It’s important for them to know English at an upper-intermediate level.
This will lead your company decide that you should attend English lessons two or three times a week. As a result, you will work reduced hours (temporarily). It will create an extra time slot to work on your English language skills.
Hey, hey, hey, don’t tell me everyone in your company speaks English. Yes, they might speak the language, but here I am talking about a full command of English. It means you speak, write, read, and listen to English fluently.
6Optimize your professional life at work
Start work one hour earlier. Spend thirty minutes on your lunch (not an hour) and leave work thirty minutes later. Make up a to-do list and stick to it. Set yourself deadlines and get things done one by one.
All this will create two hours of extra free time during your day for you to work on your English. For example, you can learn more words, practice listening, and watch English movies. You might say to yourself, “What I am doing? What will people think of me?” Just focus on what you want to be able to do and achieve. You don’t have to explain anything to anyone and you don’t have to prove anything either. Work in complete silence and let your success be your noise.
7 Shut down your social media channels
Remember the last time you logged into Facebook intending to browse for five minutes but ended up wasting an hour? I love social networks, but they are distracting.
And it’s not just about Facebook. How many other social networks do we have today? I can mention Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram. So shut down all your social media accounts temporarily. Use that time to study English distraction-free.
8 Help your children with their homework
Yeah, help your children do their homework, because as a teacher of English I can tell you one thing: the more you help others master English, the more you will master it yourself. This happens because, for example, let’s say you know the present simple. You might think to yourself, “Why do I need it? It is easy and I know it.”
But you tend to forget things as time goes by, right? So every time you help your kids, you actually refresh your existing knowledge. Sometimes you can discover or rediscover some aspects of English for yourself. Yeah, I assure you. I teach English to all levels and even I discover new things.
What one piece of advice would you give to someone who is busy and has no time to learn English?
from Grammarly Blog
http://www.grammarly.com/blog/2015/no-time-to-learn-english-you-arent-doing-these-9-things/
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